Minneapolis is not shy about claiming Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's lyrical characters, Hiawatha and Minnehaha, the mythic figures portrayed in "The Song of Hiawatha." Minnehaha Park, Minnehaha Creek; Hiawatha, Minnehaha, and Longfellow Avenues all owe their namesakes to a poet describing a place he never visited.
Minnehaha this, Hiawatha that. Hundreds of city businesses have named their enterprises after Minnehaha and Hiawatha. Yet the business connection to the mythology and spirit of the Longfellow's poetry remains hidden. Commercialism has adapted the names of Longfellow's characters in name only. The Songs of Hiawatha are long gone down the river. Walk the Hiawatha Corridor and one sees virtually no commercial signage, artwork, or architecture speaking to the imagery of Hiawatha or Minnehaha. Where's Hiawatha? Where's Minnehaha? The answer is more likely to be found in the natural presence of the land than it is in the signs of the times. Mother Earth is undettered by highways that crawl over her belly, by protestors in trees, or by the rumble of trains.
Posted by Streetwalker at January 20, 2004 10:32 AM