ETHNOPOETICS.ORG : a collaboration to extend the valuing and study of global poetries

Opening Songs from Shaking the Pumpkin

Overview

This transcription and recording is performed by Jerome Rothenberg. It is traditional Seneca poetry.

Commentary

Seneca works in sets of short songs and is similar to minimal/abstract poetry. Here Rothenberg makes the words of the oral program the translation. Rothenberg has used several devices to make this visible on page such as: type size, style, orientation, spacing of letters and line breaks that created a visual work on its own.

As with concrete poetry, we have a piece of visual art made with words and a substantial amount of the oral (original) poem's effect is in the movement from oral to visual structure. Using this abstract form, Rothenberg found the best tool in imparting Seneca poetry in this open play-of-the-mind way. “Shaking the Pumpkin” is Rothenberg’s working of sacred curing songs from the Seneca Indians’ society of the mystic animals, taking into account all elements of the original (including the non-verbal) but translating the melody in particular into equivalent visual patterns that hold the page.

Bibliography

Navigation

Active Areas:

Print/export
QR Code
QR Code alcheringa:1-1:opening_songs_from_shaking_the_pumpkin (generated for current page)