The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855
epic poem, in
trochaic tetrameter, by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring a
Native American hero. Longfellow's sources for the legends and ethnography found in his poem were the
Ojibwe Chief
Kahge-ga-gah-bowh during his visits at Longfellow's home;
Black Hawk and other
Sac and
Fox Indians Longfellow encountered on
Boston Common; Algic Researches (1839) and additional writings by
Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, an ethnographer and United States
Indian agent; and Heckewelder's Narratives. In sentiment, scope, overall conception, and many particulars, Longfellow's poem is a work of American Romantic literature, not a representation of Native American oral tradition. Longfellow insisted, "I can give chapter and verse for these legends. Their chief value is that they are Indian legends."