Tablet containing a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh

An epic (from the Ancient Greek adjective ἐπικός (epikos), from ἔπος (epos) "word, story, poem"^[1]) is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.^[2] Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form. Nonetheless, epics have been written down at least since the works of Virgil, Dante Alighieri, and John Milton. Many probably would not have survived if not written down. The first epics are known as primary, or original, epics. One such epic is the Old English story Beowulf.^[3] Epics that attempt to imitate these like Milton's Paradise Lost are known as literary, or secondary, epics. Another type of epic poetry is epyllion (plural: epyllia), which is a brief narrative poem with a romantic or mythological theme. The term, which means 'little epic', came into use in the nineteenth century. It refers primarily to the erudite, shorter hexameter poems of the Hellenistic period and the similar works composed at Rome from the age of the neoterics; to a lesser degree, the term includes some poems of the English Renaissance, particularly those influenced by Ovid.^{[citation needed]} The most famous example of classical epyllion is perhaps Catullus 64.

Some of the most famous examples of epic poetry include the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Iliad and the Odyssey.

Oral epics or world folk epics[link]

The first epics were products of preliterate societies and oral poetic traditions. In these traditions, poetry is transmitted to the audience and from performer to performer by purely oral means.

Early twentieth-century study of living oral epic traditions in the Balkans by Milman Parry and Albert Lord demonstrated the paratactic model used for composing these poems. What they demonstrated was that oral epics tend to be constructed in short episodes, each of equal status, interest and importance. This facilitates memorization, as the poet is recalling each episode in turn and using the completed episodes to recreate the entire epic as he performs it.

Parry and Lord also showed that the most likely source for written texts of the epics of Homer was dictation from an oral performance.

Epic: a long narrative poem in elevated style presenting characters of high position in adventures forming an organic whole through their relation to a central heroic figure and through their development of episodes important to the history of a nation or race. (Harmon and Holman)

An attempt to deliminate nine main characteristics of an epic:^[4]

1. Begins in medias res.
2. The setting is vast, covering many nations, the world or the universe.
3. Begins with an invocation to a muse (epic invocation).
4. Begins with a statement of the theme.
5. Includes the use of epithets.
6. Contains long lists (epic catalogue).
7. Features long and formal speeches.
8. Shows divine intervention on human affairs.
9. Features heroes that embody the values of the civilization.

The hero generally participates in a cyclical journey or quest, faces adversaries that try to defeat him in his journey and returns home significantly transformed by his journey. The epic hero illustrates traits, performs deeds, and exemplifies certain morals that are valued by the society the epic originates from. Many epic heroes are recurring characters in the legends of their native culture.

Conventions of epics:^{[citation needed]}

1. Praepositio: Opens by stating the theme or cause of the epic. This may take the form of a purpose (as in Milton, who proposed "to justify the ways of God to men"); of a question (as in the Iliad, which Homer initiates by asking a Muse to sing of Achilles' anger); or of a situation (as in the Song of Roland, with Charlemagne in Spain).
2. Invocation: Writer invokes a Muse, one of the nine daughters of Zeus. The poet prays to the Muses to provide him with divine inspiration to tell the story of a great hero. (This convention is obviously restricted to cultures influenced by European Classical culture. The Epic of Gilgamesh, for example, or the Bhagavata Purana would obviously not contain this element).
3. In medias res: narrative opens "in the middle of things", with the hero at his lowest point. Usually flashbacks show earlier portions of the story.
4. Enumeratio: Catalogues and genealogies are given. These long lists of objects, places, and people place the finite action of the epic within a broader, universal context. Often, the poet is also paying homage to the ancestors of audience members.
5. Epithet: Heavy use of repetition or stock phrases: e.g., Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" and "wine-dark sea."

Literate societies have often copied the epic format. The earliest surviving European examples are the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes and Virgil's Aeneid, which follow both the style and subject matter of Homer. Other obvious examples are Nonnus' Dionysiaca, Tulsidas' Sri Ramacharit Manas.

Notable epic poems[link]

The first page of the Beowulf manuscript

This list can be compared with two others, national epic and list of world folk-epics.^[5]

Ancient epics (to 500)[link]

• 20th to 10th century BC:
  • Epic of Gilgamesh (Mesopotamian mythology)
  • Atrahasis (Mesopotamian mythology)
  • Enuma Elish (Babylonian mythology)

(The date of compositions of Babylonian epics is often hard to determine, as they may survive on manuscripts that are much later than the first composition. There is also the complication that they underwent successive revisions and redactions.)

Anywhere between 20th and 5th centuries BC:

• • Mahābhārata, ascribed to Vyasa (Hindu mythology)
  • Ramayana, ascribed to Valmiki (Hindu mythology)
• 8th to 6th century BC:
  • Iliad, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
  • Odyssey, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology)
  • Works and Days, ascribed to Hesiod (Greek mythology)
  • Theogony, ascribed to Hesiod (Greek mythology)
  • Catalogue of Women, ascribed to Hesiod (Greek mythology)
  • Shield of Heracles, ascribed to Hesiod (Greek mythology)
• 3rd century BC:
  • Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes
• 2nd century BC:
  • Annales by Quintus Ennius (Roman History)
• 1st century BC:
  • Aeneid by Virgil (Roman mythology)
  • De rerum natura by Lucretius (Latin Literature, Epicurean philosophy)
• 1st century AD:
  • Metamorphoses by Ovid (Greek and Roman mythology)
  • Pharsalia by Lucan (Roman history)
  • Punica by Silius Italicus (Roman history)
  • Argonautica by Gaius Valerius Flaccus (Roman poet, Greek mythology)
  • Thebaid and Achilleid by Statius (Roman poet, Greek mythology)
• 2nd century:
  • Buddhacarita by Aśvaghoṣa (Indian epic poetry)
  • Saundaranandakavya by Aśvaghoṣa (Indian epic poetry)
• 2nd to 5th century:
  • The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature:
    • Silappadikaram by Prince Ilango Adigal
    • Manimekalai by Seethalai Saathanar
    • Civaka Cintamani by Tirutakakatevar
    • Kundalakesi by a Buddhist poet
    • Valayapati by a Jaina poet
• 3rd to 4th century:
  • Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna
• 4th century:
  • Evangeliorum libri by Juvencus
  • Kumārasambhava by Kālidāsa (Indian epic poetry)
  • Raghuvaṃśa by Kālidāsa (Indian epic poetry)
  • De Raptu Proserpinae by Claudian
• 5th century:
  • Argonautica Orphica by Anonymous
  • Dionysiaca by Nonnus

Medieval epics (500-1500)[link]

• 7th century:
  • Táin Bó Cúailnge (Old Irish)
  • Bhaṭṭikāvya, Sanskrit courtly epic based on the Rāmāyaṇa and the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini
  • Kiratarjuniya by Bharavi, Sanskrit epic based on an episode in the Mahabharata
  • Shishupala Vadha by Magha, Sanskrit epic based on another episode in the Mahabharata
• 8th to 10th century:
  • Beowulf (Old English)
  • Waldere, Old English version of the story told in Waltharius (below), known only as a brief fragment
  • David of Sasun (Armenian)
• 9th century:
  • Bhagavata Purana (Sanskrit) "Stories of the Lord", based on earlier sources
• 10th century:
  • Shahnameh (Persian literature; details Persian legend and history from prehistoric times to the fall of the Sassanid Empire)
  • Waltharius by Ekkehard of St. Gall (Latin); about Walter of Aquitaine
  • Poetic Edda No particular authorship; oral tradition of the Norse
• 11th century:
  • Taghribat Bani Hilal (Arabic); see also Arabic epic literature
  • Ruodlieb (Latin), by a German author
  • Digenis Akritas (Greek); about a hero of the Byzantine Empire
  • Epic of King Gesar (Tibetan)
• 12th century:
  • Chanson de Roland (Old French)
  • The Knight in the Panther Skin (Georgian) by Shota Rustaveli
  • Alexandreis by Walter of Châtillon (Latin)
  • De bello Troiano and the lost Antiocheis by Joseph of Exeter
  • Carmen de Prodicione Guenonis, version of the story of the Song of Roland in Latin
  • Architrenius by John of Hauville, Latin satire
  • Liber ad honorem Augusti by Peter of Eboli, narrative of the conquest of Sicily by Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (Latin)
  • The Tale of Igor's Campaign and Bylinas (11th-19th centuries)
• 13th century:
  • Philippide (Latin) by William the Breton
  • Nibelungenlied (Middle High German)
  • Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach - (Middle High German)
  • Brut by Layamon (Early Middle English)
  • Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise ("Song of the Albigensian Crusade"; Occitan)
  • Antar (Arabic); see also Arabic epic literature
  • Sirat al-Zahir Baibars (Arabic); see also Arabic epic literature
  • Osman's Dream (Ottoman Turkish)
  • Epic of Sundiata
  • El Cantar de Mio Cid, Spanish epic of the Reconquista (Old Spanish)
  • De triumphis ecclesiae by Johannes de Garlandia (Latin)
  • Gesta Regum Britanniae by William of Rennes (Latin)
  • Jewang ungi by Yi Seung-hyu ("Rhymed Chronicles of Sovereigns"; 1287 Korea)
• 14th century:
  • Confessio Amantis by John Gower (c. 1350)
  • Cursor Mundi by an anonymous cleric (c. 1300)
  • Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) by Dante Alighieri (Italian)
  • Africa by Petrarch (Latin)
  • The Tale of the Heike (Japanese epic war tale)
• 15th century:
  • Alliterative Morte Arthure (Middle English)
  • Orlando innamorato by Matteo Maria Boiardo (1495)
  • Shmuel-Bukh (Old Yiddish chivalry romance based on the Biblical book of Samuel)
  • Mlokhim-Bukh (Old Yiddish epic poem based on the Biblical Books of Kings)
  • Book of Dede Korkut

Modern epics (from 1500)[link]

• 16th century:
  • Orlando furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (1516)
  • Os Lusíadas by Luís de Camões (c.1555)
  • La Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (1569–1589)
  • La Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso (1575)
  • Ramacharitamanasa (based on the Ramayana) by Goswami Tulsidas (1577)
  • Lepanto by King James VI of Scotland (1591)
  • Matilda by Michael Drayton (1594)
  • The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser (1596)

• 17th century:
  • The Barons' Wars by Michael Drayton (1603; early version 1596 entitled Mortimeriados)
  • The Whole Works of Homer Prince of Poets by George Chapman (1616) a retelling of the Iliad and Odyssey in iambic rhyming couplets: the Iliad in iambic heptameter, and the Odyssey in iambic pentameter.
  • The Purple Island by Phineas Fletcher (1633)
  • Szigeti veszedelem, also known under the Latin title Obsidionis Szigetianae, a Hungarian epic by Miklós Zrínyi (1651)
  • Davideis by Abraham Cowley (c. 1668)
  • Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667)
  • Paradise Regained by John Milton (1671)
  • Wojna chocimska by Wacław Potocki (1672)
  • Prince Arthur by Richard Blackmore (1695)
  • King Arthur by Richard Blackmore (1697)
• 18th century:
  • Eliza by Richard Blackmore (1705)
  • Columbus by Ubertino Carrara (1714)
  • Redemption by Richard Blackmore (1722)
  • Henriade by Voltaire (1723)
  • La Pucelle d'Orléans by Voltaire (1756)
  • Alfred by Richard Blackmore (1723)
  • Utendi wa Tambuka by Bwana Mwengo (1728)
  • Leonidas by Richard Glover (1737)
  • Epigoniad by William Wilkie (1757)
  • The Highlander; by James Macpherson (1758)
  • The Works of Ossian by James MacPherson (1765)
  • O Uraguai by Basílio da Gama (1769)
  • Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire** by Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill (1773)
  • Der Messias by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1773)
  • Rossiada by Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov (1771–1779)
  • Vladimir by Mikhail Matveyevich Kheraskov (1785)
  • Athenaid by Richard Glover (1787)
  • Joan of Arc by Robert Southey (1796)
  • Hermann and Dorothea by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1797)

• 19th century:
  • The Tale of Kiều by Nguyễn Du (1800?)
  • Thalaba the Destroyer by Robert Southey (1801)
  • The Lay of the Last Minstrel by Walter Scott (1805)
  • Madoc by Robert Southey (1805)
  • Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (part 1 1806, part 2 c. 1833)
  • Columbiad by Joel Barlow (1807)
  • Milton: a Poem by William Blake (1804–1810)
  • Marmion (poem) by Walter Scott (1808)
  • The Lady of the Lake (poem) by Walter Scott (1810)
  • The Vision of Don Roderick by Walter Scott (1811)
  • The Curse of Kehama by Robert Southey (1810)
  • Rokeby and The Bridal of Triermain by Walter Scott (1813)
  • Queen Mab (poem) by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1813)
  • Roderick, the Last of the Goths by Robert Southey (1814)
  • The Lord of the Isles by Walter Scott (1813)
  • Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1815)
  • The Revolt of Islam (Laon and Cyntha) by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1817)
  • Harold the Dauntless by Walter Scott (1817)
  • Endymion, (1818) by John Keats
  • The Battle of Marathon by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1820)
  • Hyperion, (1818), and The Fall of Hyperion, (1819) by John Keats
  • L'Orléanide, Poème national en vingt-huit chants, by Philippe-Alexandre Le Brun de Charmettes (1821)
  • Phra Aphai Mani by Sunthorn Phu (1821 or 1823–1845)
  • Don Juan by Lord Byron (1824)
  • Prometheus Bound by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1833)
  • Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz (1834)
  • Krst pri Savici by France Prešeren (1835)
  • The Seraphim by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1838)
  • Smrt Smail-age Čengića by Ivan Mažuranić (1846)
  • Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1847)
  • The Mountain Wreath by Petar II Petrović-Njegoš (1847)
  • Lazarica or Battle of Kosovo by Joksim Nović-Otočanin (1847)
  • Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot (1849 Finnish mythology)
  • Kalevipoeg by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1853 Estonian mythology)
  • The Prelude by William Wordsworth
  • Song of Myself by Walt Whitman (1855)
  • The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1855)
  • Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1860)
  • La Fin de Satan by Victor Hugo (written between 1855 and 1860, published in 1886)
  • La Légende des Siècles (The Legend of the Centuries) by Victor Hugo (1859–1877)
  • The Ring and the Book by Robert Browning (1868-69)
  • Martín Fierro by José Hernández (1872)
  • Idylls of the King by Alfred Lord Tennyson (c. 1874)
  • Clarel by Herman Melville (1876)
  • L'Atlàntida by Jacint Verdaguer (1877)
  • The City of Dreadful Night by James Thomson (B.V.) (finished in 1874, published in 1880)
  • Eros and Psyche by Robert Bridges (1885)
  • Canigó by Jacint Verdaguer (1886)
  • Lāčplēsis ('The Bear-Slayer') by Andrejs Pumpurs (1888; Latvian Mythology)
  • The Wanderings of Oisin by William Butler Yeats (1889)

• 20th century:
  • Lahuta e Malcís by Gjergj Fishta (composed 1902-1937)
  • Drake: An English Epic (1905–1908), The Torch-Bearers (1917–1930) by Alfred Noyes
  • The Ballad of the White Horse by G. K. Chesterton (1911)
  • Mensagem by Fernando Pessoa (composed 1913-1934)
  • The Cantos by Ezra Pound (composed 1915-1969)
  • Celebration of the Lizard by The Doors (composed 1965-1968)
  • The Hashish-Eater; Or, The Apocalypse of Evil by Clark Ashton Smith (1920)
  • The Bridge by Hart Crane (1930)
  • Kurukshetra (1946), Rashmirathi (1952), Urvashi (1961), Hunkar by Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'
  • Savitri by Aurobindo Ghose (1950)
  • The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel by Nikos Kazantzakis (Greek verse, composed 1924-1938)
  • Dymer by C. S. Lewis (1926)
  • A Cycle of the West by John Neihardt (composed 1921-1949)
  • "A" by Louis Zukofsky (composed 1928-1968)
  • Paterson by William Carlos Williams (composed c.1940-1961)
  • Victory for the Slain by Hugh John Lofting (1942)
  • The Maximus Poems by Charles Olson (composed 1950-1970)
  • Libretto for the Republic of Liberia by Melvin B. Tolson (1953)
  • Aniara by Harry Martinson (composed 1956)
  • Mountains and Rivers Without End by Gary Snyder (composed 1965-1996)
  • Celebration of the Lizard by The Doors (composed 1965-1968)
  • Helen in Egypt by H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) (1974)
  • The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill (composed 1976-1982)
  • The Battlefield Where The Moon Says I Love You by Frank Stanford (published 1977)

Hindi: Lalita Ke Aansoo^[6] by Krant M. L. Verma (Published 1978^[7][8])

• • The Legend of Te Tuna by Richard Adams (published 1982)
  • Genesis: An Epic Poem by Frederick Turner (1988)
  • Omeros by Derek Walcott (1990)
  • The Levant by Mircea Cărtărescu (1990)
  • Astronautilía Hvězdoplavba by Jan Křesadlo (1995)
  • The Descent of Alette by Alice Notley (1996)
  • Cheikh Anta Diop: Poem for the Living by Mwatabu S. Okantah (1997)
  • The Dream of Norumbega: Epic on the U.S. by James Wm. Chichetto (c. 1990; p. 2000- )

Other epics[link]

• Exact Epitome of the Four Monarchies by Anne Bradstreet (1650)^[9]
• The Conquest of Canaan by Timothy Dwight IV (1785)
• The Anarchiad by David Humphreys, Joel Barlow, John Trumbull, and Lemuel Hopkins (1786–87)
• The Anathemata by David Jones (1952)
• The Adagios Quartet by Judith Fitzgerald (poetry 1999-2009)
• Canto general by Pablo Neruda
• Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot
• Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner (opera, composed 1848-1874)
• Parsifal by Richard Wagner (opera, composed 1880-1882)
• Fredy Neptune: A Novel in Verse by Les Murray
• Siribhoovalaya, a unique work of multi-lingual literature written by Kumudendu Muni, a Jain monk

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• Chanson de geste
• Duma (Ukrainian epic)
• Bylina (Russian epic)
• Hebrew and Jewish epic poetry
• Tanakh
• Indian epic poetry
• Serbian epic poetry
• Yukar (Ainu epic)
• List of world folk-epics
• Monomyth
• National epic
• Bible
• Calliope (Greek muse of epic poetry)
• Epic Hero
• Alpamysh
• Rimur
• Epic Film
• Mock epic

References[link]

• http://www.poetry-portal.com/styles10.html
• http://members.optushome.com.au/kazoom/poetry/epic.html
• http://www.findpoetry.com/searchnow/Epic/
• http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=hostile+shores%3A+A+year+and+a+day&x=0&y=0

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Clay Sanskrit Library publishes classical Indian literature, including the Mahabharata and Ramayana, with facing-page text and translation. Also offers searchable corpus and downloadable materials.
• Humanities Index has notes on epic poetry.
• World of Dante Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery, interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, and searchable database for students and teachers.

Bibliography[link]

• Jan de Vries: Heroic Song and Heroic Legend ISBN 0-405-10566-5
• Hashmi, Alamgir (2011). "Eponymous Écriture and the Poetics of Reading a Transnational Epic". Dublin Quarterly, 15. 
• Cornel Heinsdorff: Christus, Nikodemus und die Samaritanerin bei Juvencus. Mit einem Anhang zur lateinischen Evangelienvorlage, Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte 67, Berlin/New York 2003, ISBN 3-11-017851-6
• Fallon, Oliver. Bhatti’s Poem: The Death of Rávana (Bhaṭṭikāvya). New York 2009: Clay Sanskrit Library, [1]. ISBN 978-0-8147-2778-2, ISBN 0-8147-2778-6

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2009)

Black Elk
Black Elk with wife and daughter, c. 1890-1910
Born	December 1, 1863 (1863-12) Little Powder River, Wyoming
Died	August 19, 1950 (1950-08-20) (age 87) Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Spouse(s)	Katie War Bonnet (1892–1903) Anna Brings White (1905–1941) Ellen (?–1950)
Children	Benjamin (?–1973) John Lucy Looks Twice (?–1978)

Heȟáka Sápa (Black Elk) (December 1863-August 19, 1950)^[1] was a famous Wičháša Wakȟáŋ (Medicine Man or Holy Man) of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He was Heyoka and a second cousin of Crazy Horse.

Life[link]

Black Elk said that during his life, he had several visions in which he learned things that would help his people. In his "great vision," at the age of nine, he said he met the spirit that guided the universe and saw a great tree that symbolized the life of the earth and of the Indian people.^[2] He did not speak of this to anyone until he was much older, but his family apparently understood he was clairvoyant after his supposed "illness".^[3]

Black Elk was involved in several battles with the U.S. cavalry. He participated, at about the age of twelve, in the Battle of Little Big Horn of 1876, and was injured in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.

In 1887, Black Elk traveled to England with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show,^[4] an unpleasant experience he described in chapter 20 of Black Elk Speaks.^[5] On May 11, 1887, the troop put on a command performance for Queen Victoria, whom they called "Grandmother England." He also described being in the crowd at her Golden Jubilee.^[6] He and Red Shirt officiated Surrounded By the Enemy's funeral in London. The interment was at Brompton Cemetery.

Black Elk married his first wife, Katie War Bonnet, in 1892. She became a Catholic, and all three of their children were baptized as Catholic. After her death in 1903, he too was baptized, taking the name Nicholas Black Elk and serving as a catechist. He continued to serve as a spiritual leader among his people, seeing no contradiction in embracing what he found valid in both his tribal traditions concerning Wakan Tanka and those of Christianity. He remarried in 1905 to Anna Brings White, a widow with two daughters. Together they had three more children and remained married until she died in 1941.

Toward the end of his life, Black Elk revealed the story of his life, and a number of sacred Sioux rituals to John Neihardt and Joseph Epes Brown for publication, and his accounts have won wide interest and acclaim.

Influence[link]

The visions and teachings of Black Elk are honored and studied by The National Spiritist Church of Alberta (Native Spirituality Church)

Books[link]

Books by Black Elk

• Black Elk Speaks: being the life story of a holy man of the Oglala Sioux (as told to John G. Neihardt), Bison Books, 2004 (originally published in 1932) : Black Elk Speaks
• The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt, edited by Raymond J. Demallie, University of Nebraska Press; new edition, 1985
• The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (as told to Joseph Epes Brown), MJF Books, 1997
• Spiritual Legacy of the American Indian (as told to Joseph Epes Brown), World Wisdom, 2007

Books about Black Elk

• Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala, by Michael F. Steltenkamp, University of Oklahoma Press; 1993. ISBN 0-8061-2541-1
• Nicholas Black Elk: Medicine Man, Missionary, Mystic, by Michael F. Steltenkamp, University of Oklahoma Press; 2009. ISBN 0-8061-4063-1
• The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt, edited by Raymond J. DeMallie; 1985
• Black Elk and Flaming Rainbow: Personal Memories of the Lakota Holy Man, by Hilda Neihardt, University of Nebraska Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8032-8376-8
• Black Elk’s Religion: The Sun Dance and Lakota Catholicism, by Clyde Holler, Syracuse University Press; 1995
• Black Elk: Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism, by Damian Costello
• Black Elk Reader, edited by Clyde Holler, Syracuse University Press; 2000

VHS Video and DVD[link]

• Writings of Black Elk (C-SPAN, 2001) ID: 165060. From the jacket: The program, telecast from the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, contained portions of an interview with Black Elk’s great-granddaughter, a re-enactment of the battle, and looked at several artifacts from the site. Length: 2:32.

• Black Elk (C-SPAN, 2001) ID: 165105. From the jacket: Ms. Black Elk spoke about her great grandfather, his impact on U.S. history, Native American history, and tribal culture. Length: 0:34.
• Native Spirit and the Sun Dance Way, DVD documentary, 2007, World Wisdom.

See also[link]

• Lame Deer
• Sitting Bull
• I Remain Alive: the Sioux Literary Renaissance

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Black Elk

• Heyoka magazine, Pete Catches Interview
• Black Elk at C-SPAN's American Writers: A Journey Through History

Seattle
The only known photograph of Chief Seattle, taken 1864
Tribe	Duwamish
Born	c. 1780 On or near Blake Island, Washington, U.S.
Died	June 7, 1866 Port Madison, Washington, U.S.
Native name	Si'ahl
Known for	Namesake of city of Seattle
Resting place	Port Madison, Washington, U.S.
Religious beliefs	Roman Catholic
Children	Princess Angeline

Chief Seattle (an Anglicization of Si'ahl), (Lushootseed pronunciation: [ˈsiʔaːɬ], originally [ˈsiʔaːtɬʼ];^[1] c. 1780 - June 7, 1866) was a Dkhw’Duw’Absh (Duwamish) chief,^[2] also known as Sealth, Seathle, Seathl, or See-ahth. A prominent figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington, was named after him. A widely publicized speech arguing in favor of ecological responsibility and respect of native Americans' land rights has been attributed to him; however there is controversy about what, if anything, he actually said.^[1]

Biography[link]

Chief Seattle's bust in the city of Seattle

Si’ahl's mother Sholeetsa was Dkhw’Duw’Absh (Duwamish) and his father Shweabe was chief of the Dkhw’Suqw'Absh (the Suquamish tribe).^[2] Si’ahl was born around 1780 on or near Blake Island, Washington. One source cites his mother's name as Wood-sho-lit-sa.^[3] The Duwamish tradition is that Si’ahl was born at his mother's Dkh^w’Duw’Absh village of Stuk^w on the Black River, in what is now the city of Kent, and that Si'ahl grew up speaking both the Dkhw’Duw’Absh and Dkhw’Suqw'Absh dialects of Lushootseed. Because Native descent among the Salish peoples was not solely patrilineal, Si'ahl inherited his position as chief of the Dkhw’Duw’Absh or Suquamish Tribe from his maternal uncle.^[2] In later years, Si’ahl claimed to have seen the ships of the Vancouver Expedition as they explored Puget Sound.

Si’ahl earned his reputation at a young age as a leader and a warrior, ambushing and defeating groups of enemy raiders coming up the Green River from the Cascade foothills, and attacking the Chimakum and the S'Klallam, tribes living on the Olympic Peninsula. Like many of his contemporaries, he owned slaves captured during his raids. He was tall and broad for a Puget Sound native at nearly six feet; Hudson's Bay Company traders gave him the nickname Le Gros (The Big One). He was also known as an orator; and when he addressed an audience, his voice is said to have carried from his camp to the Stevens Hotel at First and Marion, a distance of 3/4 of a mile.^[3]

He took wives from the village of Tola'ltu just southeast of Duwamish Head on Elliott Bay (now part of West Seattle). His first wife La-Dalia died after bearing a daughter. He had three sons and four daughters with his second wife, Olahl.^[3] The most famous of his children was his first, Kikisoblu or Princess Angeline. Si’ahl was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church, and given the baptismal name Noah, probably in 1848 near Olympia, Washington.^[4] The meaning of this ceremony may be called into question by his references to his people's gods in his most famous Talk (below).

For all his skill, Si’ahl was gradually losing ground to the more powerful Patkanim of the Snohomish when white settlers started showing up in force. When his people were driven from their traditional clamming grounds, Si’ahl met Maynard in Olympia; they formed a friendly relationship useful to both. Persuading the settlers at Duwamps to rename the town Seattle, Maynard established their support for Si’ahl's people and negotiated relatively peaceful relations among the tribes.

Si’ahl kept his people out of the Battle of Seattle (1856). Afterwards, he was unwilling to lead his tribe to the reservation established, since mixing Duwamish and Snohomish was likely to lead to bloodshed. Maynard persuaded the government of the necessity of allowing Si’ahl to remove to his father's longhouse on Agate Passage, 'Old Man House' or Tsu-suc-cub. Si’ahl frequented the town named after him, and had his photograph taken by E. M. Sammis in 1865.^[3] He died June 7, 1866, on the Suquamish reservation at Port Madison, Washington.

Legacy[link]

Statue (erected 1908) of Chief Seattle, Tilikum Place, Seattle, Washington. The statue is on the National Register of Historic Places.

• Si’ahl's grave site is at the Suquamish Tribal Cemetery.^[5]
• In 1890, a group of Seattle pioneers led by Arthur Armstrong Denny set up a monument over his grave, with the inscription "SEATTLE Chief of the Suqampsh and Allied Tribes, Died June 7, 1866. The Firm Friend of the Whites, and for Him the City of Seattle was Named by Its Founders" On the reverse is the inscription "Baptismal name, Noah Sealth, Age probably 80 years."^[3] The site was restored and a native sculpture added in 1976 and again in 2011.
• Soundgarden, a Seattle rock band, covered the Black Sabbath song, "Into the Void" replacing the lyrics with the words from Chief Seattle's speech.
• The Suquamish Tribe honors Chief Seattle every third week in August at "Chief Seattle Days".
• The city of Seattle, and numerous related features, are named after Si’ahl.
• A B-17E Flying Fortress named Chief Seattle, a so-called "presentation aircraft", was funded by bonds purchased by the citizens of Seattle. Flying with the 435th Bombardment Squadron in the defense of Port Moresby, it was lost with its 10-man crew on August 14, 1942.^[6][7]
• The Chief Sealth Trail is named after Chief Seattle "Chief Sealth Trail". http://www.traillink.com/trail/chief-sealth-trail.aspx. Retrieved February 12, 2012. .

The Speech controversy[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Chief Seattle's Speech

There is a controversy about a speech by Si’ahl concerning the concession of native lands to the settlers.

Even the date and location of the speech has been disputed,^[8] but the most common version is that on March 11, 1854, Si’ahl gave a speech at a large outdoor gathering in Seattle. The meeting had been called by Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens to discuss the surrender or sale of native land to white settlers. Doc Maynard introduced Stevens, who then briefly explained his mission, which was already well understood by all present.^[3]

Si’ahl then rose to speak. He rested his hand upon the head of the much smaller Stevens, and declaimed with great dignity for an extended period. No one alive today knows what he said; he spoke in the Lushootseed language, and someone translated his words into Chinook jargon, and a third person translated that into English.

Some years later, Dr. Henry A. Smith wrote down an English version of the speech, based on Smith's notes. It was a flowery text in which Si’ahl purportedly thanked the white people for their generosity, demanded that any treaty guarantee access to Native burial grounds, and made a contrast between the God of the white people and that of his own. Smith noted that he had recorded "...but a fragment of his [Sealth's] speech". Recent scholarship questions the authenticity of Smith's supposed translation.^{[9][verification needed]}

In 1891, Frederick James Grant's History of Seattle, Washington reprinted Smith's version. In 1929, Clarence B. Bagley's History of King County, Washington reprinted Grant's version with some additions. In 1931, John M. Rich reprinted the Bagley version in Chief Seattle's Unanswered Challenge. In the 1960s, articles by William Arrowsmith and the growth of environmentalism revived interest in Si’ahl's speech. Ted Perry introduced anachronistic material, such as shooting buffalo from trains, into a new version for a movie called Home,^[1] produced for the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission.^[10] The movie sank without a trace, but this newest and most fictional version is the most widely known. Albert Furtwangler analyzes the evolution of Si’ahl's speech in Answering Chief Seattle (1997).^[11]

The speech attributed to Si’ahl, as re-written by others, has been widely cited as "powerful, bittersweet plea for respect of Native American rights and environmental values".^[1] A similar controversy surrounds a purported 1855 letter from Si’ahl to President Franklin Pierce, which has never been located and, based on internal evidence, is considered by some historians as "an unhistorical artifact of someone's fertile literary imagination".^[8]

See also[link]

Chief Seattle’s gravesite on the Port Madison Indian Reservation in Suquamish, Washington

Closeup of Chief Seattle’s tombstone in Suquamish, Washington

• Battle of Seattle (1856)
• History of Seattle before 1900
• Chief Sealth International High School
• Suquamish Museum and Cultural Center

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lakw’alas (Thomas R. Speer), The Life of Si’ahl, ‘Chief Seattle’, Duwamish Tribal Services Board of Directors, for the Duwamish Tribe, July 22, 2004.
• Murray Morgan, Skid Road, 1951, 1960, and other reprints, ISBN 0-295-95846-4.
• William C. ("Bill") Speidel, Doc Maynard, The Man Who Invented Seattle, Nettle Creek Publishing Company, Seattle, 1978.
• Chief Seattle bio, Chief Seattle Arts, accessed online 2009-02-23.
• Brief analysis of the different versions of the speech by Nancy Zussy, Librarian, Washington State Library, accessed online 2010-01-01.
• The Suquamish Museum (1985). The Eyes of Chief Seattle. Suquamish, WA: Suquamish Museum. 
• Jefferson, Warren (2001). The World of Chief Seattle, How Can One Sell the Air?. Summertown, TN: Native Voices. pp. 127. ISBN 1-57067-095-1. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chief Seattle

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chief Seattle

• Suquamish Museum & Cultural Center
•  "Seattle". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.