Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/205

Amerind Verse 617 First of all he hit upon the idea of rhythm, vibration, as being the secret of such harmony, the ululating voice, the cry beaten into rhythm with the hand, then the hollow log, the pebbled gourd. Then words began to rise like bubbles through the cry, mere syllables, unrelated words, a shorthand note to the emotions involved, all arranged around the emotional impulse which set them in motion, annotating the experience, but not until a much later stage describing it. The process of raising annals, incident, and law to the point at which they became precious enough to require remembering, in other words, to the point at which they could be called liter- ature, was obvious and slow. But spiritual and. emotional ex- periences were literary in their mode from their very inception. That is to say, they could be drummed, if no more than on the singer's breast. Single personal experiences gave rise to the love song, the death song, the cradle song. Where a succession of incidents was required to complete the experience, the song sequence arose. Out of such sequences developed, with the help of the sustaining narrative, all epic and drama. In this stage the poetic art admitted no aristocracy of talent. Any Indian who had a poetic experience could make a song of it, and apparently every Indian did. It is no un- common thing even today to find a singer with a repertory of two hundred or more songs. Some of these will be found to be fragments of ceremonial sequences, but most of them will be personal expressions. I did not make my looks. Why blame me if the women fall in love with me?' sings the Omaha beau; Setting out on the war trail, the Pawnee sings Let us see is it real. This life that I am living. Thus the north coast lover : Even from a house of strong drink Men get away, But not from you. Raven woman. ^ » Alice Fletcher. ' Frances Dinsmore. 3 Franz Boas.