Lesson 19 — Activity 3: Traditions in Poetry
Completion requirements
Lesson 19 — Activity 3: Traditions in Poetry
Sometimes the oral stories that tell about traditions and beliefs may be
made into written works such as short stories, novels, plays, or
poetry.
One poem that expresses this idea is the poem “My people’s memory reaches” by Chief Dan George. He was born in Vancouver and was a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. This is a Coast Salish band whose Indian reserve is located on Burrard Inlet in the southeast area of the District of North Vancouver. He had a variety of careers including acting and writing. He wrote the poem in 1974.
One poem that expresses this idea is the poem “My people’s memory reaches” by Chief Dan George. He was born in Vancouver and was a chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. This is a Coast Salish band whose Indian reserve is located on Burrard Inlet in the southeast area of the District of North Vancouver. He had a variety of careers including acting and writing. He wrote the poem in 1974.
“My people’s memory reaches”
My people's memory
reaches into the
beginning of all things.
What do you think he means in this poem?
This poem could be seen as a summary of oral traditions. Perhaps Dan George is describing the way that the stories and legends of his people have long roots in the past. He may also be saying that some of those stories include explanations of the origin of the world.
Here is a video which features another poem by Chief Dan George called "My Heart Soars". The music of The Tragically Hip accompanies this poem.
Here is a poem called "Storyteller" about the oral tradition of storytelling. It is by Joan Crate, who was born in Yellowknife, NWT, but moved a lot when she was young and lived in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. In the poem, she is speaking about the tales she is translating from Chief Joe Capilano.
"Storyteller"
Your voice
scrapes the bones of time.
At night by the fire, it is only you,
Chief Joe, who feels
a lost spring flood thirsty cells.
In the dark heat you find legends
once buried, now
damp on your dry lips.
Whisper to me and I will write you down.
I will run ink through your long wounds,
make your past flash like fish scales
under a sharp knife.
I will give names to the tricks of seasons,
tie your stories of beginnings to weighted ends
with my careful fisher’s fingers,
lock your chants, spirits,
dances, your paint, your potlatches
into a language you can’t speak.
I will frame your history
on a white page.
Your voice
scrapes the bones of time.
At night by the fire, it is only you,
Chief Joe, who feels
a lost spring flood thirsty cells.
In the dark heat you find legends
once buried, now
damp on your dry lips.
Whisper to me and I will write you down.
I will run ink through your long wounds,
make your past flash like fish scales
under a sharp knife.
I will give names to the tricks of seasons,
tie your stories of beginnings to weighted ends
with my careful fisher’s fingers,
lock your chants, spirits,
dances, your paint, your potlatches
into a language you can’t speak.
I will frame your history
on a white page.
Joan is Metis and has said that her work with other Aboriginal writers and poets has "allowed [her] to feel (and hopefully express) the existence of those of the past in our present lives, and as part of the landscape which they inhabited, both physical and spiritual."
Armstrong, Jeanette and Grauer, Lally. Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology. Peterborough: Broadview Press Ltd., 2001.
You can see how having some knowledge of the culture and traditions of
the writer might give you a better understanding of his or her writing.