{"id":170,"date":"2015-05-18T18:08:37","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T18:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/masteryamlit1x6xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=170"},"modified":"2015-12-01T17:23:46","modified_gmt":"2015-12-01T17:23:46","slug":"reading-the-indian-burying-ground","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-americanlit1\/chapter\/reading-the-indian-burying-ground\/","title":{"raw":"The Indian Burying Ground","rendered":"The Indian Burying Ground"},"content":{"raw":"
\r\n\r\n\"Engraving<\/a>Philip Morin Freneau<\/b>\u00a0(January 2, 1752 \u2013 December 18, 1832) was an American poet,\u00a0nationalist (also known as Federalist), polemicist, sea captain and newspaper editor sometimes called the \"Poet of the American Revolution.\"\r\n\r\nThe non-political works of Freneau are a combination of neoclassicism and romanticism. His poem \"The House of Night\" makes its mark as one of the first romantic poems written and published in America. The Gothic elements and dark imagery are later seen in the poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, who is well known for his gothic works of literature. Freneau's nature poem, \"The Wild Honey Suckle\" (1786), is considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Romantic primitivism is also anticipated by his poems \"The Indian Burying Ground,\" and \"Noble Savage.\"\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\nIn spite of all the learned have said,\r\nI still my old opinion keep;\r\nThe posture, that we give the dead,\r\nPoints out the soul's eternal sleep.\r\n\r\nNot so the ancients of these lands\u2014\r\nThe Indian, when from life released,\r\nAgain is seated with his friends,\r\nAnd shares again the joyous feast.[footnote]\"The North American Indians bury their dead in a sitting posture; decorating the corpse with wampum, the images of birds, quadrupeds, &c: And (if that of a warrior) with bows, arrows, tomhawks, and other military weapons.\"\u2014Freneau's note.[\/footnote]\r\n\r\nHis imaged birds, and painted bowl,\r\nAnd venison, for a journey dressed,\r\nBespeak the nature of the soul,\r\nActivity, that knows no rest.\r\n\r\nHis bow, for action ready bent,\r\nAnd arrows, with a head of stone,\r\nCan only mean that life is spent,\r\nAnd not the old ideas gone.\r\n\r\nThou, stranger, that shalt come this way,\r\nNo fraud upon the dead commit\u2014\r\nObserve the swelling turf, and say\r\nThey do not lie, but here they sit.\r\n\r\nHere still a lofty rock remains,\r\nOn which the curious eye may trace\r\n(Now wasted, half, by wearing rains)\r\nThe fancies of a ruder race.\r\n\r\nHere still an aged elm aspires,\r\nBeneath whose far-projecting shade\r\n(And which the shepherd still admires)\r\nThe children of the forest played!\r\n\r\nThere oft a restless Indian queen\r\n(Pale Shebah, with her braided hair)\r\nAnd many a barbarous form is seen\r\nTo chide the man that lingers there.\r\n\r\nBy midnight moons, o'er moistening dews;\r\nIn habit for the chase arrayed,\r\nThe hunter still the deer pursues,\r\nThe hunter and the deer, a shade!\r\n\r\nAnd long shall timorous fancy see\r\nThe painted chief, and pointed spear,\r\nAnd Reason's self shall bow the knee\r\nTo shadows and delusions here.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/FiIvDfYK_EM","rendered":"
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\"Engraving<\/a>Philip Morin Freneau<\/b>\u00a0(January 2, 1752 \u2013 December 18, 1832) was an American poet,\u00a0nationalist (also known as Federalist), polemicist, sea captain and newspaper editor sometimes called the “Poet of the American Revolution.”<\/p>\n

The non-political works of Freneau are a combination of neoclassicism and romanticism. His poem “The House of Night” makes its mark as one of the first romantic poems written and published in America. The Gothic elements and dark imagery are later seen in the poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, who is well known for his gothic works of literature. Freneau’s nature poem, “The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786), is considered an early seed to the later Transcendentalist movement taken up by William Cullen Bryant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. Romantic primitivism is also anticipated by his poems “The Indian Burying Ground,” and “Noble Savage.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

In spite of all the learned have said,
\nI still my old opinion keep;
\nThe posture, that we give the dead,
\nPoints out the soul’s eternal sleep.<\/p>\n

Not so the ancients of these lands\u2014
\nThe Indian, when from life released,
\nAgain is seated with his friends,
\nAnd shares again the joyous feast.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

His imaged birds, and painted bowl,
\nAnd venison, for a journey dressed,
\nBespeak the nature of the soul,
\nActivity, that knows no rest.<\/p>\n

His bow, for action ready bent,
\nAnd arrows, with a head of stone,
\nCan only mean that life is spent,
\nAnd not the old ideas gone.<\/p>\n

Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way,
\nNo fraud upon the dead commit\u2014
\nObserve the swelling turf, and say
\nThey do not lie, but here they sit.<\/p>\n

Here still a lofty rock remains,
\nOn which the curious eye may trace
\n(Now wasted, half, by wearing rains)
\nThe fancies of a ruder race.<\/p>\n

Here still an aged elm aspires,
\nBeneath whose far-projecting shade
\n(And which the shepherd still admires)
\nThe children of the forest played!<\/p>\n

There oft a restless Indian queen
\n(Pale Shebah, with her braided hair)
\nAnd many a barbarous form is seen
\nTo chide the man that lingers there.<\/p>\n

By midnight moons, o’er moistening dews;
\nIn habit for the chase arrayed,
\nThe hunter still the deer pursues,
\nThe hunter and the deer, a shade!<\/p>\n

And long shall timorous fancy see
\nThe painted chief, and pointed spear,
\nAnd Reason’s self shall bow the knee
\nTo shadows and delusions here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n