William Russell Sweet - Carved Wood Hutch Cabinet Themed For Longfellow's Poem "Song of Hiawatha"

Carved Wood Hutch Cabinet Themed For Longfellow's Poem "Song of Hiawatha"

• William Russell Sweet's wood carved hutch cabinet 1896

• William Russell Sweet's wood carved hutch cabinet- panel view

• William Russell Sweet's wood carved hutch cabinet- panel view

• William Russell Sweet's wood carved hutch cabinet- panel view

• William Russell Sweet's wood carved hutch cabinet- panel view

• William Russell Sweet's wood carved chairs

William Russell Sweet described each section of “The Song of Hiawatha” from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which influenced him while creating his artwork and carving the individual panels that comprise the hutch cabinet:

(WRS) "Hiawatha was troubled because his people had no way to record the great events of their life and history, or to give the names of the honored dead, or to remember the wisdom of their ancestors, he showed them how to make picture-writing."

• From Section XIV (Picture Writing)
• "…Such as these the shapes they painted

On the birch-bark and the deer-skin;…" “…Thus it was that Hiawatha, In his wisdom taught the people All the mysteries of painting, All the art of Picture-Writing, On the smooth bark of the birch-tree, On the white skin of the reindeer, On the grave-posts of the village…”

(WRS) "Hiawatha traveled far to the west, to the land of the Dacotahs, to woo Minnehaha, the daughter of the Arrow Maker. Just before reaching the Arrow Maker’s wigwam, he stopped to shoot a deer to bring as a present."

• From Section X (Hiawatha’s Wooing)
• “…To his bow he whispered, "Fail not!"

To his arrow whispered, "Swerve not!" Sent it singing on its errand, To the red heart of the roebuck; Threw the deer across his shoulder, And sped forward without pausing…”

(WRS) "Kwasind, “the very strong man”, was killed by envious dwarfs as he was floating, asleep, down the river in his canoe. They threw pine cones at him (the only things that could harm him) hitting him on his one vulnerable spot (the top of his head) and he toppled, dead, out of his canoe."

• From Section XVIII (The Death of Kwasind)
• “…Sideways fell into the river,

Plunged beneath the sluggish water Headlong, as an otter plunges; And the birch canoe, abandoned, Drifted empty down the river, Bottom upward swerved and drifted: Nothing more was seen of Kwasind…”

(WRS) "Hiawatha called on the birch tree to furnish the bark for his canoe, on the cedar for its boughs for the ribs of the canoe, on the fir tree for its resin to make the canoe water-tight, on the tamarack for its fibers to sew the birch bark, on the hedgehog for its quills for the decoration of the canoe."

• From Section VII (Hiawatha’s Sailing)
• …"Give me of your bark, O Birch-tree!

Of your yellow bark, O Birch-tree!..I a light canoe will build me,…

…"Give me of your boughs, O Cedar! Of your strong and pliant branches, My canoe to make more steady, Make more strong and firm beneath me!..."

…"Give me of your roots, O Tamarack! Of your fibrous roots, O Larch-tree! My canoe to bind together,…”

…"Give me of your balm, O Fir-tree! Of your balsam and your resin, So to close the seams together That the water may not enter,…”

…"Give me of your quills, O Hedgehog! All your quills, O Kagh, the Hedgehog! I will make a necklace of them, Make a girdle for my beauty, And two stars to deck her bosom!..."

(WRS) "Hiawatha set out to catch the sturgeon, Nahma. He lowered his line, made of twisted cedar bark, and challenged Nahma to take the hook."

• From Section VIII (Hiawatha Fishing)
• …”Take my bait," cried Hiawatha,

Dawn into the depths beneath him, "Take my bait, O Sturgeon, Nahma! Come up from below the water, Let us see which is the stronger!" And he dropped his line of cedar Through the clear, transparent water…”