The Song of Hiawatha is an epic poem which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his love for Minnehaha, a Dakota woman. Events in the story are set in the Pictured Rocks area on the south shore of Lake Superior. Poem is based on oral traditions surrounding the figure of Manabozho, but it also contains innovations.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was an American poet and educator whose best works include Paul Revere's Ride, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was also the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and was one of the Fireside Poets from New England.