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I.
PETER LA FARGE: Vision of a Past Warrior*
I have within me such a dream of pain
That all my silver horseman hopes rust still,
Beyond quicksilver mountains,
On the plain,
The buffalo are gone,
None left to kill,
I see the plains grow blackened with that dawn,
No robes for winter warmth
No meat to eat,
The ghost white buffalos' medicine gone,
No hope for Indians then,
I see defeat.
Then there will be changes to another way,
We will fight battles that are legends long.
But of all our glory
None will stay,
Who will remember
that I sang this song?
____________
* (1969). In The Writing on the Wall: 108 American Poems of
Protest. Ed. Walter Lowenfels. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and
Company: 122. Rpt. from La Farge; executor of estate, Warden
M. Kane.
ACTIVITIES:
(1). The narrator in La Farge's poem talks about several uses of the
buffalo for the Indians. What uses does the narrator mention? Go
through the "Prairie Ecosystem" links, and find out more about these
uses. List at least one site giving information about these uses.
Can you find any other reason the buffalo were important to the
prairie that La Farge does not mention?
(2). Read William Cullen Bryant's poem, "An Indian at the Burial
Place of His Fathers," which was written right after 1800. What
predictions does the Indian narrator in Bryant's poem make? What
predictions does the narrator in La Farge's poem make? How are these
predictions alike? How are they different?
(3). What is meant by "changes to another way" in the third stanza?
What is meant by "battles that are legends long?" Why does La
Farge use the word "legends" when describing the length of the
battles?
(4). Find out about one of the Indian Tribes from the Great Plains--
perhaps the Lakota. Pick an Indian--a chief, an elder, a warrior, a
woman, or a man. The Indian can be a real Indian you read about, or
imaginary. Jot down a few things that the Indian might have said or
thought, and then write a poem in which the Indian speaks.
(5). Why do you think that LaFarge describes the plains as
growing "blackened?" When did the Plains grow blackened in the
poem? What event spurred it? Were the Plains ever blackened in
reality?
(6). Go to the "Prairie Ecosystems" page, and click on the
photographs of Dustbowl refugees by Dorothea Lange. After studying a
few of Lange's photographs, write a poem, possibly entitled, "Visions
of a Past Wheat Farmer," "Visions of a Past Pioneer," or "Visions of
a Past Plains Settler." The poem should look at the refugee's view
of the Plains and its future, along with the future of the Plains
farmer.
(7). Navajo poet Hershman John (1996) wrote a poem called "The Dark
World." At the end of this poem, Hershman John writes:
Coyote lives here somewhere
Out in the night, his tracks
Lead away from many quarrels
After the beings emerged from the First World
Coyote threw a rock into a deep lake
The beings watched it sink with a splash
and each ripple shook the beings' anger more and more
The people were mad because of Coyote's words:
"If the rock floats, people will live forever"
"If the rock sinks, people will die . . ."
The Coyote, one of the animals who lived on the Great Plains, was a
trickster in Indian lore. That means he did a lot of daring things
and played many tricks. How might Hershman John's story about Coyote
relate to the conflicts of the Great Plains?
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
II. ANONYMOUS: Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie**
"O bury me not on the lone prairie!"
These words came low and mournfully
From the pallid lips of a youth who lay
On his dying bed at the close of day.
"O bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl o'er me,
Where the buzzards beat and the wind goes free;
O bury me not on the lone prairie!
"O bury me not on the lone prairie,
In a narrow grave six foot by three,
Where the buffalo paws o'er a prairie sea;
O bury me not on the lone prairie!
"O bury me not on the lone prairie,
Where the wild coyotes will howl o'er me,
Where the rattlesnakes hiss and the crow flies free;
O bury me not on the lone prairie!
"O bury me not," and his voice faltered there,
But we took no heed of his dying prayer;
In a narrow grave just six by three,
We buried him there on the lone prairie.
____________
** (1969). In The Writing on the Wall: 108 American Poems of
Protest. Ed. Lowenfels: 162.
ACTIVITIES: HEARING RHYTHM:
(1). Try to imagine how this poem would sound set to music. You
might want to create a drum beat to go with it. Or perhaps, you'd
want to act out the animal sounds that are mentioned, and set these
to a rhythm.
(2). Count the syllables in each line. Which syllables sound strong
and loud--and are emphasized, stressed? How many do you count in a
line?
(3). What about the last syllable in "prairie?" Should it be
stressed or not when you read the poem? When you sing it? (Decide
how you would read and sing this poem. Do not worry about finding a
right or a wrong way to read or sing it!)
(4). Go to the "Frontier Life" page and then click on the link to
Edgar Allen Poe's "Eldorado." When was the poem first published?
What does "eldorado" mean? In light of what you know about those
times, what do you think Poe was writing about? How would you
interpret the story told in the poem, in light of what you know?
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