[Aztlan] Aztec poetry

Fri Sep 12 18:06:56 UTC 2008

I just completed my MFA with an emphasis on Nahua poetics.  In addition to
Miguel Leon-Portilla's Thirteen Poets of the Aztec World, I recommend his
and Early Shorris' book, In the Language of Kings: An Anthology of
Mesoamerican Literature--Pre-Columbian to the Present.  The first half of
this book focuses on the Nahuas; the second half on the Mayans.  There is
also a book by British scholar Irene Nicholson (Faber and Faber, 1959),
Firefly in the Dark: A Study of Ancient Mexican Poetry and Symbolism, which
is an interesting read.  There is also an excellent article by Rafael Jesus
Gonzalez on the origin of Mexican music--which was a central part of Nahua
poetry and one of the reasons it was referred to as "song."

If you'd like a detailed bibliography, let me know.

Great idea to include indigenous poetry in a class on Latin America!

Best,
Cindy

-----Original Message-----
From: nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org
[mailto:nahuatl-bounces at lists.famsi.org] On Behalf Of John F. Schwaller
Sent: Friday, September 12, 2008 10:06 AM
To: Wendy Bacon
Cc: Nahuat-l ((messages)); Aztlan news Aztlan news group
Subject: Re: [Nahuat-l] [Aztlan] Aztec poetry

To be honest, not much of quality, at least that I have seen thus far, 
has made it on to the web.  The Brinton book, recently referenced, is 
nearly 150 years old and is as much romantic fiction as a faithful 
translation.  There is an extensive bibliography of Nahuatl poetry in 
print, however, but in the curious and quaint tradition of paper and ink.

You can see Miguel Angel Garibay's 3 volumes of Poesia Nahuatl, 
translated to Spanish

Mighel Leon Portilla has done a great deal, including Thirteen Poets of 
the Aztec World, available from  U. Oklahoma Press, available in English.

John Bierhorst has translated the _Cantares Mexicanos, although many 
scholars have serious arguments about some of the suppositions upon 
which Bierhorst based his translation to English.

On my web page there are a couple of examples of Nahuatl poetry I use 
for my students:

http://www2.potsdam.edu/schwaljf/Nahuatl/poetry.htm

Wendy Bacon wrote:
> My teenaged son is studying Latin America, and his teacher is  
> starting with poetry by Latin American authors.  I thought it might  
> be interesting to throw in a little poetry by indigenous Latin  
> Americans.  I do have a few references in books to Yukatek and Nauatl  
> poetry, but this is the on-line generation.  I've found an indigenous  
> poetry website, but wasn't impressed.  Does anybody happen to know of  
> some internet resources for native Latin American poetry with good  
> scholarly underpinnings?
>
> Wendy
>
>
> Wendy J. Bacon, PhD
> Department of Anthropology
> University of Pennsylvania
>
>
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-- 
*****************************
John F. Schwaller
President
SUNY - Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Ave.
Potsdam, NY  13676
Tel. 315-267-2100
FAX 315-267-2496

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