SOURCE: “The Hiawatha Saga: Bayard Taylor's Possible Contribution,” in Colby Library Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 4, December, 1981, pp. 256-58.

In the following essay, Berry suggests that Longfellow's poem may have been influenced by the work of Bayard Taylor, who apparently also used Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's Algic Researches in his poetry.

When first published in 1855, The Song of Hiawatha stirred a storm of interest. Four thousand copies of the work were sold that November 10 when it initially appeared on bookstore shelves, and within half a year the sale had reached more than 50,000 copies. Critics also took an interest in The Song of Hiawatha, some focusing on a controversy over the origin of the work, a controversy that brought Longfellow himself into the debate. Some critics said that Hiawatha was indebted to the Finnish epic Kalevala. Longfellow denied this, but he did acknowledge borrowing some of his material on Indian legends from...