The Sky Clears

From the totem-pole makers of the Northwest to the hunters of the eastern woodlands, from the horse nations of the plains to the desert dwellers of the Southwest and the Mayas and Aztecs of ancient Mexico--from some forty tribal groups--A. Grove Day has collected examples of traditional American Indian verse. "This is a book to be read for pleasure," he writes; its purpose is "to show the variety and excellence of many kinds of authentic Indian poetry." Set in their cultural context, the selections also illustrate the major role, practical as well as aesthetic, that poetry played in the lives of Native American peoples. The translations are those of professional students of Indian languages who were also endowed with poetic powers of their own: people such as Franz Boas, Natalie Curtis, Frances Densmore, Washington Matthews, Herbert J. Spinden.