Prior to the influence of Longfellow's poem, historians generally focused on the founding of Halifax (1749) as the beginning of Nova Scotian history. Longfellow's poem shed light on the 150 years of Acadian settlement that preceded the establishment of Halifax.[23]
The Expulsion was planned and executed by the British and New England authorities. Longfellow omitted from the poem New England's involvement in the expulsion. Through his poem, Longfellow defines America as a place of refuge for the exiled Acadians.[23] Longfellow's account was later challenged by historian Francis Parkman, in his book Montcalm and Wolfe (1884). Parkman claimed the real reason for the expulsion was the "influence" held by the French over the Acadians, particularly by Abbé Jean-Louis Le Loutre.[24] American historian John Brebner eventually wrote New England's Outpost (1927), which identified how instrumental New Englanders were in the expulsion of the Acadians.[23][25]
The poem had a powerful impact in defining both Acadian history and identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. More recent scholarship has revealed both the historical misconceptions in the poem and the complexity of the Expulsion and those involved, which the poem obscures.[26] For example, Longfellow's poem depicts Acadia as a utopia and the Acadians as a homogeneous and passive people who are incapable of violence, which ignores the efforts of resistance leader Joseph Broussard and the extensive military history of the Acadians.[27] The poem also allowed for generations of Protestant Anglo-Americans to sympathize with the plight of the Acadians while maintaining anti-Catholic viewpoints. The poem also provided a safe symbolic space for Acadians to develop arguments for more recognition and respect in the United States.[28]
Landmarks and statues
In 1920, at Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia, Acadians reconstructed the French church with a statue of Evangeline in the courtyard. Almost a decade later, in 1929, a statue of Evangeline, posed for by silent Mexican film star Dolores del Río, who starred in the 1929 film Evangeline, was donated to the town of St. Martinville, Louisiana, by the film's cast and crew. In 1934, the first state park in Louisiana was named the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site.[29]
Felix Voorhies wrote the book Acadian Reminiscences: The True Story of Evangeline and other later works of fiction expanded upon the material of the poem, claiming the "real names" of the characters had been "Emmeline LaBiche" (in Longfellow, her full name is Evangeline Bellefontaine) and "Louis Arceneaux" (in the poem, Gabriel Lajeunesse) Lafayette, Louisiana, which supposedly belonged to Gabriel, and the grave of Emmeline in the Perpetual Adoration Garden & Historic Cemetery in St. Martin de Tours Church Square, on Main Street, St. Martinville (the site having been determined for its convenience by local boosters about the turn of the 20th century). "Evangeline Oak" trees in St. Martinville also lay claim to marking the original meeting place of Emmeline and Louis.[30]
Another site claiming to have relation to the historical figures that Evangeline was based upon is the Arceneaux House in Hamshire, Texas, which is marked by a Texas Historical Marker. The house was given to Mary Gadrac Arceneaux, great-great-granddaughter of Louis Arceneaux by her husband.[31]
Place names
Evangeline has also been the namesake of many places in Louisiana and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. It is also often used as a street name in Acadian communities.
Louisiana
In Louisiana, places named Evangeline include:
- Evangeline Parish, Louisiana
- Evangeline, Louisiana, a community in Acadia Parish where the first oil well in Louisiana was drilled[32][33]
- Evangeline Hall, a residence hall built in 1936 at Louisiana State University
Canada
Places named Evangeline in Canada include, for example:
- Evangeline, Gloucester County, New Brunswick
- Evangeline-Miscouche, a rural community in Prince Edward Island
- Evangeline, a community within Greater Moncton in Westmorland County, New Brunswick
The Evangeline Trail is a historic route in Nova Scotia that traces the Annapolis Valley, ancestral home of the Acadians. The scenic trail is lined by more than a dozen small Acadian villages, running from Grand-Pré, site of the first expulsions, south to Annapolis Royal near the Habitation at Port-Royal, historic site of the original French settlement in North America. The Evangeline Trail ends in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on the southwest coast.
Film
There have also been numerous film adaptations of the poem Evangeline. Evangeline was the first Canadian feature film, produced in 1913 by Canadian Bioscope of Halifax. It was shot in the Annapolis Valley and at Grand-Pré. In 1919, Raoul Walsh made a film based on the poem for 20th Century Fox. It was suggested by and starred his wife Miriam Cooper. The film was one of the duo's biggest hits but is now lost. In 1929, Edwin Carewe made a film version starring Dolores del Río, shot in Louisiana and accompanied by a theme song written by Al Jolson and Billy Rose.
The poem was mentioned in the 1987 film Angel Heart, starring Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro. Evangeline is also referenced in the 2009 Disney film The Princess and the Frog, wherein a Cajun firefly named Raymond falls in love with Evangeline, who appears as a star. Following his death, they are reunited and appear side by side in the night sky.
Music and musical theatre
Evangeline has been the subject of numerous songs:
- A popular song in French titled "Evangeline" was written in 1971 by Michel Conte. Originally sung by Isabelle Pierre, a version performed by Annie Blanchard won the ADISQ award for most popular song in 2006.[34]
- Robbie Robertson of The Band wrote the song "Evangeline", performed with Emmylou Harris. In his lyrics, Evangeline is a girl from the Maritimes who awaits her absent lover in Louisiana, but the storyline and time period differ from Longfellow's original. Another Robertson song, "Acadian Driftwood" from 1975, was also influenced by Longfellow's poem.[35]
- A half-hour suite of guitar music by guitarist and composer Loren Mazzacane Connors, based on scenes in the Longfellow story, was released as a compact disc titled Evangeline (RoadCone, 1998), with a title track vocal by Suzanne Langille.
- Indie folk artist Tony Halchak released an EP titled A Tale of Acadie in 2011, based on the poem but told from Gabriel's point of view.[36]
The poem was first adapted into a theatrical musical in 1874, as Evangeline; or, The Belle of Acadia, which was a Broadway success through the late 19th century.[37]
The Canadian folk singer-songwriter Susan Crowe mentions the "statue of Evangeline" in her song "Your One and Only Life", the first track on an album entitled The Door to the River released in 1996.
A 1999 adaptation by Paul Taranto and Jamie Wax, Evangeline: The Musical, resulted in a 1999 cast album, and a Shreveport, Louisiana production of this version was broadcast in 2000 by PBS.
A 2013 musical adaptation, by Canadian Ted Dykstra, premiered in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,[38] and was revived in 2015 in Prince Edward Island and in Alberta at Edmonton's Citadel Theatre. The production featured Brent Carver as the father.[39]
An opera based on Evangeline, composed by Colin Doroschuk, debuted in 2012 in reduced concert form, and was first performed in full in 2014 at Opéra-Théâtre de Rimouski.[40] Doroschuk had previously been a member, with his brothers, of the Canadian pop band Men Without Hats.[40]
Edmonton Opera's Brian Deedrick directed an original musical version of Evangeline, written by playwright Winn Bray and composer Tom Doyle, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for the Mount Royal College theatre, in 2000.
The poem was mentioned by the band Highly Suspect in the closing song of their 2022 album "The Midnight Demon Club". The song is titled Evangeline after the poem, and mentions the characters: "Call me Gabriel and you're my Evangeline"
Other
- The opening phrase of the poem, "This is the forest primeval", has entered the cultural lexicon.
- The Evangeline League operated as a minor-league baseball circuit (primarily in Louisiana) in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.
- A depiction of Evangeline from Longfellow's poem was incorporated into the Dominion Atlantic Railway logo along with the text "Land of Evangeline Route".[41] Additionally, there was once a Via Rail train known as the "Evangeline" that ran from Halifax to Yarmouth, but it ended in 1990.
- VIA Rail’s “Evangeline Park” a passenger dome / observation / sleeping car. All but one of these Park Cars can be traced to Canadian National or Provincial parks, except for Evangeline Park. Information from Ian Thom's book "Murals from a Great Canadian Train" suggest that it was named for the Evangeline Memorial Park established by the Dominion Atlantic Railway, which is now the Grand Pré National Historic Site in Nova Scotia.[42]
- L'Évangeline was also an important daily newspaper in New Brunswick, from 1887 to 1982.
- Evangeline Downs is a horse racing track located near Lafayette, Louisiana.
- The 1999 musical version of Evangeline was performed in 2014 at the Conseil Acadien de Par-en-Bas theatre in Tusket, Nova Scotia. An actor travelled from Louisiana to perform the role of Gabriel.[43]
- Historical flaws in the poem (and in the Voorhies work) are revealed, as there is no record of the surnames "LaBiche", "Bellefontaine", nor "Lajeunesse" in any of the censuses taken of the Acadians.[44]
- Carrie Jenkins Harris's final novel A modern Evangeline (1896) is a nod to the poem.[45]
