Final answer:
The excerpts from Longfellow's work use a trochaic meter, characterized by a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.
Step-by-step explanation:
The excerpts from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Hiawatha’s Childhood" use a trochaic meter.
A trochaic foot consists of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one, which is a falling rhythm. When we analyze the lines 'By the shores of Gitche Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water,' each line starts with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one, fitting the pattern of a trocheic meter. Lines of poetry often have a set number of feet, with four feet making a tetrameter and five making a pentameter. However, while poets strive for a particular meter, perfect regularity can be rare as they often include variations to maintain natural speech patterns and add interest to the poem.