Evangeline

In Boston in 1847 American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published Evangeline, an epic poem that became widely popular. It tells the story of two lovers, Evangeline and Gabriel, who were separated during the expulsion of the Acadians. Gabriel’s exile condemns Evangeline to a lifetime of wandering. Nun-like in her service to the poor, Longfellow’s Evangeline finds Gabriel as he lies destitute and dying. The poem became for the Acadian people a foundational myth tied to their identity.