Contents

AN ESSAY ON AMERICAN INDIAN POETRY

   The Indian and His Cosmos

7

   The Place of Indian Poetry in the Arts

13

   Reincarnation Lullabies

17

   Guardian Spirit Songs

20

   Songs as the Instruments of Magic

23

   Trial by Poetry

29

   Love Songs

32

   Death and Its Mystery

38

   Vocational Songs

40

   Songs of Sequence

41

   Revivalist Verses of the Ghost Dance Religion

45

   Historical Poems Approach the Epic

51

   Style in Old American Literature

56

   On Translating Indian Poetry

62

   Tewa Poetry as a Typical Exhibit

68

SONGS OF THE TEWA

   I Home Songs

71

   II Sacred Chants and Ceremonial Songs

85

   III Magic Songs and Prayers

101

APPENDIX

   Notes on the Introductory Essay

109

   Notes on Tewa Poems

112