Research Catalog

Title

Wearing the morning star : Native American song-poems / [edited by] Brian Swann.

Publication

New York : Random House, ©1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Swann, Brian.

Description

xxv, 180 pages; 22 cm

Summary

• As Brian Swann demonstrated in Coming to Light, his compilation of Native American literature, the indigenous peoples of North America have a rich and vibrant oral tradition. With Wearing the Morning Star, Brian Swann presents a new collection of Native American songs that further celebrates this tradition. These are songs of the earth and the sky, songs of mourning and of love, parts of ceremonies and rites and rituals.
• Some have themes that are very familiar; others illuminate the complexities and differences of the native cultures. There are songs of derision and threat, ribald songs, hunting chants, and a song sung by an Inuit about the first airplane he ever saw.
• . Brian Swann has provided an authoritative introduction and notes for each selection that combine to place the songs in their cultural contexts. He has reworked the original translations where appropriate to allow the modern reader to appreciate and enjoy these remarkable works.

Subject

• Indian poetry > North America > Translations into English
• Indian poetry
• Indian poetry > North America
• North America

Genre/Form

Translations.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-178) and index.

Contents

Shaman's Song -- Song of the Stone -- Old Song of the Musk Ox People -- Song of the Sea -- Avuvnuk's Song -- Song of the Musk Ox -- Two Songs of Derision -- The Widow's Song -- Delight in Nature -- Song to a Miser -- Song to the Spring -- Ptarmigan -- Lovemaking -- Women's Song Duel -- To Help Make the Afterbirth Come Out -- The Song of Amatoq -- It Is Hard to Catch Trout -- Netsilik Drum Dances -- Songs from Eskimo Point -- Inupiat Dance Songs -- Teasing Songs -- Love Song I -- The Old Man -- Love Song II -- Love Song of Warning -- Great Blue Heron Children's Song -- Little Boy's Mourning Song -- Billy Goat Song -- Two Potlatch Songs -- Song of a Lover -- Love Song of a Man Sent to Hunt Goats to Get Tallow for His Beloved -- Love Song -- A Boy's Song -- Love Song -- Caribou Medicine Songs -- Shaming Song for Bushy-Snatch -- Shaman Song -- Man's Love Song I -- Man's Love Song II -- Wild Woman's Song -- Bear's Song -- Beaver's Song -- Chinook Songs.

ISBN

• 0679448276
• 9780679448273

LCCN

95032840

OCLC

• ocm32820783
• 32820783
• SCSB-2099808

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library