The White Wampum (1895) is the debut poetry collection of E. Pauline Johnson. Originally published in London, The White Wampum launched her career as one of Canada’s most distinguished artists. Revered as one the foremost indigenous poets of her time, Johnson was a prolific writer whose works explored her Mohawk heritage while shedding light on the racism and persecution faced by indigenous peoples across North America. The White Wampum captures Johnson’s range as a poet in tune with the Romantic tradition without erasing her dualistic sense of identity as a woman of Mohawk and English heritage. Choosing to emphasize the former, Johnson, who also went by Tekahionwake, her great-grandfather’s name, adopts the persona of a Mohawk wife devoted to her husband, a powerful warrior: “I am Ojistoh, I am she, the wife / Of him whose name breathes bravery and life / And courage to the tribe that calls him chief. / I am Ojistoh, his white star, and he / Is land, and lake, and sky—and soul to me.” When members of the rival Huron tribe capture Ojistoh, their plan for retribution fails to account for her own strength and willpower. Outnumbered and unarmed, she remains certain she will return to her husband alive. In “The Camper, ” Johnson invokes the beauty and simplicity of life on the plains, erasing for a moment all distinction between man and god, heaven and earth: “Night neath the northern skies, lone, black, and grim: / Nought but the starlight lies twixt heaven, and him. / Of man no need has he, of God, no prayer; / He and his Deity are brothers there.” This edition of E. Pauline Johnson’s The White Wampum is a classic of Canadian literature reimagined for modern readers.
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A propos de l’auteur
E. Pauline Johnson (1861-1913) was a Canadian poet and actress. Also known by her stage name Tekahionwake, Johnson was born to an English mother and a Mohawk father in Six Nations, Ontario. Johnson suffered from illness as a child, keeping her from school and encouraging her self-education through the works of Longfellow, Tennyson, Browning, Byron, and Keats. Despite the racism suffered by Canada’s indigenous people, Johnson was encouraged to learn about her Mohawk heritage, much of which came from her paternal grandfather John Smoke Johnson, who shared with her and her siblings his knowledge of the oral tradition of their people. In the 1880s, Johnson began acting and writing for small theater productions, finding success in 1892 with a popular solo act emphasizing her duel heritage. In these performances, Johnson would wear both indigenous and Victorian English costumes, reciting original poetry for each persona. As a poet, she wrote prolifically for such periodicals as Globe and Saturday Night, publishing her first collection, The White Wampum, in 1895. Her death at the age of 52 prompted an outpouring of grief and celebration in Canada; at the time, Johnson’s funeral was the largest in Vancouver history, attracting thousands of mourners from all walks of life.
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