American Indian Love Lyrics And Other Verse

The verses selected reflect a variety of subjects, including friendship, sadness, nature, special places and religious beliefs. Although the book is old, it remains a notable source of information on Native American verse. The selections were chosen by Nellie L. Barnes and are sourced from many tribes. Barnes was interested in literature and edited other collections, such as Flowers of Remembrance, In Harbor, and American Indian Verse. Not much is known about the life of Nellie L. Davis. She wrote into Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly, described as "the leading and most outrageous of the radical spiritualist magazines, featuring the political battles of Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927), the first woman nominated to run for president of the United States, in 1872." She was from Louisville, Kentucky, and later married J. B. Barnes. This new edition is dedicated to Lou Cordia, recognizing his longtime interest in Native American culture.

PREFACE The influence of American Indian song-literature has touched both the music and the literature of contemporary America. Those writers who use Indian themes are legion. Mary Austin has gone farthest, perhaps, among the writers of the day in relating her poetic work to the native rhythms of America. These native rhythms pulsed through the songs of our Red Men for centuries before our Christian era. The very beautiful Aztec and the Inca poetry belong to the earlier and more highly developed civilizations. Since it is the purpose of this volume to treat of the more primitive forms of rhythm, it has seemed best to limit the illustrations to songs from tribes north of Mexico. The late Mrs. Natalie Curtis Burlin's collection of songs in The Indians' Book makes that volume quite the most representative source book for the study of Indian lyrics. The original texts of unusual range in poetic patterns, the musical settings, the interlinear translations, and the accompanying narratives add a rich context to free translations of genuine literary merit. Among other contributions to Indian song-literature, the studies of Miss Alice Cunningham Fletcher, Mr. Carlos Troyer, and Doctor Washington Matthews hold a particular charm for the investigator. Mrs. Austin's notable work, The American Rhythm, an analysis of the primitive poetic impulse, with illustrations from her own translations, came from the press after the writer's study of Indian poetic rhythms had been under way for some years. The conclusions for this volume have been limited, therefore, to those about poetic forms. The writer is greatly indebted to Mrs. Austin for her generous interest in earlier work and especially for her helpful criticism of this study. N. B.

The Handbook of Native American Literature is a unique, comprehensive, and authoritative guide to the oral and written literatures of Native Americans. It lays the perfect foundation for understanding the works of Native American writers. Divided into three major sections, Native American Oral Literatures, The Historical Emergence of Native American Writing, and A Native American Renaissance: 1967 to the Present, it includes 22 lengthy essays, written by scholars of the Association for the Study of American Indian Literatures. The book features reports on the oral traditions of various tribes and topics such as the relation of the Bible, dreams, oratory, humor, autobiography, and federal land policies to Native American literature. Eight additional essays cover teaching Native American literature, new fiction, new theater, and other important topics, and there are bio-critical essays on more than 40 writers ranging from William Apes (who in the early 19th century denounced white society's treatment of his people) to contemporary poet Ray Young Bear. Packed with information that was once scattered and scarce, the Handbook of Native American Literature -a valuable one-volume resource-is sure to appeal to everyone interested in Native American history, culture, and literature. Previously published in cloth as The Dictionary of Native American Literature