The+Dance

=Powhatan's Daughter=

> The Dance
I expect contemporary critics might give Crane flack for romanticizing of the Native American "Other." Lewis takes a gentler line, finding Crane's work "quite legitimat[e]," but conceding that "historical familiarity with the actual American Indian will only divert the reader's understanding" (quotes from p. 313).

(numbers refer to lines of the poem)

sidebar: **her chieftain / lover** : implying that Pocahontas and Maquokeeta were lovers?

1: **red flesh** : since Native Americans are traditionally considered to have reddish skin, Lewis thinks that this figure, while some sort of god, is also Native American.

5: **drouth** : variant of "drought."

15: **Princess** : I wonder how close Pocahontas's role in her society was to the European idea of a princess?

15: **lap** : in Shakespeare, "lap" has a sexual meaning.

15: **virgin May** : I think this phrase undermines its own virginity. First, there is a pun on "may," as in, "you may." Second, the month of May is when April showers bring flowers, a spring time of birth (although this could be taken to indicate distant future, not currently impending, birth).

16: **tawny** : the color of tanned skin. Suggests to me that the speaker is a European, because this doesn't seem like the sort of thing the Indians would observe about themselves, since their skin color is usual to them.

19-20: **your hair's keen crescent running. . . First moth of evening take wing** : perhaps an early allusion to the serpent and eagle imagery that will become so important (cf. line 104)?

21: **chains. . . the water. . . threw** : in order to catch something?

33: **Appalachian Spring** : there's lots to know about Appalachia: <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia>.] Aaron Copland's wonderful 1944 ballet score "Appalachian Spring" (also scored as an orchestral suite) was named after this phrase from //The Bridge//, at dancer Martha Graham's suggestion.

34: **steep, inaccessible smile** : a mountain range.

36: **Adirondacks** : Mountains in the state of New York: <[|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adirondacks>.] Often grouped with the Appalachians, as part of their northern extent (the Appalachians actually reach into Canada, but "Appalachia" generally refers to the southern part of the range).

37: **tarns** : small mountain lakes with steep banks. The word used by Poe over and over in "The Fall of the House of Usher," if that's worth anything.

45: **turbine** : a blending of nature (the "cyclone") with technology, which suits //The Bridge// as a whole, but surprises me a bit here.

47: **Maquokeeta** : Lewis claims he is an Indian prince who is burned to death at the stake while he continues to dance. An invented character with the actual name of a taxi driver Crane had in New York (Mariani p. 256).

48: **Sachem** : a North American Indian chief.

48: **tamarack** : any of several American larch trees.  may suggest that the tree for which the term is most commonly used would not actually grow here (depending on where "here" is).

55: **Now snaps the flint in every tooth** : I irresistibly hear this line echoed by Berryman's poem "Song 1" from //The Dream Songs// (written long after //The Bridge//): "Hard on the land wears the strong sea / and empty grows every bed." I have no evidence that Berryman was making an allusion; I just wanted to put it down because the echo was driving me crazy.

59: **Medicine-man** : for Lewis, a stand-in for "the poet."

62: **liege** : refers to feudal loyalty. May mean "loyal to" or "owed loyalty by"; probably has the former meaning here?

71: **flame cataracts** : a cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. Seems oxymoronic, since flame usually illuminates. But perhaps it refers to blindingly bright light? Or perhaps the less-common sense of cataract is intended, as a waterfall or downpour.

73: **furious noon** : in a sense an oxymoron, since noon is often a very still time of day. (In another sense not one, since it is also often the hottest time of day.)

81: **thewed of the levin** : muscled of the lightning. ("Levin" is archaic English; there is a lot of that in this poem, suggesting perhaps a fusion of the European and the Native American?)

96: **into bloom** : I cannot but think here of arousal and erecting nipples.

This page has been edited {$pagerevisions} times. The last modification was made by user:{$revisioneditor} on {$revisiondate}.