The word "elegy" comes from the Ancient Greek elogos, meaning a mournful poem or song, in particular, a song of grief in response to loss. Because mourning and memorialization are so deeply embedded in the human condition, all human societies have developed means for lamenting the dead, and, in "That the People Might Live," Arnold Krupat surveys the traditions of Native American elegiac expression over several centuries. Krupat covers a variety of oral performances of loss and renewal, including the Condolence Rites of the Iroquois and the memorial ceremony of the Tlingit people known as koo'eex, examining as well a number of Ghost Dance songs, which have been reinterpreted in culturally specific ways by many different tribal nations. Krupat treats elegiac "farewell" speeches of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in considerable detail, and comments on retrospective autobiographies by Black Hawk and Black Elk. Among contemporary Native writers, he looks at elegiac work by Linda Hogan, N. Scott Momaday, Gerald Vizenor, Sherman Alexie, Maurice Kenny, and Ralph Salisbury, among others. Despite differences of language and culture, he finds that death and loss are consistently felt by Native peoples both personally and socially: someone who had contributed to the People's well-being was now gone. Native American elegiac expression offered mourners consolation so that they might overcome their grief and renew their will to sustain communal life.
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First published 2012 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data
Krupat, Arnold. That the people might live : loss and renewal in Native American elegy / Arnold Krupat. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801451386 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Indian literature—United States—History and criticism. 2. Folk literature, Indian—History and criticism. 3. American literature—In dian authors—History and criticism. 4. Elegiac poetry, American— Indian authors—History and criticism. 5. Indians of North America—Funeral customs and rites. 6. Loss (Psychology) in litera ture. 7. Death in literature. 8. Grief in literature. I. Title. PM157.K78 2012 810.9897—dc23 2012022193
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For Ralph Salisbury
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Contents
1. Oral Performances (i) The Iroquois Condolence Rites The Tlingitkoo.’eex’ Occasional Elegy Some Ghost Dance Songs as Elegy
2. Oral Performances (ii) “Logan’s Lament” Black Hawk’s “Surrender Speech” Chief Sealth’s Farewell Two Farewells by Cochise The Surrender of Chief Joseph
ix xi
1 19 19 29 38 44 60 60 69 73 87 95
v i i i C o n t e n t s
3. Authors and Writers Black Hawk’sLifeBlack Elk SpeaksWilliam Apess’sEulogy on King PhilipThe Elegiac Poetry of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, John Rollin Ridge, and Others
4. Elegy in the “Native American Renaissance” and After Prose Elegy in Momaday, Hogan, and Vizenor Elegiac Poetry
Appendix: Best Texts of the Speeches Considered in Chapter 2 Notes Works Cited Index
108 108 116 122
125 134 134 152
171 183 213 233
Illustrations
1. Tlingits in ceremonial regalia for 1904 potlatch
2. Sitting Bull, Arapaho, 1885
3. Indian chiefs and U.S. officials at Pine Ridge, January 16, 1891
4. Arapaho ghost dance, 1900
5. Big Foot’s camp after the Wounded Knee Massacre, 1891
6. Múkatahmishokáhkaik, Black Hawk, 1831
7. Chief Seattle
8. Chief Joseph, Nez Perce, before 1877
9. Black Elk and Elk in dance costume, 1880
10. Kiowa drawing of people bringing in the center pole for the Sun Dance ceremony, 1875–1878