Chapter 3: Early Native American Poetry

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

            To start my post about early Native American poetry, I decided to share my all-time favorite poem by William Carlos Williams.  This poem frustrated so many of my friends in high school, yet I am as entranced, dumbfounded, and filled with excitement today as I was over a decade ago.

            I still cannot understand Williams’ intent, and I don’t think that I want to.  I tend to shy away from online analyses because I enjoy the mystery in trying to unravel the imagery.

            One of the reasons behind my adoration for this poem is because of the meaning I find each time I read it.  My understanding tends to vary depending on my mood, my surroundings and other factors.  Perhaps though, the most significant issue related to this poem is the memory I have of debating it with my mother.

            We are very similar my mother and I, but we sharply disagreed when it came to this poem.  I remember the satisfaction in flustering her with my interpretation and her walking away because for the first time, I felt like she viewed my as an intellectual adult.  Since then she has ‘schooled’ me multiple times on other poems and works of art, but the memory of that debate is what makes this poem special.  Early Native American poetry is rooted in meaning making events such as this but, “…no body of American literature receives less attention in our classrooms.” (29)

            Poems, like songs, carry spiritual, religious and cultural meanings. Particular tribal groups would create and use poems for specific purposes.  Goebel provides a list of categories that many of these poems fit into:

·       Religious songs

·       Hunting songs

·       Medicine songs

·       Dream songs

·       Lullabies

·       Gambling/game songs

·       Personal achievement songs

·       Love songs

·       War songs

·       Social dance songs

·       Honor songs (30)

The author then goes on to express various ideas on how to read Native American poetry for non-native classrooms. 

            As a teacher in a Jicarilla Apache school, introducing the meaning behind the poems may appear to be a task that carries little value as the students are well aware of what the poems are used for.

            An idea that I did take away from this section was an activity that looked into the elements found in Native American poetry.  Some of the elements listed below can be found independently or with others depending upon the meaning or the author’s intent.  The most common elements are:

·       Repetition and parallel structure

·       Concrete natural images

·       Conciseness of sentence length and length o song

·       Frequently reflect a spiritual commitment, even in humorous songs

·       Imply a tribal, public audience that already understands context

·       Avoid the personal intellectualizing of much European and American poetry (33).

            At this time, I must be completely honest.  Until this chapter, I was grossly unaware of culturally relevant poetry as a form of literature that could be used in my instruction; partly because I have little to no exposure to it and partly because of my ignorance to its existence.  The chapter ends with a quote that sums up my sheepish feelings, “If you have an idea in mind of what ‘Indian Literature’ is, I suggest you reconsider” – Wendy Rose (37)