LITMIR.BIZ

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it aside and then as one would with a child, she looked at it again with affection because it was hers. She tried to improve it, but the more she did the more mistakes she saw.The comparison of book with child is continued. In those days a retarded child, or one crippled or malformed, would be kept away from the public. She would have preferred to keep the book away from the public but it is too late. So she tries to improve it, make it respectable, in terms of her comparison. Washing the child’s face is compared to cleaning up the book.15–19The speaker tried to improve the writing and make it appear better, but could not. In terms of her metaphor she tried to straighten the child’s feet and dress it in better clothes, but was unable to.The metaphor continues with the reference to “feet” and “hobbling” (lines 15 and 16), suggesting that the child is crippled and could not walk properly. Her efforts made no difference as the child “still run’st more hobbling” than it should, just as the book was still not right. By referring to dressing the child and finding only rough home-made material to do it with, the speaker is saying that she doesn’t have the skill to improve her book. She gives up almost and says the book must be read as it is, just as the child, dressed in its poor clothing will go out and be seen by people.20–24The speaker warns the book to stay away from critics and to be read only by people who don’t know her (“where yet thou art not known”) (line 20). She criticises herself as a mother who, too poor to keep a child, sends it out of the house, meaning that she is unable to improve the book, and it will have to be read in its faulty form since it is already out in public.The author/mother is embarrassed by her book/child. She acknowledges her inadequacy and inability to be a good writer/mother. The book/child remains deformed. She hopes the book will only be read by people who do not know her so that they cannot directly criticise her.The reference to a missing father links the child to an impoverished household where there is no breadwinner. This extends the metaphor to include a lack in the author – she has no husband to help her with the book. (In fact, as the notes on p. 11 of the anthology tell us, the poet’s husband was often away from home.)

      Contextual questions

      1.Do you think a mother with a deformed child should feel guilty? (2)

      2.Identify the alliteration (repetition of initial letters) in the first few lines and say how it adds to meaning. (2)

      3.Quote two phrases from the poem that indicate that the author is embarrassed by her book. (2)

      4.What evidence do you find in the poem that supports the idea that the author is exaggerating the flaws of her book or is extremely unhappy with it? Use your own words but refer to the poem. (4)

      (10)

      The Indian Burying Ground by Philip Freneau

      (See p. 13 in Poems From All Over)

Title:	The speaker is describing his thoughts when he visits a Native American burying ground.
Theme:	The different between the way Native Americans and Europeans bury their dead and what it means.
Mood:	Sombre, serious.

      Discussion

      What the speaker is doing is comparing the burial rites of the Native Americans with those of Europeans. He is criticising the Christian, European idea that the “after-life” is different from that here on earth. He uses the Native American way as a point of comparison.

      The poem consists of ten four-line stanzas with the rhyme scheme abab and is simple in style.

      Analysis

Stanza		Comment
1	The speaker is expressing his opinion of the European/Christian belief that there is life after death. Europeans bury their dead lying down, ready for an eternal sleep.	“I still my opinion keep” (line 1) implies that the speaker has thought this before, and has his opinion confirmed when he visits the Indian burying ground. Saying “In spite of …” tells the reader that he is going to say something controversial. He knows what the learned men say but he disagrees. The use of “we” (line 3) points out that he is a European.
2	The Native Americans, the “ancients” (line 5), do things differently. When people die (are “[released from life]”), they continue life as it was before, sitting with others and taking part of the joys of living (“joyous feast”) (line 8).	The speaker is saying that it is the Native Americans who believe in life after death, as is shown by the fact that they bury their dead sitting upright, ready to continue with life.
3	The Native Americans are buried with the things they will need in their future life: pictures, bowls, meat, and these all point to “activity” (line 12), a continuation of life.	The speaker is saying that the fact that the living bury their dead with useful things shows that they believe in life after death, not an eternal sleep. The “venison, for a journey dressed” (line 10) means that the dead person will have meat to eat on the journey he is undertaking thus will continue to live.
4	The dead “Indian” (Native American) has been buried with this bow and arrow, ready to use, as he did in life (“not the old ideas gone”) (line 16); the old ideas of his life will continue.	Europeans think that life after death is very different from their lives on earth; they believe the old life “ideas” (a different kind of life) are “gone”, they don’t exist in the same way. This is not so in Native American belief. We see this again with the mention of the bow and arrow ready for action as life after death continues as before.
5	The speaker is showing someone (“Thou, stranger”) (line 17) around the burial ground and warns him to be respectful (“No fraud upon the dead commit”) (line 18). He shows him the rises (“swelling turf”) (line 19) and tells him that these dead are not lying (like European dead do) but sitting.	Notice the repetition of the how the body is buried, the position (“seated” line 7 and “sit” line 20). This is an important part of his argument.
6	He next shows the visitor the rock with old paintings, half washed away by the weather, painted by the Native Americans who used to live there.	The word “ruder” (line 24) points to the assumption that Native Americans were more “primitive” and led a simple life, the implication being that were not “learned” (see line 1).The drawings are evidence of the kind of life they led.
7	The speaker points out what the drawings are of: and old elm tree with children playing in its shade. He reminds the visitor that shepherds in Europe still seek out (“admires”) (line 25) shade.	By comparing the picture of the children playing in the shade to today’s Europeans, he is saying that it was a normal thing to do. Note that he describes the children as being “of the forest” (line 28), simple and unsophisticated.
8	He points out a Native American queen and savage shapes (possibly wild animals), of whom the Native Americans would have been afraid (“to chide the man that lingers there”) (line 32).	He points out further pictures drawn, a woman (“queen”, possibly) and animals (“barbarous form”) (line 31). These again refer to a simple life.
9	He tells the visitor that at midnight when the moon shines, the dead, dressed for hunting (“for the chase arrayed”) (line 34) still chase after deer, both the hunter and the deer being “a shade” (line 36), a spirit or ghost.	The speaker continues telling his belief that the dead continue their normal way of life. Notice the “still” (line 35), which implies that nothing has changed. He admits that they are ghosts, because they are dead, but the life they lead is the same as before. Life after death is the same as life lived. This is his main argument.
10	The speaker concludes his argument in this final stanza. Those who are afraid (of dying? of being sent to hell?) will be able to see for a long time still the pictures of a chief and his weapon, so that those who want proof of what he is saying (“Reason’s self”) (line 39) will acknowledge that what he says is true (“bow the knee”).	The whole poem is an argument for the idea that life after death continues in the same way as life before death, that those afraid of death need not be. By acknowledging “Reason” he refers to the current belief that only science and what can be proved is true.

      Contextual questions

      1.Who is the “His” of line 9? Quote from the poem in answer. (1)

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