Evangeline

Set in 1755 during the Expulsion of the Acadians, this epic poem follows the separation of two lovers, Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse. Following the British displacement of French settlers from Nova Scotia, the protagonists are forced onto different ships and scattered across the American colonies. Evangeline spends her life searching for Gabriel, traveling from the bayous of Louisiana to the wilderness of the Ozarks. The narrative concludes decades later in Philadelphia, where Evangeline, now a Sister of Mercy, finds Gabriel dying in a hospital during an epidemic.

Students of 19th-century American literature and history read this text to understand the mythologizing of the Acadian diaspora. The work provides a specific example of dactylic hexameter and the use of classic poetic structures to depict North American landscapes. Readers walk away with a detailed account of the geographical scale of colonial displacement and the historical tension between British authorities and French-speaking settlers during the Seven Years' War.