Blessing The Cornfields
Read 'Blessing The Cornfields' by 'Henry Wadsworth Longfellow' and provide your summary and literary analysis in the comments section below.
Sing, O Song of Hiawatha,
Of the happy days that followed,
In the land of the Ojibways,
In the pleasant land and peaceful!
Sing the mysteries of Mondamin,
Sing the Blessing of the Cornfields!
Buried was the bloody hatchet,
Buried was the dreadful war-club,
Buried were all warlike weapons,
And the war-cry was forgotten.
There was peace among the nations;
Unmolested roved the hunters,
Built the birch canoe for sailing,
Caught the fish in lake and river,
Shot the deer and trapped the beaver;
Unmolested worked the women,
Made their sugar from the maple,
Gathered wild rice in the meadows,
Dressed the skins of deer and beaver.
All around the happy village
Stood the maize-fields, green and shining,
Waved the green plumes of Mondamin,
Waved his soft and sunny tresses,
Filling all the land with plenty.
`T was the women who in Spring-time
Planted the broad fields and fruitful,
Buried in the earth Mondamin;
`T was the women who in Autumn
Stripped the yellow husks of harvest,
Stripped the garments from Mondamin,
Even as Hiawatha taught them.
Once, when all the maize was planted,
Hiawatha, wise and thoughtful,
Spake and said to Minnehaha,
To his wife, the Laughing Water:
"You shall bless to-night the cornfields,
Draw a magic circle round them,
To protect them from destruction,
Blast of mildew, blight of insect,
Wagemin, the thief of cornfields,
Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear
"In the night, when all Is silence,'
In the night, when all Is darkness,
When the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin,
Shuts the doors of all the wigwams,
So that not an ear can hear you,
So that not an eye can see you,
Rise up from your bed in silence,
Lay aside your garments wholly,
Walk around the fields you planted,
Round the borders of the cornfields,
Covered by your tresses only,
Robed with darkness as a garment.
"Thus the fields shall be more fruitful,
And the passing of your footsteps
Draw a magic circle round them,
So that neither blight nor mildew,
Neither burrowing worm nor insect,
Shall pass o'er the magic circle;
Not the dragon-fly, Kwo-ne-she,
Nor the spider, Subbekashe,
Nor the grasshopper, Pah-puk-keena;
Nor the mighty caterpillar,
Way-muk-kwana, with the bear-skin,
King of all the caterpillars!"
On the tree-tops near the cornfields
Sat the hungry crows and ravens,
Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens,
With his band of black marauders.
And they laughed at Hiawatha,
Till the tree-tops shook with laughter,
With their melancholy laughter,
At the words of Hiawatha.
"Hear him!" said they; "hear the Wise Man,
Hear the plots of Hiawatha!"
When the noiseless night descended
Broad and dark o'er field and forest,
When the mournful Wawonaissa
Sorrowing sang among the hemlocks,
And the Spirit of Sleep, Nepahwin,
Shut the doors of all the wigwams,
From her bed rose Laughing Water,
Laid aside her garments wholly,
And with darkness clothed and guarded,
Unashamed and unaffrighted,
Walked securely round the cornfields,
Drew the sacred, magic circle
Of her footprints round the cornfields.
No one but the Midnight only
Saw her beauty in the darkness,
No one but the Wawonaissa
Heard the panting of her bosom
Guskewau, the darkness, wrapped her
Closely in his sacred mantle,
So that none might see her beauty,
So that none might boast, "I saw her!"
On the morrow, as the day dawned,
Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens,
Gathered all his black marauders,
Crows and blackbirds, jays and ravens,
Clamorous on the dusky tree-tops,
And descended, fast and fearless,
On the fields of Hiawatha,
On the grave of the Mondamin.
"We will drag Mondamin," said they,
"From the grave where he is buried,
Spite of all the magic circles
Laughing Water draws around it,
Spite of all the sacred footprints
Minnehaha stamps upon it!"
But the wary Hiawatha,
Ever thoughtful, careful, watchful,
Had o'erheard the scornful laughter
When they mocked him from the tree-tops.
"Kaw!" he said, "my friends the ravens!
Kahgahgee, my King of Ravens!
I will teach you all a lesson
That shall not be soon forgotten!"
He had risen before the daybreak,
He had spread o'er all the cornfields
Snares to catch the black marauders,
And was lying now in ambush
In the neighboring grove of pine-trees,
Waiting for the crows and blackbirds,
Waiting for the jays and ravens.
Soon they came with caw and clamor,
Rush of wings and cry of voices,
To their work of devastation,
Settling down upon the cornfields,
Delving deep with beak and talon,
For the body of Mondamin.
And with all their craft and cunning,
All their skill in wiles of warfare,
They perceived no danger near them,
Till their claws became entangled,
Till they found themselves imprisoned
In the snares of Hiawatha.
From his place of ambush came he,
Striding terrible among them,
And so awful was his aspect
That the bravest quailed with terror.
Without mercy he destroyed them
Right and left, by tens and twenties,
And their wretched, lifeless bodies
Hung aloft on poles for scarecrows
Round the consecrated cornfields,
As a signal of his vengeance,
As a warning to marauders.
Only Kahgahgee, the leader,
Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens,
He alone was spared among them
As a hostage for his people.
With his prisoner-string he bound him,
Led him captive to his wigwam,
Tied him fast with cords of elm-bark
To the ridge-pole of his wigwam.
"Kahgahgee, my raven!" said he,
"You the leader of the robbers,
You the plotter of this mischief,
The contriver of this outrage,
I will keep you, I will hold you,
As a hostage for your people,
As a pledge of good behavior!"
And he left him, grim and sulky,
Sitting in the morning sunshine
On the summit of the wigwam,
Croaking fiercely his displeasure,
Flapping his great sable pinions,
Vainly struggling for his freedom,
Vainly calling on his people!
Summer passed, and Shawondasee
Breathed his sighs o'er all the landscape,
From the South-land sent his ardor,
Wafted kisses warm and tender;
And the maize-field grew and ripened,
Till it stood in all the splendor
Of its garments green and yellow,
Of its tassels and its plumage,
And the maize-ears full and shining
Gleamed from bursting sheaths of verdure.
Then Nokomis, the old woman,
Spake, and said to Minnehaha:
`T is the Moon when, leaves are falling;
All the wild rice has been gathered,
And the maize is ripe and ready;
Let us gather in the harvest,
Let us wrestle with Mondamin,
Strip him of his plumes and tassels,
Of his garments green and yellow!"
And the merry Laughing Water
Went rejoicing from the wigwam,
With Nokomis, old and wrinkled,
And they called the women round them,
Called the young men and the maidens,
To the harvest of the cornfields,
To the husking of the maize-ear.
On the border of the forest,
Underneath the fragrant pine-trees,
Sat the old men and the warriors
Smoking in the pleasant shadow.
In uninterrupted silence
Looked they at the gamesome labor
Of the young men and the women;
Listened to their noisy talking,
To their laughter and their singing,
Heard them chattering like the magpies,
Heard them laughing like the blue-jays,
Heard them singing like the robins.
And whene'er some lucky maiden
Found a red ear in the husking,
Found a maize-ear red as blood is,
"Nushka!" cried they all together,
"Nushka! you shall have a sweetheart,
You shall have a handsome husband!"
"Ugh!" the old men all responded
From their seats beneath the pine-trees.
And whene'er a youth or maiden
Found a crooked ear in husking,
Found a maize-ear in the husking
Blighted, mildewed, or misshapen,
Then they laughed and sang together,
Crept and limped about the cornfields,
Mimicked in their gait and gestures
Some old man, bent almost double,
Singing singly or together:
"Wagemin, the thief of cornfields!
Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear!"
Till the cornfields rang with laughter,
Till from Hiawatha's wigwam
Kahgahgee, the King of Ravens,
Screamed and quivered in his anger,
And from all the neighboring tree-tops
Cawed and croaked the black marauders.
"Ugh!" the old men all responded,
From their seats beneath the pine-trees!
Blessing The Cornfields Summary and Analysis
Set in the seasonal life of an Ojibway village, the poem follows Hiawatha's instructions for protecting the cornfields and the community's joyful labor around planting and harvest. The passage moves from peace after warfare to agricultural abundance, showing a world in which survival depends not only on strength but on ritual, patience, and shared work. Hiawatha's guidance to Minnehaha turns tending the crops into something larger than farming: a sacred act meant to secure fertility and ward off loss.
The poem's central progression runs from ceremonial blessing to comic struggle. First comes the quiet, secret walk around the fields, a gesture that joins intimacy with spiritual protection. Then come the ravens and blackbirds, who mock human seriousness and threaten the crop, only to be trapped by Hiawatha's clever defense. The later harvest scene completes the cycle by gathering the community into laughter, teasing, and abundance. Beneath the vivid action lies a tension between reverence and performance, since the poem treats Native life with grandeur while also filtering it through Longfellow's highly stylized, mythic imagination.
Tone in Blessing The Cornfields
Longfellow's tone is elevated, celebratory, and faintly performative, as if he is presenting a legendary tale with ceremonial seriousness. At the same time, the mood shifts repeatedly: the fields feel peaceful and blessed, the birds introduce comic defiance, and the harvest scene ends in lively communal delight. The reader is left with a sense of abundance shadowed by vulnerability, since the poem insists that plenty depends on vigilance, ritual, and cleverness.
This literary analysis was generated with AI and may contain interpretive differences. Provide your analysis in the comments section.
Themes in Blessing The Cornfields
- Communal abundance - The poem celebrates a village economy built on cooperation, with men, women, elders, and young people each taking part in planting, guarding, and harvesting the corn.
- Sacred agriculture - Corn is not merely food here; it is surrounded by ritual language and protective acts that make the fields feel consecrated.
- Peace after conflict - The burying of weapons signals a world where war has given way to cultivation, making the cornfields a sign of social harmony.
- Wisdom and practical leadership - Hiawatha's advice combines spiritual belief with common sense, showing a leader who protects the community through both foresight and action.
- Fertility and renewal - The cycle of planting, growth, and harvest mirrors the rhythms of life itself, presenting the land as continually renewed through care and ceremony.
- Humor and celebration - Even the serious work of defending the crop ends in laughter, songs, and teasing, suggesting that joy is part of survival.
Literary Devices in Blessing The Cornfields
- Repetition - Repeated phrases and parallel structures give the passage a ceremonial, chant-like rhythm that suits its origin in a larger epic sequence.
- Personification - Corn, the seasons, sleep, and even the ravens are given active roles, making the natural world feel animated and socially meaningful.
- Symbolic naming - Names such as Mondamin, Minnehaha, and Kahgahgee carry mythic force and help turn ordinary actions into a legendary narrative.
- Imagery - Rich visual and auditory details, from green maize plumes to cawing birds and laughing harvesters, create a vivid sensory world.
- Epic style - The elevated, formal diction frames farming as heroic action, enlarging domestic labor into something near-mythic.
- Dramatic irony - The ravens mock Hiawatha's precautions, but the reader sees that his careful planning will outwit them.
- Invocation - The opening command to sing establishes the passage as a story meant for recitation, linking it to oral tradition.
Symbolism in Blessing The Cornfields
- Cornfields - The fields stand for sustenance, communal order, and the success of peaceful life.
- Mondamin - The corn spirit or corn itself symbolizes life given by the earth and sustained through ritual labor.
- Magic circle - The circle around the fields suggests protection, sacred boundary, and the containment of danger.
- Ravens and blackbirds - These birds symbolize theft, predation, and the threats that can undo human labor.
- Scarecrows - The dead birds hung up around the fields become visible signs of warning and control.
- Wigwam - The home serves as a symbol of domestic community, where sleep, secrecy, and belonging are enclosed.
Historical Context of Blessing The Cornfields
This passage belongs to the larger nineteenth-century tradition of romanticizing Indigenous stories and landscapes through epic poetry. Longfellow drew on Native American material to create a national myth in a literary form influenced by European models, especially the elevated, oral-feeling style of epic and romance. The result is a work that helped popularize Native-themed subject matter for white readers, while also shaping it through the conventions and assumptions of its own era.
The poem's emphasis on seasonal labor, communal ceremony, and the personified life of nature reflects a broader Romantic fascination with folklore, the natural world, and preindustrial life. At the same time, modern readers often notice the distance between Longfellow's stylized literary world and the specific cultural realities of the peoples he evokes. That tension is part of the poem's historical significance as well as its lasting controversy.
Poems Similar to Blessing The Cornfields
- The Song of Hiawatha - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- The Song of the Merrymen - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Song of Myself - Walt Whitman
- Paul Revere's Ride - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- The Vision of Sir Launfal - James Russell Lowell