Harjo Poetry

Paper Summary:

The paper analyzes the poems of Joy Harjo, a member of the Muskogee Tribe of American Indians and of mixed American Indian and European heritage. The paper shows how her poems integrate the past and the present to show continuance in life from one generation to the next. The writer discusses how Harjo was still connected to some of the ways of the earlier Native Americans. The paper further examines the use of repetition as a poetic device.

From the Paper:

"The interesting aspect about Harjo's poem "Remember" (2004, 42) from a new historic approach is that it does as she says: incorporates the past the present. In the poem, the reader first is reminded to remember the past, when the American Indians told stories about nature and the world around them. Then Harjo jumps in time to the present to an Iowa City bar, which perhaps is a reflection on the problems that American Indians have had on the reservations with alcohol and the disease fetal alcohol syndrome. It may also mean that American Indian women are in a different role today than in the past. They can be found in male-oriented environments as well as those normally considered for females such as the home."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Harjo, Joy. She Had Some Horses. Emeryville, CA: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1997
• Harjo, Joy. How We Became Human. New York: Norton & Co., 2004.

More papers on Harjo Poetry:

• Essay # 10087 : "Harjo & Spahr: Anti-Sleepwalkers"
• Comparison Essay # 120057 : "The Apology for Poetry" and "Faerie Queene"
• Essay # 33686 : "The Poetry of Longfellow"

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