ACL 343 Origins of American Poetry PDF

ACL 343 Origins of American Poetry ----------------------------------------------------- AMER 373 American Poetry I Fall Semester 2024-2025  General Introduction ------------------------------------- Trans-Atlantic Explorations a...

ACL 343 Origins of American Poetry ----------------------------------------------------- AMER 373 American Poetry I Fall Semester 2024-2025  General Introduction ------------------------------------- Trans-Atlantic Explorations and Colonization The beginnings of European trans-Atlantic explorations (from 1492 onwards): Columbus (to discover a new sea route to India and China), Amerigo Vespucci (the first explorer to recognize America as a new continent) other early Spanish and Portugese explorers Various early expeditions made by English explorers Hugh Willoughby, Martin Frobisher, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh and others to the New World throughout the 16th century (from the 1550s to the 1580s) for the discovery of a northern (arctic) sea route to Asia, geographical observation, territorial exploration, colonization and settlement.  The Virginia Colony The English nobleman and explorer Sir Walter Raleigh’s first attempt to establish a colony in 1585 on Roanoke Island off the coast of modern North Carolina, but it failed. Then, in 1607/1608, Captain John Smith (1580-1631) was commissioned by a group of London merchants, who had set up a joint stock company called ‘the London Virginia Company,’ to establish a colony on the eastern shores of America. The area where the colony was to be established had been originally named ‘Virginia’ in 1584/1585 by Sir Walter Raleigh after Queen Elizabeth, ‘the Virgin Queen’ of England.  The London Virginia Company had been authorized by the King to hold the monopoly of trade and colonization all along the Atlantic seaboard of North America (from Virginia to New England). The original settlers of the Virginia colony were about 140 farmers, craftsmen, and labourers from England. However, in later years, with the arrival of new settlers, the colony grew in size and population. The Plymouth Colony The second English colony in America was ‘the Plymouth Colony’ in New England. Established in 1620 in the south of what is Boston today by a group of Puritans, commonly called ‘the pilgrims’ (Their leaders were called ‘the Pilgrim Fathers’). The Puritans had arrived in New England in November 1620 after a dangerous three-month voyage across the Atlantic; Their ship, by which they had crossed the Atlantic, was called The Mayflower, which has now become a legend in American culture and history. The Mayflower The Pilgrims after landing  After the pilgrims, more Puritan immigrants began to arrive in New England. They settled in what is today the Boston area and established their own colony in 1630, called The Massachusetts Bay Colony. The establishment of new colonies with different social, religious and political attitudes continued throughout the 17th century from Rhode Island and Connecticut down to Maryland, the Carolinas and elsewhere. The Puritans and Puritanism As a community, the New England Puritans were actually part of the fundamentalist Protestants in England. Originally, back in England, the Puritans rejected the new liturgical and structural reforms which Elizabeth I had introduced in the 1560s to make the Anglican Church, that is, the Church of England (Ecclesia Anglicana) as the only authorized church in religion. They wished to practise unyieldingly what they claimed to be the pure and original Christianity in the Bible, preached by Christ and his disciples. Therefore, they called themselves “Puritans” ( also ‘Separatists’).  So as separatists or dissidents in England, they were subjected to political and legal oppression; Consequently, they faced severe penalties. So, a group of Puritans (the Plymouth pilgrims) decided to emigrate to New England and set up their own free Puritan colony there. For them, America was a perfect choice for their religious freedom and also for their establishment of a fundamentalist Christian republic on the principles of Christ’s teachings in the Bible. In order to lay down the foundations of their new Christian republic, they signed a unanimous agreement, which they called ‘The Mayflower Compact;’ The Mayflower Compact embodies some basic principles of a democratic administration and can, therefore, be regarded in American history as a precursor of the American Constitution. According to this agreement, decisions were to be taken by mutual consent between the governor and the governed; Individual rights and freedom were to be preserved and upheld.  Puritan Mindset and Psychology In order to understand Puritan poetry and any Puritan writing, it is essential first to understand the mindset and psychology of the Puritans: The Puritans compared themselves to the Jews in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. Like the Jews who had been oppressed and persecuted under the tyranny of Egyptian pharaohs, the Puritans believed that, while in England, they had been subjected to a similar suffering by the government for their rejection of the policies of the Anglican Church. They held the view that their sufferings were similar to those of the oppressed Jews in Egypt. Then, they interpreted their departure from England as an exodus similar to the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Similarly, their painful journey across the Atlantic was like the wanderings of the Jews in the wilderness before they reached their promised land.  They regarded their arrival and settlement in New England as the settlement of the Jews in Canaan (Judea), which was ‘‘The Promised Land;’’ Accordingly, they called New England ‘‘New English Canaan.’’ Like the Old Testament Jews, the colonial Puritans believed that they were God’s chosen people. Therefore, in their ways of life and work, the Puritans imitated the patriarchal community of the Jews in the Old Testament; Just as the patriarch in the Old Testament, such as Moses or any prophet, was the head of the community, so the Puritans regarded their governor as the leader and protector of their colony. In short, in their faith, social identity and solidarity, moral and social values, and new colonial settlement, the Puritans followed a fundamentalist, dogmatic, and closely Bible-bound way of life. So their republican politics was essentially based on a fundamentalist Christian understanding and practice.  The Puritan Idea of God and Nature For the Puritans, every occurrence in life was understood as evidence of God’s intervention and presence; So, in their writings, they described an incident or a situation as a work of ‘God’s providence’ or of ‘the just hand of God;’ For instance, here are some remarks by William Bradford (1590- 1657), the leader and governor of the Plymouth Colony, in which he clearly stresses the idea of divine intervention and presence: 1.‘‘Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they [the pilgrims]fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof...’’ 2. ‘’Any trouble they may have faced such as sickness, death, suffering, pains, and so forth was considered to be God’s punishment for their sins;’’ 3. ‘‘...for they noted it to be the just hand of God...’’.  The Puritans considered the universe to be the reflection of God’s power and absolute authority. For them, the universe is a structure harmoniously and hierarchically constructed by God (the underworld, the natural world, the world of spirits and angels, that is, Heaven); This is because the whole creation is the reflection of God and represents divine immanence (God’s full presence in all the creation). Accordingly, for instance, the beauty of nature mirrors God’s infinitely greater beauty and glory; For instance, the poet Anne Bradstreet sees the beauty of the autumn lanscape in New England as a reflection of God’s divine beauty:  1 Sometime now past in the Autumnal Tide, When Phoebus wanted but one hour to bed, The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride, Were gilded o’re by his rich golden head. Their leaves and fruits seem’d painted but was true Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hew, Rapt were my senses at this delectable view. 2 I wist not what to wish, yet sure thought I, If so much excellence abide below, How excellent is he that dwells on high? Whose power and beauty by his works we know. Sure he is goodness, wisdom, glory, light, That hath this under world so richly dight. More Heaven than Earth was here, no winter and no night.  Thus, for the Puritan mind, the physical world (Nature) becomes the embodiment of the divine spirit; a symbolic book inscribed by God for human beings to read and understand it metaphorically as the representation of divine power. This means that humans could perceive and experience God in transcendence—i.e. God seen and understood metaphorically through every object and phenomenon in nature. In other words, the Puritans strongly believed that a closer contact with God could be experienced through Nature. Therefore, besides the Bible as God’s book, nature becomes God’s second ‘‘book’’ that could be read for signs of God’s presence.  However, the Puritans also believed that, since man and nature are fallen and corrupt due to the Original Sin (the Adam-and-Eve sin), nature has become the world of evil; Because of man’s intellectual deficiency due to his fall, interpretations and perceptions of nature can be erroneous and inaccurate. Such intellectual deficiency causes wrong-doing, and this is sinfulness. Consequently, the Puritans were terrified of sinfulness; So they constantly prayed for salvation and sought redemption from their sins. To wrap up: All this Puritan theosophy (contemplations and ideas on God’s physical and metaphysical presence, spiritual redemption and salvation) constitutes the thematic and ideological essence of the Puritan culture and thought in early colonial New England. ©  Puritan Poetry The Puritan American poets in the early colonial period (the 1630s into the 1700s) had no literary connection with each other. They did not write out of mutual influence and inspiration. Their poetry was completely personal, expressing their religious feelings, spirituality, hopes, joys, fears, grieves, daily life, moral values, attitude towards the natives, and their experiences of the American geography as a wilderness and also as a paradisical landscape.  Thematically, Puıritan poetry is not much varied and innovative, except in the case of Anne Bradstreet (1612- 1672), who wrote poems about herself, her family, and her own daily life. The Puritan poet regarded himself/herself as the transmitter of his/her ideas and feelings that were aroused by his/her mystical (spiritual) understanding of nature as God’s geat work. In other words, s/he considered his/her poetical task to be the expression of what s/he believed to be truths and mysteries embodied in the natural world. As a critic has pointed out, the Puritans valued and practised ‘‘[a] polysemous reading of natural facts.’’ Therefore, Puritan spiritual poetry functioned as “[a] mode of instruction, or edification.”  For the Puritans, spiritual poetry was a means in order to “equip themselves for living a spiritual life both in this world and in the next.” In this regard, among the common themes of spiritual poetry were God’s mercifulness or anger, man’s struggle for salvation, the corruption and transitoriness of this fallen world, worldly agonies and spiritual self-torture, death and yearning for union with God, spiritual trascendence (metaphysics of existence), and various other moral and spiritual issues. In this regard, Puritan poetry is what one may call fundamentalistic, reactionary, and doctrinal.  Except in Bradstreet’s poetry, the individual is absent in Puritan poetry. As for the kinds of Puritan poetry, mostly they wrote in the form of elegies, historical narratives, and allegorical narratives from the Bible; In terms of poetical qualities, Puritan poetry is not very refined and thematically limited, perhaps except Anne Bradstreet’s poetry. However, through their poetry the Puritan poets shed much light on the culture and society of early Puritan America.  The Poems for Study A) Anne Bradstreet’s poems: “The Prologue” (autobiographical; gender awareness; defiance of male dominance; rebellious). “Contemplations” (Puritan spirituality and transcendence; romantic; Nature as the epiphany or physical manifestation of God). “To My Dear and Loving Husband” (erotic, gender, personal emotions, sanctity of marriage, devotion and love). B) Michael Wigglesworth’s poem “The Day of Doom” (thematically, Puritan spirituality; man’s sinfulness; Christ’s mercy and man’s salvation). Read only the first 10 stanzas. C) Edward Taylor’s poem “Meditation 22” (an extremely emotional expression of spirituality; self-chastisement or self-torture for his worldliness and sins; radical Puritanism expressed). © *******************  Originaly born in England in 1612, ANNE Bradstreet emigrated in 1630 to BRADSTREET America with her husband and (1612-1672) family. Her husband, Simon Bradstreet, was an active political member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, established in the Boston- Cambridge area. This enabled her to be well known in the colony; Back in England, she had been brought up in an English aristocratic and cultivated family circle.  Her father, Thomas Dudley, who was the second governor of the Colony from 1640 to 1650; A learned and literary-minded politician, who also wrote some poetry. So Anne Bradstreet was a home-educated poet, well read in classical Greek and Roman literature, history, and philosophy as well as in early Christian philosophical and religious writings. As a Puritan, she strongly held the Puritan belief that God is reflected in the natural world and that the beauty of nature is to be understood as the revelation of God’s divine beauty; For instance, the opening two sections of her long meditative and spiritual poem Contemplations:  1 Sometime now past in the Autumnal Tide, When Phoebus wanted but one hour to bed, The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride, Were gilded o’re by his rich golden head. Their leaves and fruits seem’d painted but was true Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hew, Rapt were my senses at this delectable view. 2 I wist not what to wish, yet sure thought I, If so much excellence abide below, How excellent is he that dwells on high? Whose power and beauty by his works we know. Sure he is goodness, wisdom, glory, light, That hath this under world so richly dight. More Heaven than Earth was here, no winter and no night.  For her, “God, Nature, and man are in …harmony.” Therefore, she saw an intimate relationship between man and God in the closed world of Nature. She held a mystical view of nature and regarded it as a book inscribed by God for humans to read. in other words, for her, God revealed himself through nature but could not be defined or pictured in mind. In agreement with the Puritan doctrine of transcendence, she believed in ‘‘the existence of a transcendent God.’’ The Puritan doctrine of transcendence The Puritans believed that, since God could not be pictured in any form in the mind, nature could surely provide for ‘‘closer contact’’ with God.  Accordingly, for them, ‘‘Understood as the creation of God’s originating Logos [that is, God’s all-creative mind], nature was God’s work, his second book, a companion to the Bible. Nature could therefore be read for signs of God’s presence and of his providential truth.’’ In other words, through a metaphorical understanding and experience of nature, God and his truth could be discovered, experienced and understood. (Note: This idea of metaphysical transcendence (attaining to God through a metaphorical vision of nature) constitutes the essence of Transcendentalism in American literature). Bradstreet’s Poetry Bradstreet’s poems were published in 1650 in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America.  Her poetry displays a complex set of themes, religious sentiments and self traumas, wifely eroticism, and philosophical ideas (God’s manifestation through nature and the structure of the universe; her piety and also her secularity; her feminine illusions, her internal conflicts for salvation and worldly life…) While on the one hand she voiced ideas of Christian metaphysics (God’s will and power, man’s relationship with God through Nature), on the other she was concerned, through a secular attitude, with femininity and the wordly reality of human existence and emotions. In her secular and explicitly erotic poems, she presents herself as a self-emancipated woman “outside the Puritan culture”; For instance, in her explicitly erotic poem ‘To My Dear and Loving Husband,’ she goes beyond the conventional concept of marriage and unreservedly expresses her eroticism and femininity:  To My Dear and Loving Husband If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee. If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quench, Nor ought but love from thee give recompense. Thy love is such I can no way repay; The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. Then while we live, in love let’s so persever, That when we live no more, we may live ever.  One may assuredly assert that she was thus liberal- minded enough to reveal her human, worldly and feminine sentiments in her poetry; She clearly displays her married eroticism and expresses her unshakable loyalty and submission to her husband; In her feminine and erotic outspokenness, her poetry becomes somewhat socially and morally radical since it brings to the fore the female voice in a male dominated society of Puritan bigotry and austerity. As a Puritan, she regarded marriage as a kind of secure social covenant (agreement) between wife and husband. In agreement with Puritan morality, she valued devotion, faithfulness, full submissiveness to male supremacy as the virtues expected from a Puritan wife;  The Prologue To sing of wars, of captains, and of kings, I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Of cities founded, commonwealths begun, Who says my hand a needle better fits. For my mean pen are too superior things; A poet’s pen all scorn I should thus wrong, Or how they all, or each their dates have run, For such despite they cast on female wits. Let poets and historians set these forth. If what I do prove well, it won’t advance, My obscure lines shall not so dim their worth. They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance. But when my wond’ring eyes and envious heart But sure the antique Greeks were far more mild, Great Bartas’ sugar’d lines do but read o’er, Else of our sex, why feigned they those nine Fool, I do grudge the Muses did not part And poesy made Calliope’s own child? ‘Twixt him and me that over-fluent store. So ‘mongst the rest they placed the arts divine, A Bartas can do what a Bartas will But this weak knot they will full soon untie. But simple I according to my skill. The Greeks did nought but play the fools and lie. Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are. From school-boy’s tongue no rhet’ric we expect, Men have precedency and still excel; Nor yet a sweet consort from broken strings, It is but vain unjustly to wage war. Nor perfect beauty where’s a main defect. Men can do best, and women know it well. My foolish, broken, blemished Muse so sings, Preeminence in all and each is yours; And this to mend, alas, no art is able, Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours. ‘Cause Nature made it so irreparable. And oh ye high flown quills that soar the skies, Nor can I, like that fluent sweet-tongued Greek And ever with your prey still catch your praise, Who lisp’d at first, in future times speak plain. If e’er you deign these lowly lines your eyes, By Art he gladly found what he did seek, Give thyme or parsley wreath, I ask no bays. A full requital of his striving pain. This mean and unrefined ore of mine Will make your glist’ring gold but more to shine. Art can do much, but this maxim’s most sure: A weak or wounded brain admits no cure.  Her ‘’feminist’’ or feminine self-reliance is expressed in her poem ‘’The Prologue,’’ which is her preface to her poetry; Though a protest poem raising the issue of gender equality in literary creativity and intellectuality, she essentially accepts female submission to male supremacy in social life: … I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits. A Poet’s Pen all scorn I should thus wrong, For such despite they cast on female wits. If what I do prove well, it won’t advance, They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance. But sure the antique Greeks were far more mild, Else of our Sex, why feigned they those nine And poesy made Calliope’s own child? So ‘mongst the rest they placed the Arts divine, But this weak knot they will full soon untie. The Greeks did nought but play the fools and lie. Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are. Men have precedency and still excel; It is but vain unjustly to wage war. Men can do best, and women know it well. Preeminence in all and each is yours; Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours.  And oh ye high flown quills that soar the skies, And ever with your prey still catch your praise, If e’er you deign these lowly lines your eyes, Give thyme or Parsley wreath, I ask no Bays. This mean and unrefined ore of mine Will make your glist’ring gold but more to shine. So, the poem reveals a defiant spirit to assert female creativity, intellectuality, and literary capacity: However, while strongly upholding her feminine freedom and poetical creativity, she plays down her rebellious attitude but admits male dominance according to the Puritan fundamentalism and reactionary attitude.  Besides her poems as such, dealing with her family life, personal feelings, and femininity, Bradstreet also wrote allegorical poems of spirituality, redemption, piety and moral excellence. Among this set of poems, her long and meditative poem Contemplations is important in that, throughout the poem, she problematizes the dichotomy of man’s attachment to worldly life on the one hand and his spiritual yearning to be united with God in eternity; Throughout the poem, Bradstreet meditates on God’s power and glory, the transience of human life in this world, and the promises of joy in the next world. Therefore, the whole poem becomes “an extended religious meditation;”  Her descriptions of the sunset, the trees, the autumn landcsape, and so the beauty of Nature indicate her fundamental Puritan belief that God is reflected in his creation; Her vision of Nature is based on a typical New England landscape in autumn, which is the season of “the foliage,” that is, the change of New England woods and forests into many different autumn tones of red, yellow, brown, orange, pink, green, and so forth: Sometime now past in the Autumnal Tide, When Phoebus wanted but one hour to bed, The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride, Were gilded o’re by his rich golden head. Their leaves and fruits seem’d painted but was true Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hew, Rapt were my senses at this delectable view. Autumn/Fall Colours (“The Foliage”) in New England  She is emotionally carried away by the thought that in nature she can experience God’s presence; This is a transcendental vision of natüre; The scenic beauty of the natural world (e.g. The Autumn landscape that she describes) arouses profound spirituality and mystical pleasure in her; She enjoys the beauty of the landscape because in it she finds the beauty and creative power of God’s mind and power; Through her enjoyment of the beauty of Nature, she feels she is mystically united with God. ©  MICHAEL Introduction WIGGLESWORTH 1631-1705 Professionally, Wigglesworth was a Puritan preacher, but also demonstrated his poetic talent by his long and spiritual poem The Day of Doom. Originally born in England, Wigglesworth came to America as a child in 1638 with his family, which settled in Connecticut, the colony in Southern New England. For his studies he went up to Harvard in 1647 where he completed his theological and Biblical studies.  Like the fundamentalist and dogmatic Massachusetts Puritans, a fanatic Puritan; Accordingly, obsessed with the idea and fear of sinfulness; strongly believed in the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination; According to the Swiss Protestant theologian John Calvin (1509-1564), a Christian who has absolute faith in Christ, leads a pious and virtuous life in this world, avoids sinfulness, and controls his/her free will may be chosen by God for salvation and eternal happiness in heaven.  Therefore, he was devoted to a Puritanic life of abstinence, absolute faithfulness, devout praying, and charity (i.e. helping the poor and the unfortunate). For him, this world was full of temptations and sinful actions, and mankind was corrupt and evil. Evidently, he was continuously in a state of dilemma and inward conflict. Man’s free will, unless checked by faith in Christ and fear of damnation, can lead him/her into sinfulness and immorality. In this regard, Wigglesdworth was terrified with the idea that the Day of Judgement was fast approaching and that God may already have condemned him to hell. As a clergyman, he was a popular preacher, especially among the New England Puritans.  ‘’The Day of Doom’’ The publication in 1662 of his poem The Day of Doom or A Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgement greatly contributed to his popularity; This poem is a kind of Puritan spiritual epic, based on the Puritanic dogma and vision about man and life in this world. The poem consists of 224 stanzas, each written in eight lines with alternating rhymes. Thematically, it presents a Puritan prospect concerning Christ’s Second Coming (Christ’s Re-Incarnation) to reward the virtuous and punish the wicked;  In writing the poem, he depended on the Gospels (the Nerw Testament) and was much inspired by the Biblical scenes of suffering, destruction, immoral ways of life and human practices. So in the poem he presents an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world—that is, the terrible and catastrophic or cataclysmic end of the world. The poem opens with a horrific description of man’s moral corruption and sinfulness in this world:  The Day of Doom 1. Still was the night, serene and bright, when all Men sleeping lay; Calm was the season, and carnal reason thought so ’twould last for aye. “Soul, take thine ease, let sorrow cease; much good thou hast in store:“ This was their Song, their Cups among, the evening before. A vivid description of man’s immoral life, metaphorically depicted through gluttony (over- eating and drunkenness), lechery (lust and indulgence in sexuality; lasciviousness), pride, in defiance of God, and arrogance;  2. Wallowing in all kind of Sin, vile Wretches lay secure; The best of men had scarcely then their Lamps kept in good ure. Virgins unwise, who through disguise amongst the best were number’d, Had clos’d their eyes; yea, and the Wise through sloth and frailty slumber’d. Humanity completely degenerate due to sensuality, lechery, and absolute addiction to the bodily (sensuous) pleasures; sins of worldly pleasures. slothfulness, defiance of God’s instructions and commandments.  3. Like as of old, when men grew bold, God’s threat’nings to contemn. Who stopt their Ear, and would not hear when Mercy warnéd them, But took their course, without remorse, till God began to pour Destruction the world upon, in a tempestuous show’r; faithlessness, pride, indifference to spiritual self-improvement; God’s punishment of sinful humanity; the apocalyptic end of humanity and the world.  4. Who put away the evil day, and drown’d their cares and fears, Till drown’d were they, and swept away by vengeance unawares; So at the last, whilst men sleep fast in their security, Surpris’d they are in such a snare As cometh suddenly. Then, the sudden, majestic, and terrifying appearance of Christ to the sinful mankind (the Second Coming of Christ) to reward the virtuous and pious Christians and punish the wicked and the sinful (V-XVI):  5. For at midnight breaks forth a light, which turns the night to day, And speedily an hideous cry doth all the world dismay. Sinners awake, their hearts do ache, trembling their loins surpriseth; Amaz’d with fear, by what they hear, each one of them ariseth. The second coming of Christ (Christ’s Re- Incarnation) is heralded by the dawning of a new day, which is the day of doom. Sinful humanity in shame and terror;  6. They rush from beds with giddy heads, and to their windows run. Viewing this light, which shines more bright than doth the noon-day Sun. Straightway appears (they see’t with tears) the Son of God most dread, Who with his Train comes on amain to judge both Quick and Dead. Christ to sit in judgment on the Day of Doom; Sinners are to be punished;  In the rest of the poem are described: the debate between Christ and the sinners, Christ sitting in judgement on the Day of Doom Christ’s condemnation of the sinners, the salvation of the true believers and their ascent to Heaven (Stanzas 219-224). Wigglesworth’s dramatic and horrific description of the damnation and punishment of sinners is contrasted with his praise of the redemption and salvation of the true and chosen faithful (in accordance with the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination).  In the poem “there is a genuine drama of the soul’s internal torment objectified in a succession of vivid images of writhing, screaming, and agonized sinners.” In the end the drama turns into a celebration and joy of salvation, which is brought about by Christ’s self-sacrifice for mankind. As a leading preacher and devoted Puritan, Wigglesworth intended through his poem to warn his readers against sin and worldliness and urge the faithful always to pursue a virtuous and pious life seeking God’s love and forgiveness.  Indeed, the poem reads like a sermon, but then Wigglesworth’s aim was “to enlighten and ‘edify’ his audience” about the glory and power of God. Therefore, he attached much importance to the clarity and paedogogic value of his poem rather than to the poetic quality in expression and imagery. Because of its Puritanic contents, the poem was very popular among his Puritan colonists and also influenced some of his contemporaries such as Edward Taylor. ******  Introduction EDWARD TAYLOR 1642?-1729 Edward Taylor was 26 when he emigrated to America in about 1668. So he may have had some university education in England, and in America he attended Harvard University. Puritanism was also his passionate ideology of faith; Like any fundamentalist or radicalized Puritan, he rejected the practices of the Anglican Church in England.  Therefore, he chose to come to America, which he called a ‘howling wilderness,’ to start a new life along with his fellow Puritans. Professionally he was a minister and a dedicated practitioner of Puritanic worship. As a poet Taylor was very enterprising and extremely creative. Lyrics, elegies, morally didactic poems, and long descriptive and/or narrative poems were among the forms he experimented with. In his poetical style and discourse, he seems to have been greatly influenced by the English Puritan poet George Herbert (1593-1633) as well as by the Metaphysical poet John Donne (1572-1631).  Inspired by the Bible, especially by the psalms and other meditative parts in the Bible, he wrote a series of contemplative poems called ‘’Preparatory Meditations’’. His Preparatory Meditations is a set of over 200 spiritual poems that have no unity; Each poem consists of several 6-line stanzas; However, the dominant theme, especially in the first 49 poems is the poet’s love of Christ (‘my Lord’) and his longing for Christ, expressed in a homoerotic tone;  Meditation 22 When Thy Bright Beams, my Lord, do strike mine Eye, Methinks I then could truly chide outright My Hide-bound Soul that stands so niggardly That scarce a thought gets glorified by’t. My Quaintest metaphors are ragged Stuff, Making the Sun seem like a Mullipuff. In this opening stanza, Taylor, as a poet, feels compelled to praise Christ’s exalted and divine self; Yet he is ashamed that he has been negligent in fulfilling his duty to Christ; Moreover he fears that his words and images of praise will be worthless and useless (‘ragged stuff’) even though he can use the most suitable and wisest expressions (‘my quaintest metaphors’);  It’s my desire.Thou shouldst be glorified: But when Thy Glory shines before mine eye, I pardon Crave, lest my desire be Pride. Or bed Thy Glory in a Cloudy Sky. The Sun grows wan, and Angels palefaced shrink, Before Thy Shine, which I besmear with Ink. Yet, as a fallen human in a fallen world, he lacks the capacity and creatrivity to accomplish his purpose; his poetry cannot justly and adequtely describe Christ’s glory; He sees an extreme disparity or incompatibility between what he can describe as a poet and the powerful brightness of Christ’s divinity;  But shall the Bird sing forth Thy Praise, and shall The little Bee present her thankful Hum? But I who see Thy Shining Glory fall Before mine Eyes, stand Blockish, Dull, and Dumb? Whether I speak or speechless stand, I spy, I fail Thy Glory, therefore pardon Cry. In fact all the creatures in Nature (birds, bees, and so on) sing the praise of Christ in their own ways; As a poet, Taylor should not stay away either from praising God’s glory. However, if he fails in his praise, he will cry for Christ’s forgiveness. © Lydia Howard Huntley Introduction SIGOURNEY Only recently included in the (1791-1865) American literary canon and duly in course syllabuses as a result of the impact of women studies in the West; Her writings represent a large variety of genre and form as well as topic and theme. Especially, her poetry, travel writings, and various other prose writings are of much literary importance.  She lived in a period when, following the Revolution, issues such as slavery, democratic rights and liberties, and social integration (i.e. the assimilation of the Indians, African slaves, and foreign immigrants into American identity) were much debated; In her writings and poetry, she dwelt on these issues and supported racial integration and the creation of a new American nation with racial multiplicity and cultural diversity. She published poems, essays, educational and political articles in newspapers and popular magazines, and thus she reached out the general public and strongly voiced her views. She “hoped that her writings would prompt the nation to live up to its republican and spiritual ideals, especially with respect to the treatment of the disenfranchised, whether slaves, the poor, or Indians.”  Indeed, a crusader of social enlightenment and political unity… For her, a poet’s mission for society was a mission of education and moral as well as political improvement. Especially she was actively involved in the education of girls and set up a school for that purpose in 1814 in Hartford, Connecticut (The American ‘’Türkan Saylan’’!). As an educator and activist, she strongly believed in universal Americanism that valued the racial and cultural integration of society and embraced everybody living on the American soil. Therefore, she strongly opposed the Indian re-location policies of the federal government;  These policies were put into effect from the 1820s onwards as the Westward Expansion bordered on the Indian lands in the Midwest; So the aim was to remove the American native tribes from their traditional lands and settlements and re- locate them in the specially designated ‘reservations,’ that is, a number of areas set aside for the re-settlement of the Indians, mostly in Montana, the Dakotas, and some other states. Many Indian massacres in the process! She upheld the view that the American identity would be based on the principle of ‘’diversity in unity,’’ that is, America as a society culturally and racially diverse but nationally and politically united.  Somewhat romantically but with a strong voice, she emphasized the need for the integration of the natives into a united, multiracial and multicultural American nation. In this regard, in 1822 she published her work on the natives under the title Traits of the Aborigines. The Poem ‘’Indian Names’’ (1834) Sigourney’s best known poem, in which she expresses her political, moral, and social protest at Indian removals.  Indian Names ‘How can the red men be forgotten, while so many of our states and territories, bays, lakes, and rivers, are indelibly stamped by names of their giving?’ 1 Ye say they all have passed away, That noble race and brave, That their light canoes have vanished From off the crested wave; That ’mid the forests where they roamed There rings no hunter shout, But their name is on your waters, Ye may not wash it out. The government’s view that the Indians have all been defeated and exterminated racially during the Indian Wars is false and wrong; The presence of the Indians can never be ruled out! In fact, their names continue to exist in the rivers, lakes, and waterways of the land.  2 ’Tis where Ontario’s billow Like Ocean’s surge is curled, Where strong Niagara’s thunders wake The echo of the world. Where red Missouri bringeth Rich tribute from the west, And Rappahannock sweetly sleeps On green Virginia’s breast. Various place names (toponyms) are mentioned as examples of the Indian names adapted into American English and used commonly: Lake Ontario, Niagara Fall, Missouri River, Rappahannock River; In her references to the places with Indian names, Sigourney describes the places romantically and alludes to their historical, geographical, economic charcateristics;  3 Ye say their cone-like cabins, That clustered o’er the vale, Have fled away like withered leaves Before the autumn gale, But their memory liveth on your hills, Their baptism on your shore, Your everlasting rivers speak Their dialect of yore. The ethnic cleansing (genocide) done by the government forces during the Indian Wars: ‘like withered leaves / Before the autumn gale’; Converted to Christianity by the early colonial settlers; American mountains full of Indian memories; Their language echoing in the sounds of the land’s rivers.  4 Old Massachusetts wears it, Within her lordly crown, And broad Ohio bears it, Amid his young renown; Connecticut hath wreathed it Where her quiet foliage waves, And bold Kentucky breathed it hoarse Through all her ancient caves. The states with adapted Indian names: Massachusetts, Ohio, Connecticut, Kentucky; Historical and geographical references made (the Ohio River, the autumn landscape of Connecticut, the caves of Kentucky); Massachusetts in the lead for American independence; Ohio as a new state; Connecticut and Kentucky famous for their geographic attrractions such as the wonderful autumn colours of the forests in Connecticut.  5 Wachuset hides its lingering voice Within his rocky heart, And Alleghany graves its tone Throughout his lofty chart; Monadnock on his forehead hoar Doth seal the sacred trust, Your mountains build their monument, Though ye destroy their dust. Mountains: Mount Wachusett in Massachusetts, Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia, Monadnock Mountain in New Hampshire and Vermont; Each toponym is described with metaphorical allusions to its geographical, historical, cultural properties: e.g. Monadnock Mountain, snow covered (‘’his forehead hoar’’), famous as a ski place.  6 Ye call these red-browned brethren The insects of an hour, Crushed like the noteless worm amid The regions of their power; Ye drive them from their father’s lands, Ye break of faith the seal, But can ye from the court of Heaven Exclude their last appeal? In fact, the Indians are white America’s native brothers although the colour of their skin is not white; They are not subhuman beings; so not right to call them ‘insects’ and ‘the noteless worm’; The government has violated the agreement made with the Indians (‘Ye break of faith the seal’); yet, divine justice cannot be violated;  7 Ye see their unresisting tribes, With toilsome step and slow, On through the trackless desert pass A caravan of woe; Think ye the Eternal’s ear is deaf? His sleepless vision dim? Think ye the soul’s blood may not cry From that far land to him? Indian removals from their ancestral lands are not just; During their removals, the Indians are subjected to a cruel and inhuman treatment; they suffer all the pains of removals. Yet divine justice will prevail; the Indians praying for divine help! © William Cullen Bryant Introduction (William C. Bryant) A post-Revolution poet, preceding 1794-1878 the generation of the American Renissance poets (R. W.Emerson, Henry W. Longfellow, Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and so forth). For Walt Whitman, Bryant was “a poet who … stands among the first in the world.” Very popular with the reading public for the romantic and moral sensitivity expressed in his poetry. In his romanticism and nature writing, he was much influenced by the English romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821); Also himself influential on Emerson.  Besides poetry, like Sigourney, he was also a political activist and a campaigner for the abolition of slavery. “To A Waterfowl’’ Among his poems, this romantic, allegorical, metaphysical and somewhat ecological poem has always been popular and much admired. The poem represents a metaphysical and spiritual understanding of Nature symbolized by a waterfowl in flight over a distant evening horizon. Allegorically man’s life in this world is comparable to the bird’s tireless flight; Man has to be in constant struggle to live virtuously and spiritually in order to rise to heaven;  “To A Waterfowl” (1821) 1 Whither, 'midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way? The speaker in the poem watches the lonely flight of a migrant waterbird such as a duck or a goose over the horizon in the early evening in spring; He wonders where the bird may be flying at the end of the day; The bird’s lonely flight in the vast sky coloured red by the setting sun leads him to some mystical, spiritual, metaphysical contemplation on man’s yearning to rise to heaven.  2 Vainly the fowler’s eye Might mark thy distant flight, to do thee wrong, As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along. The speaker imagines that the bird is not flying but, as it were, floating in the vast and red sky of the early evening and looking like a dark spectre (like a visible spirit); Therefore, any attempt by a hunter (fowler) to shoot at this spirit-like or phantom-like bird is bound to fail and can cause no harm. Through his vivid description of the bird in flight by the use of the adjectives ‘darkly’ and ‘crimson,’ Bryant creates a visual effect as if a painting.  3 Seek’st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, Or where the rocking billows rise and sink On the chaféd ocean side? The speaker inquires whether the bird’s destination is the rippled side of a lake or a river wetland or the shores of the ocean; Each location (the lake, the river, the ocean) is presented vividly through a qualifying adjective (‘plashy’, ‘weedy,’ ‘wide,’ ‘chafed’), indicating an ecologically perfect, unpolluted and pleasant landscape. An environment unpolluted, pleasant, and unspoiled (pristine).  4 There is a Power, whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,— The desert and illimitable air,-- Lone wandering, but not lost. Then he wonders how the bird can fly so comfortably and find its way in the vast expanse of the evening sky; Then, he thinks metaphysically that some divine power must be guiding the flight; A metaphorical reference to the immortality of the soul, understood in spiritual terms, and rising to the Divine (Plato’s Ultimate Good One).  5 All day thy wings have fann’d, At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere; Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, Though the dark night is near. He imagines that the bird is on a long and tireless flight of migration at a great height where the air is cold and breathing difficult; Yet, the bird must continue its flight of migration despite its fatigue and the approaching evening; Not to be lured by the pleasures of the ground below but to carry on flying (the rise of the soul to the Divine); Allegorically, the world has many temptations and pleasures which enslave man; yet, the worldly life is transitory / temporary, and death (the dark night) is imminent.  6 And soon that toil shall end, Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend Soon o’er thy sheltered nest. Once having reached its nesting and feeding place, the bird will enjoy the pleasures of the summer season. Allegorically, the rise of the soul to heaven and eternal rest; In heaven (a summer home), to join all other souls present; Eternally resting in divine grace and love;  7 Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form, yet, on my heart Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, And shall not soon depart. The bird finally disappears over the dark horizon. Then the speaker contemplates on the allegorical meaning of the bird’s flight and regards the bird’s flight as a valuable lesson.  8 He, who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must trace alone, Will lead my steps aright. The lesson, which the speaker draws from the bird’s unyielding and long flight, is a spiritual or metaphysical one: God will help and guide him in life so long as he never digresses from virtue and all other moral principles (‘He … / Will lead my steps aright’); Despite all the hardships, temptations, and challenges of life in this world, he must continue to struggle and lead a life of virtue, faith, and moral perfection (In the long way that I must trace alone’). © SARAH W. MORTON A woman poet dedicated to American 1759-1846 nationalism and democratic values (freedom, equality, justice, independence, patriotism, moral excellence, national dignity ans so forth). Politically and culturally aware of the need to create a national literature dealing with national issues. A passionate supporter of the Americanism inspired by the Revolution; Fully shared the principles of democracy, equality, freedom, and nationalism; Socially, from a merchant family in Boston and economically prosperous;  Grew up in the dynamic political and social environment of New England; Strongly defended the ideals and principles of the Revolution in her poetry. For her, America to be a land of freedom and democracy. In other words, in her poetry, primarily concerned with the social and political issues that faced the new, democratic and independent American nation. In this regard, strongly opposed to slavery and often criticized the practice of slavery in the American South. Her best-known poem “The African Chief,” highly popular with the reading public of New England. A political poem, written in the context of rising anti- slavery campaigns in the aftermath of the Revolution.  The historical background of the poem is the trans- Atlantic slave trade from West Africa, carried out by the Portugese, the Spaniards, the English, the Dutch, and the French. The poem as a sentimental and moving statement against slavery, and written to stir the concience and moral sensitivity of the white Americans. Intended to arouse pity and urging the public into action to stop slavery. Written as a kind of extended ballad, and describing how pirating slave traders (‘white tyrants’) caught a tribal chief in Gambia in West Africa, bound him in chains and fetters, and separated him from his tortured and abused family. A moving description of the chief’s resistance against his captors and finally of his death.  The African Chief (1792) See how the black ship cleaves the main, High bounding o'er the dark blue wave, Remurmuring with the groans of pain, Deep freighted with the princely slave! Did all the Gods of Afric sleep, Forgetful of their guardian love, When the white tyrants of the deep, Betrayed him in the palmy grove. A black slave ship sailing across the ocean; full of African slaves, including a tribal chief, groaning and moaning with pain and suffering; The chief happy with his tribe, living in a pleasant location of palm trees with warm climate (‘the palmy grove’); Yet captured by the European slave traders (‘White tyrants’)  A Chief of Gambia's golden shore, Whose arm the band of warriors led, Or more — the lord of generous power, By whom the foodless poor were fed. The unnamed chief’s character: brave, undefeatable, noble, in command of his warrior troops; generous, and caring for his people suffering from poverty; so a man of excellent moral and human qualities, like any human being; Therefore, not a savage but a noble and civilized human;  Does not the voice of reason cry, Claim the first right that nature gave, From the red scourge of bondage fly, Nor deign to live a burdened slave. Has not his suffering offspring clung, Desponding round his fettered knee; On his worn shoulder, weeping hung, And urged one effort to be free! The fundamental human right for life denied to the chief and his people; in fetters; a sentimental family scene; A dramatic and sentimental description;  His wife by nameless wrongs subdued, His bosom's friend to death resigned; The flinty path-way drenched in blood; He saw with cold and frenzied mind. His wife raped and tortured; so ending her life by suicide; The chief unable to save his wife; a tragic scene; Strong in despair, then sought the plain, To heaven was raised his stedfast eye, Resolved to burst the crushing chain, Or mid the battle's blast to die. Helplessly, trying to break his fetters or to fight to death;  First of his race, he led the band, Guardless of danger, hurling round. Till by his red avenging hand, Full many a despot stained the ground. Together with his warriors, he fights ferociously against the slave merchants and kills many of them. Then, in the following three stanzas, Morton makes references to history to show how both in antiquity and in modern times the oppressed and enslaved people rose against their oppressors and fought heroically to gain their freedom:  When erst Messenia's sons oppressed, Flew desperate to the sanguine field, With iron clothed each injured breast, And saw the cruel Spartan yield. The ancient Messanians, a Peloponnesian people, fought for their freedom from Spartan slavery and defeated the Spartans; Did not the soul to heaven allied, With the proud heart as greatly swell, As when the Roman Decius died, Or when the Grecian victim fell. Publius Decius Mus, the Roman general, fell in battle in 279 B.C. against the Greek king Pyrrhus, who, though victorious, lost all his army.  Do later deeds quick rapture raise, The boon Batavia's William won, Paoli's time-enduring praise, Or the yet greater Washington ! Pasquale Paoli, a Corsican patriot, fought against the Genoese and French occupation of Corsica. ‘Batavia’s William’ (General William Lytle) and George Washington are references to American history. If these exalt thy sacred zeal, To hate oppression's mad control, For bleeding Afric learn to feel, Whose Chieftain claimed a kindred soul. Like the great heroes in history, the Chief also deserves respect, admiration, and compassion;  Ah, mourn the last disastrous hour, Lift the full eye of bootless grief, While victory treads the sultry shore, And tears from hope the captive Chief. While the hard race of pallid hue , Unpracticed in the power to feel, Resign him to the murderous crew, The horrors of the quivering wheel. Yet the white traders have no pity! The Chief defeated and put on the torture wheel!  Let sorrow bathe each blushing cheek, Bend piteous o'er the tortured slave, Whose wrongs compassion cannot speak, Whose only refuge was the grave. The poet mourns the death of the Chief under torture on the wheel; death becomes a refuge for him. Through this poem, Morton tries to arouse compassion in the public in order to end slavery and regard the African slaves as humans without any racial prejudice against them. © PHILLIS WHEATLEY Wheatley was an African slave who regarded slavery as a 1753-1784 beneficial practice for improving oneself and acquiring good skills and learning. Having been brought from Africa as an 8-year-old slave child and sold to a rich American couple, John and Susannah Wheatley, in Boston. Brought up and educated by this family, she learned English as well as Latin and was converted to Christianity. She began to write poetry in her early teens, and her poems appeared in local newspapers in Boston and around.  Even though she was in principle in favour of the abolition of slavery, she still harboured good sentiments about the benefits that she had from her own slave life. So long as the blacks were given good education by their owners and, thus, had an opportunity to improve themselves, slavery was nothing terrible. Favouring racial reforms for the blacks. Her positive sentiments abour slavery are clearly voiced in her little poem called ‘On Being Brought from Africa to America’ (1773). For her, it is not being black or African that makes slaves inferior and Other, but it is because blacks are denied education and Christian teaching that they have been left behind and alienated from a civilized way of life. On Being Brought from Africa to America (1773) 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, "Their colour is a diabolic die." Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.  So Wheatley strongly supports the Christian education of the American blacks and regards blacks and whites as equal. She regards slavery as an opportunity to become enlightened, civilized, and Christianized; Proud of her new and adopted Christian identity; Anti-slavery; humanistic; simple style. ©  Introduction Philip Freneau One of the representatives of 1752-1832 American romanticism in poetry; The American landscape with its vast geographical diversity appealed to Freneau’s patriotism and was a common theme in his poetry. Freneau wrote his poems with a full awareness of Americanism and multi-racial American identity. He was one of the strongest voices of the American Revolution. A patriotic poet! It has been asserted that “Freneau devoted himself to the Revolutionary cause.”  He wholeheartedly supported American nationalism and the political union of the states. In this regard, he considered the American natives as the inalienable elements of the American nation. He strongly upheld the view that the American natives and their culture were to be understood and appreciated by the whites. In 1784, in his essay “Remarks Concerning the Savages of America,” Benjamin Franklin had pointed out that it was wrong to treat the natives as savages, and that they had their own particular culture and civilization; Freneau also urged his fellow Americans to adopt a positive attitude towards the natives and their culture.  For him, patriotism was not confined to the whites and the Europeans alone but also included the acceptance and appreciation of American racial and cultural diversity. Therefore, the Indians were the natural and most important elements of the American nation and had to be appreciated in their cultural and racial difference. “The Indian Burying Ground” (1787) In this regard, his best known poem with its romanticized depiction of an unspoiled American landscape and defending the Indian culture, social values, and identity. In a sense, an anthropological poem, dealing with Indian culture and identity.  ‘’The Indian Burying Ground’’ (1787) 1 In spite of all the learned have said, I still my old opinion keep; The posture, that we give the dead, Points out the soul's eternal sleep. The speaker in the poem is looking at a deserted Indian cemetery (‘burying ground’)---deserted probably all the Indians massacred by the whites! So he is imagining, and contemplating on, the Indians’ way of life and culture. Despite various religious, philosophical, or cultural interpretations about the Christian way of burial in a sleeping position, the speaker believes that the Christian burial symbolizes the eternal rest of the soul; In other words, for him, death is just an everlasting sleep.  2 Not so the ancients of these lands— The Indian, when from life released, Again is seated with his friends, And shares again the joyous feast. Yet, the Indians, who are the oldest inhabitants of America (‘the ancients of these lands’), have a different way of burial (‘not so’); They bury their dead in a sitting position (‘seated’); This means that, for them, death is only a retirement from active life (‘released’); Therefore, they believe that the buried person still continues to live and keep up all his daily and social activities: talking with friends, feasting together, and so on.  3 His imaged birds, and painted bowl, And venison, for a journey dressed, Bespeak the nature of the soul, Activity, that knows no rest. Moreover, the dead Indian is buried with his personal belongings (‘His imaged birds, and painted bowl’) and is provided with food (‘venison’, i.e. meat of a hunted animal such as a deer or buffalo); He wears his clothes (‘dressed’) as if he were prepared and set on a long journey; All these details indicate (‘bespeak’) that the Indians believe in the immortality of the soul and, therefore, in its unceasing active life after death (‘the soul /… that knows no rest’).  4 His bow, for action ready bent, And arrows, with a head of stone, Can only mean that life is spent, And not the old ideas gone. The arms or weapons (‘bow’ and ‘arrows’) used by the dead Indian in his lifetime are also buried with him, Yet, the weapons are arranged in a way ready for use in a heroic action such as a battle or a hunt (‘for action ready bent’); The burial of the weapons along with the dead Indian indicates that his warrior life has ended (‘life is spent’), but the buried Indian is still a hero ready for action.  5 Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way, No fraud upon the dead commit— Observe the swelling turf, and say They do not lie, but here they sit. In this stanza, the speaker addresses any non-Indian visitor or traveller coming to the Indian lands and warns him/her not to do any harm to grass-covered Indian burial mounds (‘the swelling turf’); Moreover, the speaker urges non-Indian visitors and travellers to understand the Indian burial custom and respect (‘observe’) the Indian belief that death is not an eternal sleep but a new phase of an Indian’s active life. In other words, the dead are not dead but alive and continue to lead their active life even after death.  6 Here still a lofty rock remains, On which the curious eye may trace (Now wasted, half, by wearing rains) The fancies of a ruder race. In the meantime, the speaker notices some drawings and carvings on a high rock-face; rains over the years have worn out these depictions; By this reference to the figures pn the rock-face, the speaker implies that, although the Indians are an uncivilized (in the European sense) or uneducated people ‘a ruder race’), they have a distinctive cultural sensitivity, a sense of art and history; Therefore, they ought not to be regarded as a primitive, uncivilized, artless, and uncultivated people.  7 Here still an aged elm aspires, Beneath whose far-projecting shade (And which the shepherd still admires) The children of the forest played! The speaker further implies that the Indians live in a natural environment; they are part of this environment (The children of the forest’); They do not ruin their environment so that the trees in the forests, as symbolized by the ‘aged elm,’ are very old with huge spreading branches; From childhood on, they develop a strong sense of ecology and environmental care.  8 There oft a restless Indian queen (Pale Shebah, with her braided hair) And many a barbarous form is seen To chide the man that lingers there. The speaker refers to an Indian queen who has a physical beauty comparable to the beauty of the Biblical Queen Sheba; metaphorically, this comparison indicates that the Indian women are not ugly but have good looks. The Indians do have a strong sense of social solidarity, family life, moral values (responsibility, self-sacrifice, social hierarchy, authority, self-care). Therefore, they do not approve any selfish or irresponsible behaviour such as laziness or cowardice.  9 By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews, In habit for the chase arrayed, The hunter still the deer pursues, The hunter and the deer, a shade! The Indians are a warrior and hunter people; Their ways of life are completely alien to the white ways of life; an innocent, unspoiled, honourable, honest, truthful people; For them, time is one continuous process, and so no difference between day and night or life and death; They lead a simple life and live in full harmony with their natural environment; they hunt only for their food.  10 And long shall timorous fancy see The painted chief, and pointed spear, And Reason's self shall bow the knee To shadows and delusions here. The whites fear them and consider them to be mere savages and sub-human beings; However, their civilization, culture, identity, history, and values must be recognized by the whites. No prejudice, no racism, no white supremacy; America to be a multi-racial and multi-cultural society! ©