Minnehaha Minnehaha Minnehaha is a fictional Native American woman documented in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha". She is the lover of the titular protagonist Hiawatha and comes to a tragic end. The name, often said to mean "laughing water", literally translates to "waterfall" or "rapid water" in Dakota. The figure of Minnehaha inspired later art works such as paintings, sculpture and music. "The Death of Minnehaha" is a frequent subject for paintings. Minnehaha Falls and her death scene inspired themes in the 'New World' symphony by Antonín Dvořák. Longfellow's poem was set in a cantata trilogy,
The Iliad or the Poem of Force The Iliad or the Poem of Force "The Iliad, or The Poem of Force" () is a 24-page essay written in 1939 by Simone Weil. The essay is about Homer's epic poem the "Iliad" and contains reflections on the conclusions one can draw from the epic regarding the nature of force in human affairs. Weil's work was first published in 1940 under the title "L'Iliade ou le poème de la force" in "Les Cahiers du Sud". "Cahiers" has been described as the only significant literary magazine available in the French free zone when the essay was first released. The first