[寫作指導] Poetry Analysis 詩歌分析｜Native American Culture 美洲原住民文化｜文學課 Literature Class

1. 上過的文本：Seventh Grade、The Last Dog、Zebra、Amigo Brother

2. 考過的題目：Vocabulary、Short answer、Long sentence question、Compare and contrast（theme and identity）

3. Shelly老師建議，很可能會考：

1. p.648，Prometheus，普羅米修斯，偷火的人，最後被神懲罰被鳥啄肝

2. p.630，Ode to enchanted light，秘魯詩人聶魯達

3. p.631，Snow in the Suburbs，Thomas Hardy，英國詩人

4. p.614，The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee，美國原住民講自然的詩

4. Analysis of “The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee”:

1. Discussion: 

1. Multiple visual cues: feather, blue horse, shining fish, shadows, the evening light, meadows, eagle…..

2. The feelings upon reading the text: speak with freedom, close to nature, open-minded narrator, in love with all creature, happy

3. Author: N. Scott Momaday

1. Native American, has a background of Native American culture that worships nature and spirits

2. Related text: “Native Americans operate under the conviction that all objects and elements of the earth—both living and nonliving—have an individual spirit that is part of the greater soul of the universe….All Native American culture can determine for sure is that life is sacred (生命是神聖的), and it comes from the land, which implies that Mother Earth is also divine. This notion clearly colors every work of art they produce.” Quotation from the website:  https://www.faustgallery.com/natures-role-in-american-indian-culture/

4. Similar Text: Disney song, “Color of the Wind”

1. Full text: You think I'm an ignorant savage/And you've been so many places/I guess it must be so/But still, I cannot see/If the savage one is me/How can there be so much that you don't know?/You don't know/You think you own whatever land you land on/The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim/But I know every rock and tree and creature/Has a life, has a spirit, has a name/You think the only people who are people/Are the people who look and think like you/But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger/You'll learn things you never knew, you never knew/Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?/Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?/Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?/Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?/Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?/Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest/Come taste the sun sweet berries of the Earth/Come roll in all the riches all around you/And for once, never wonder what they're worth/The rainstorm and the river are my brothers/The heron and the otter are my friends/And we are all connected to each other/In a circle, in a hoop that never ends/How high does the sycamore grow?/If you cut it down, then you'll never know/And you'll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon/For whether we are white or copper skinned/We need to sing with all the voices of the mountain/We need to paint with all the colors of the wind/You can own the Earth and still/All you'll own is Earth until/You can paint with all the colors of the wind

2. Form v.s. Content: The form fortifies the content; the content makes the author decide which form speaks to the theme

1. What is the form?

1. Genre: Poetry

2. Literary device: metaphor and repetition

2. What is the content?

1. “Delight song”

2. Spirituality

3. Native American culture

4. Nature

5. Divinity

3. Final question: What are some themes in the poetry?

1. Nature

2. Native American culture

3. Spirituality in everything

4. Ultimate joy

5. Divinity

6. Belief

7. Connection