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Andrew Benson Brown‘s epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, chronicles the major events of the American Revolution. He writes history articles for American Essence magazine and resides in Missouri. Watch his Classical Poets Live videos here.

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19 Responses

  2. James Sale

    This is an amazing analysis – Benson Brown ought to be offered a professorship somewhere as his knowledge of poetry and poets is encyclopaedic. Sadly, of course, his views don’t fit. But, as the American poet, Christopher Morley once urged us: “Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.” Benson Brown could never be described as ‘part of unanimity’ – thank God for that! Well done – excellent piece.

    Reply
    • ABB

      In another life, and a more normal time, I would have made a good academic. Oh well. At least there’s YouTube.

      Reply
  3. Margaret Coats

    Great choice of subject, Andrew. Neihardt may have been the longest serving state laureate of them all, having held the equivalent “State Poet of Nebraska” position for more than 50 years. You may mention that in the video, but I’ve not had 40 minutes to watch it yet. Keep up the entertaining promotion of poetry!

    Reply
    • ABB

      Understandable about the time commitment. The whole episode is actually 2 hours long, and I decided to break it up into 3 parts. I’ll release an audio-only version too, which is easier for listening on the go.

      Reply
  4. Joseph S. Salemi

    An extremely interesting and informative introduction to (and critical analysis of) the work of a barely remembered poet. It seems that Neihardt gave his creative energy to understanding his own locality, culture, and its history without worrying about whether an audience of anonymous poets and academics would appreciate his work. The continuing prejudice against his “Black Elk Speaks” book is due to the failure of critics to understand that Neihardt was producing a work of art, not a documentary text, and therefore could take liberties with his transcriptions of what Black Elk said. The real objection that many have had to the book is the unspoken one of “cultural appropriation,” which is always dredged up when a white man writes a boo about a non-white culture.

    About Neihardt’s overuse of dialect — we had an American poet, James Whitcomb Riley, who wrote almost exclusively in his Hoosier dialect of Indiana and its environs. His work was quite popular, even outside of the area where the Hoosier dialect predominated. And Joel Chandler Harris made excellent use of the very difficult black Gullah dialect when he wrote his collection of stories about Brer Rabbit.

    It’s true that an extended use of dialect in poetry is not favored today, because of the fact that universal education has made standard English the common speech for an educated readership. But in many European countries, local dialects have existed for centuries and have developed a large historical canon of received texts. In Italy alone there is Neapolitan, Milanese, Sardinian, Venetian, Sicilian, Calabrese, Friulian, and Romanesco (the latter is the dialect of Rome, and the world-class poetry of G.G. Belli is totally in that idiom).

    This video by ABB is probably going to be the go-to place for future scholarship on the poetry of John Neihardt — assuming, of course, that academics get over their dislike of formal poetry.

    Reply
    • ABB

      Thanks for bringing these poets to my attention. That’s interesting about the different Italian dialects. You’ve changed my perspective on that.
      I do talk more about N’s relationship with Black Elk in the third part of the episode. The cultural appropriation arguments are ridiculous.

      Reply
      • Margaret Coats

        Dialect poetry, I would say, has very much to do with the taste of the individual reader for it, and with that reader’s ease in understanding it (two different things). Despite being much motivated to read the Scots poet Violet Jacob, and having an ability in Scots, after a while I could not tolerate her any more than I could Brer Rabbit. Still, I find James Whitcomb Riley and the black dialect poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar easy and enjoyable. Of course Dunbar’s standard English poetry is also superb.

  5. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    ABB, Mike and I had the pleasure of viewing your wonderful production last night and what a treat. I especially love your promotion of rich and eloquent language, and you quoted plenty of the exquisite stuff from John Neihardt with some excellent descriptions of your own.

    You have reminded me of the time I emerged from the nineteenth-century-novel module of my degree craving to read a less weighty book. I chose Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code (the most popular at the time) and after the first few pages I was struck by how plodding and soporific the vocabulary was – like a grey, umbrella day in England.

    Andrew, your inspirational work shines a much need light on the linguistic wonders of our world! Thank you!

    Reply
    • ABB

      I also fell into the Da Vinci Code fad. Soporific vocab is standard in the publishing industry now. It sickens me.

      Thanks for watching!

      Reply
  6. Cheryl A Corey

    Thank you, Andrew, for the time and effort you put into another fine production! I found a copy of Black Elk Speaks at the local library.

    Reply
    • ABB

      Great book. It’s interesting to compare descriptions of events there with descriptions of the same events in the last two volumes of Cycle.

      Reply
  7. Stephen M. Dickey

    Andrew, I just watched this and was fascinated—it’s very informative and entertaining. I read about the mountain men in my youth, and reading Niehardt is now high on my agenda. Most interesting poet I didn’t know about, indeed. You’ve done a real service here.

    Reply
    • ABB

      Glad to pique your interest, Stephen. Will be dropping part 2 on YT today.

      Reply
  8. Brian Yapko

    Andrew, I am thrice impressed – with the strong production values of this video-essay, with your highly professional presentation of an interesting poetic voice, and with the poet himself. I also have never heard of poet John Neihardt, which is somewhat distressing to me since I did indeed read Black Elk Speaks in college and never registered anything at all about its author. Of course, that was in a history of the Western United States course rather than a literature course. But still…

    Thank you for introducing us to a poet of exceptional quality! I am so intrigued by the “Cycle of the West” that I’m going to go ahead and order a copy. Your reading of his work is engaging. Not to contradict what you say in the video, Neihardt sounds to me both quotable and recitable. The pacing of his work seems really on target and moves along at a good clip. I appreciate poetry which has a good balance of description and action and which shows a smoothness of meter and rhyme. Neihardt’s seems to check all the boxes (though I may have more to say when I actually read his work rather than follow the excerpts you’ve provided.)

    Your analysis of The Revenant as the linear descendent of The Song of Hugh Glass is most compelling. I saw The Revenant on a flight many years ago and was so tired and distracted I could not give it the attention it apparently deserves. I now plan to rewatch it after reading the Song in its entirety. You’ve given me some exciting homework! And I’m especially pleased to be able to do so in support of American literature. It is a great shame that Neihardt is half-forgotten. But what a gift that you can draw him out of obscurity and bring him to the attention of those who love classical poetry. He’s way too good to forget.

    Reply
    • ABB

      Glad to be raising awareness and interest; several others have told me that they have ordered Cycle of the West, so giving a little boost to Bison Press here. Will be eager to know what you think!

      Reply
  9. Geoffrey Smagacz

    Very interesting indeed. “Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
    When a new planet swims into his ken.”

    Reply

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