Reader: Elizabeth Sydnor

Respondent: Naomi Johnston

Recorder: Charley Bevill

“Crazy Horse Monument”

By Peter Blue Cloud

Biographical Information:  Blue Cloud was born to the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk tribe on the Caughnawaga Reserve in Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada. He is noted for combining Native American myths with contemporary issues. He has worked as ironworker, logger, carpenter and woodcutter and was previously associated with journal Akwesasne Notes and the journal Indian Magazine. Blue Cloud is especially noted for his use of the Coyote figure in his stories and poems.  His poems are filled with images of both the modern and traditional Indian culture.  Peter Blue Cloud’s poems are included in such collections as Clans of Many Nations.

Literary Objectives: 

Objective 1a:  “Involuntary (or forced) participation” In the case of the Indian’s here it is different than what is outlined in the syllabus, I am referring to forced participation where the reservations are concerned. 

Objective 1b:  “Voiceless and cloiceless”  (Contrast the dominant culture’s self-determination or choice through self-expression or voice, as in “The Declaration of Independence.”)

Objective 3b:  “Loss and Survival” the Indian once had America but lost it.

Poetic Techniques:  Peter Blue Cloud uses a lot of metaphors to relay his messages, and most of these metaphors are extended to provide a stronger effect.  These tropes are used in order to provide the reader with a more sensory filled experience.  Also, he uses a lot of alliteration that makes the reader take notice of the particular line that he wants attention given.

Interpretation:  In the poem, Blue Cloud is talking about the trail of tears where the Indian was forced off their land.  Then, he discusses the great warrior Crazy Horse.  Crazy Horse has been revered for being the strongest and bravest warrior that ever lived.  Also, this is describing the cycle of time where the Indian will soon regain control over the lands and over modern day society.

Discussion:

Will: 3^rd stanza repeated like a chorus (that’s all I could hear him saying).

Liz: You can hear the rhythm. It’s like a chant for Crazy Horse. What did you guys think about the spotted snake?

Naomi: I didn’t notice the thing about the spotted snake but some the things that did stick

out: "brown grass bends" – Indians bend but don’t brake which goes along with

the laws of survival, "prairie wolves chorus the moon in morning" – mourning

like the animals are sad.

Liz: The spotted snake struck me as maybe the "Trail of Tears" or a river showing

nature.

Shari: Couldn’t that be their path because they had to move?

Dr. W: It’s not a negative image. In the Western tradition, a snake represents evil in most

cases but here it isn’t at all. It’s a very neutral, nature image.

Liz: "To capture in stone…" Are they capturing Crazy Horse’s spirit in the stone?

"And what would he think of the cold steel chisel…" What would Crazy Horse

think of the desecration of nature? "…crumbled glories of Greece and Rome…"

What’s you guys take on those lines?

Naomi: I thought it is referring to the classic education of the white culture in that era.

Liz: You can almost go into all of the objectives that I listed in those two lines. Which

do you value more, the ancient culture or this culture? Which is more ancient?

How can we say which one is more important?

Dr. W: What do you think about Crazy Horse’s image? There are no pictures of Crazy

Horse.

Liz: They don’t know where buried either.

Dr. W: Right. There is something very allusive about Crazy Horse that keeps him alive in

a way.

Sheri: Kind of like Elvis.

Dr. W: Or Jimmy Hoffa.

Liz: Maybe he’s the Indian Marilyn Monroe.

Dr. W: There’s some mystery about him that therefore keeps you from

closing the book on him.

Liz: He is supposed to be the strongest and most fearless warrior ever and of course,

the Indians hold that in high esteem.

Sheri: Wasn’t he Black Elk’s cousin?

Dr. W: That’s right. We did Black Elk Speaks, which is an autobiography of a Sioux holy

man. He was something of a mystic himself. Crazy Horse had visions.

Karen: Spotted snake variation of nature; rock blown apart; Indians had died; monument taking away from nature but still survival (Couldn’t hear her on the tape to figure out what my notes meant)

Sheri: From your take of the poem did the Sioux like memorial? Because didn’t they

want it down or did they request to have it taken down?

Liz: That is according to interpretation because you look at it like she was saying

(Karen), you can see the loss and the survival. You can see the loss of nature. There is a fine line between them. You lose something in order to gain something.

Sheri: So it’s a trade off.

Liz: Yeah. Even in the beginning he starts with "Hailstones falling like sharp blue sky chips." That is the mountain being blown off. He is describing what happens when it’s falling.

Dr. W: My general take is that he is somewhat opposed to it. But what’s nice about the poem is that the stanza at the top of p.180 is formed as a question. What would he think? It opens up the possibilities by asking it as a question instead of just making a statement. Now the following stanza is a statement that is somewhat negative.

Liz: That’s why I was saying about the loss and survival because one stanza shows more loss and one stanza shows more about survival. To me it shows he is saying you have to lose something in order to gain something. So, we’re not all together going to be lost. That’s what I see is the whole entire message of the poem. We were discussing something in Dr. Gorman’s class when going over The Waste Land called the vegetative myth. A lot of that is in Cloud’s stuff about how everything is going to come back around. We will survive, the earth will survive, the Indian will survive, we’re all tied together. He uses a lot of different techniques in all his poems. When he uses alliteration, his words almost become onomatopoeic in nature because you can hear everything. You can hear the wind howling