AMERICAN POETRY - MELIS MULAZIMOGLU ERKAL

N. Scott
Momaday -
The Earth
DUYGU AKÇELİK 07180001200


Born in 1934, Oklahoma

Part of a family of Kiowa and Cherokee descent.
Mainly raised in New Mexico and Arizona Indian
reservations.
Former English and American studies professor
known for his contributions and raising awareness to
protect the environment and the culture to which he
belongs.
BIOGRAPHY

Momaday received the National Medal of Arts in 2007 for

his work's celebration and preservation of Indigenous oral
and art tradition.
 NATIVE AMERICAN
RENAISSANCE

According to Kenneth Lincoln, the renaissance has begun with

Momaday's famously known book, which won the Pulitzer for the
first time in Native history: House Made of Dawn.

For all the Native American people whose cultures have been
overlooked and corrupted over the years, Momaday's win is a
huge achievement.

HISTORY

Indian Relocation Act of 1956

In 1946, the Kiowan had sued the
federal government for prior
injustices committed against them to
seize their lands, and they won.
 The Earth
by Navarre Scott Momaday
Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon
the remembered earth, I believe. He ought to give himself up
to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from
as many angles as he can, to wonder about it, to dwell upon
it.
He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at
every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon
it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest
motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of noon and
all the colors of the dawn and dusk.
For we are held by more than the force of gravity to the earth.
It is the entity from which we are sprung, and that into which
we are dissolved in time. The blood of the whole human race
is invested in it. We are moored there, rooted as surely, as
deeply as are the ancient redwoods and bristlecones.
 MAIN IDEA OF THE POEM
The main idea revolves around the fact that Momaday's
reverence and deepest love for the Earth itself, as well as
trying to preserve his national identity, which was
assimilated along with many tribes. Also, I can add the
continuation of the oral traditions of Native Americans into
written traditions, which Western culture has been
practicing. In a way, Momaday wants to reflect and
remember his Kiowan heritage through the use of
American land, their motherland.
No consistent rhyme scheme
Prose-style poems written in
free verse
lexical repetitions to emphasize a
significant image; to, his, it, he, of,
and
Imagery: ''with his hands at
every season and listens to the FORM
AND
sounds...''
Depiction of natural imagery
''imagine the creatures there
and all the faintest CONTENT
motions of the wind.''
''ancient redwoods and bristle
cones.''
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?
v=hrd7c2M7T2A&t=373s
POPULAR
CULTURE

 WORKS CITED

Ludlow, Jeannie. “Working (In) the In-Between: Poetry, Criticism, Interrogation, and
Interruption.” Studies in American Indian Literatures, vol. 6, no. 1, 1994, pp. 24–42,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20736780. Accessed 13 Apr. 2022.
WEAVER, JACE. “The Mystery of Language: N. Scott Momaday, An Appreciation.” Studies in
American Indian Literatures, vol. 20, no. 4, 2008, pp. 76–86,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20737445. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.