re followed.

Of course there was parallelism in Western poetry, and all arts of
repetition, before anybody knew anything about the "Kalevala." The most
poetical part of Bible English, as I said, whether in the Bible itself or
in the Book of Common Prayer, depends almost entirely for its literary
effect upon parallelism, because the old Hebrews, like the old Finns,
practised this art of expression. Loosely and vaguely it was practised
also by many poets almost unconsciously, who had been particularly
influenced by the splendour of the scriptural translation. It had figured
in prose-poetry as early as the time of Sir Thomas Browne. It had
established quite a new idea of poetry even in America, where the great
American poet Poe introduced it into his compositions before Longfellow
studied the "Kalevala." I told you that the work of Poe, small as it is,
had influenced almost every poet of the great epoch, including Tennyson
and the Victorian masters. But the work even of Poe was rather instinctive
than the result of any systematic idea. The systematic idea was best
illustrated when the study of the "Kalevala" began.

Let us see how Longfellow used the suggestion; but remember that he was
only a beginner, dealing with something entirely new--that he did not have
the strength of Tennyson nor the magical genius of Swinburne to help him.
He worked very simply, and probably very rapidly. There is a good deal of
his song of "Hiawatha" that is scarcely worthy of praise, and it is
difficult to quote effectively from it, because the charm of the thing
depends chiefly upon its reading as a whole. Nevertheless there are parts
which so well show or imitate the Finnish spirit, that I must try to quote
them. Take for instance the teaching of the little Indian child by his
grandmother--such verses as these, where she talks to the little boy about
the milky way in the sky:

Many things Nokomis taught him
Of the stars that shine in heaven;
Showed him Ishkoodah, the comet,
Ishkoodah, with fiery tresses;
Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits,
Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs,
Flaring far away to northward
In the frosty nights of Winter;
Showed the broad, white road in heaven,
Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows,
Running straight across the heavens,
Crowded with the ghosts, the shadows.

Or take again the story of the origin of the flower commonly called
"Dandelion":

In his life he had one shadow,