Evangeline is Longfellow's epic historical love poem-based loosely on American and Canadian history. Subtitled "A Tale of Acadie" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poem traces the tragic tale of titular heroine Evangeline. She was separated from her husband and reunited with him after years of traveling and searching not unlike the story of Ulysses. Setting and culture are especially poignant themes in Longfellow's poem. At the outset, the poet establishes the tranquility of Acadie and then later details the hardships of life in North America and especially the French and Cajun cultures.

In Part One, Canto 3, Longfellow writes of the " the tremulous tides of the ocean." In Canto 4, Evangeline cries out to Gabriel with a "tremulous voice" and similarly in Canto 5 the Acadian peasants sing with "tremulous lips." In Part 2, Evangeline again has a "tremulous accent," and in Canto 3 of Part Two, Longfellow describes the "tremulous gleam of the moonlight," again using the word to describe both human and natural phenomena. Signifying the condition of trembling, the word evokes anxiety, fear, trepidation, and even epileptic seizure. The sense of impending doom pervading the poem and the theme of death and travesty are encapsulated by this word, used repeatedly but judiciously by Longfellow. When Longfellow uses the word tremulous to describe the tides of the ocean and the gleam of the moonlight, he personifies those natural elements to connect Evangeline's experiences with the natural world.

The phrase "like the tremulous tides of the ocean" is a simile: Longfellow here compares Evangeline's body with the undulating tides using the word "like" to denote the comparison. The phrase "the infinite meadows of heaven" is a metaphor for a starry night (Part One, Canto 3). Also in Part One Stanza 3, Longfellow alludes to fairy tales about goblins but also to Christian scripture and legend: "how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in the stable." When Longfellow describes the statue of Justice in Part One, Stanza 3 the poet uses personification: "a brazen statue of Justice / Stood in the public square, upholding the scales in its left hand." The statue is depicted as being human.

The mood of "Evangeline" is romantically tragic, full of emotion and suspense. The poet's use of natural imagery creates the romantic tone, but the motifs also signal tragedy.