EVANGELINE 



2103 



EVANGELINE 



EVANGELINE: A PLAN FOR STUDY 



The following outline may well serve as a model for similar study plans on other 

 poems which are commonly read in school. Evangeline has been chosen because it 

 is such a general favorite. 



OUTLINE OF THE: POEM 



Introduction. This not only gives the background, the forest primeval, but tells 

 the reader that the story which follows is a sad one. Which lines indicate this? 



Part the First 



I. 



(1) "The little village of Grand-Pre" de- 



scribed. 



(2) Description of Evangeline. 



(3) Her home. 



(4) Her accepted lover. 



II. 



(1) The coming of winter. 



(2) The visit of Gabriel and his father to 



Evangeline's home. 



(3) First mention of the English ships. 



(4) 



III. 



(1) 



The notary comes to draw up the mar- 

 riage contract. 



(2) He tells his story of justice. 



(3) The drawing of the contract. 



(4) The last peaceful evening. 



rv. 



(1) The feast of betrothal. 



(2) The gathering at the church. 



( 3 ) The deportation proclaimed. 



"Strife and tumult of angry conten- 

 tion." 

 The rebuke of Father Felician. 



(5) 



(6) Dismay in the village. 



V. 



(1) The deportation. 



(2) Evangeline and Gabriel separated. 



(3) The blazing village. 



(4) Death and burial of Benedict. 



Part the Second 



I. 



(1) The Acadians, "scattered, like flakes of 



snow." 



(2) Rumors of Gabriel. 



(3) Beginning of the long search. 



II. 



(1) The voyage down the Mississippi. 



(2) Gabriel's boat passes the anchored 



raft of the Acadians in the night. 



III. 



(1) Basil the herdsman. 



(2) Meeting of Evangeline with Basil. 



(3) "Gone? is Gabriel gone?" 



(4) The joyous feast of the reunited Aca- 



dians. 



(5) The "olden memories" of Evangeline. 



(6) Evangeline and Basil begin their 



search for Gabriel. 



IV. 



(1) The journey into the Ozarks. 



(2) The sympathy of the Indian woman. 



(3) The Jesuit Mission. 



(4) "Evangeline stayed at the Mission." 



(5) "Yet Gabriel came not." 



(6) The long search continued. 



V. 



(1) The search relinquished. 



(2) Evangeline joins the Sisters of Mercy. 



(3) The city in the grip of pestilence. 



(4) Evangeline's visits to the almshouse. 



(5) She sees Gabriel, dying. 



(6) The farewell. 



TOPICS FOR STUDY 



After the preliminary hasty reading and a subsequent, more careful reading, the 

 following topics should be taken up. It is not necessary to preserve this order. 



(1) Time and Place. What is the historic setting of the poem? Is this correctly and 

 accurately given? 



(2) Characteristics of Acadian people and their mode of life. 



(3) Description. Does the author make you see things? Select especially fine de- 

 scriptive passages. 



(4) Characters. Which Is the best drawn of the characters? Do the> seem real? 

 Are you interested in their troubles? 



(5) Narrative. Is the author a good story-teller? Does his narrative move, or is it 

 halted too frequently? 



(6) Meter. 



(7) Figures of Speech. Are there "Homeric" similes long-sustained comparisons? 

 Does the author prefer. the simile or the metaphor? 



(8) Allusions. Which are more numerous, those from the Bible, from mythology or 

 from history? See that the children understand them all, or much of the force and 

 beauty is lost. 



(9) Unusual words. 



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