Sent to Sioux Country to safeguard the Bozeman Trail;
The honorable Captain William Fetterman
Would against his superiors both rant and rail.
Fully convinced that there was not a better man,
He boasted that with a mere eighty men he’d ride
Through the Sioux Nation, defeating the redder men.
This proved a foolhardy feat he should not have tried.
Red Cloud opposed the settlers passing though Sioux lands
Where many of his forefathers had fought and died
Sioux warriors fell upon woodcutters in the lodge pole stands
The brave captain, by God, would end this guerilla war
He could easily defeat the dull native bands.
He topped the ridge to face two thousand men or more
Braves of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and the Arapaho
Fifteen minutes later they had settled the score.
All eighty-one soldiers fell to war club and bow.
For the Army, this ambush was a severe blow
Post Civil War, their grip on the west was quite frail
For now, Red Cloud had won and closed the Bozeman Trail
Author notes
This poem was supposed to be a terzanelle. The Terzanelle is a poetry type which is a combination of the villanelle and the terza rima forms. It is a 19-line poem consisting of five interlocking triplets/tercets plus a concluding quatrain in which the first and third lines of the first triplet appear as refrains. The middle line of each triplet is repeated, reappearing as the last line of the succeeding triplet with the exception of the center line of the next-to-the-last stanza which appears in the quatrain.
Obviously from reading this poem and the instructions it is clear I cannot follow a basic guideline. I did no line repeitition at all. Instead you have an eclectically rhymed mishmash.
Picture is The Fetterman Massacre by Harold von Schmidt.
In a list
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
-
I get so confused when you start talking meter or form. I know what sounds good to me. Rimas, rhymas, terras, blah. How bout them Sioux?
I read a great book a few months ago called One Thousand White Women, and it had a Fetterman character in it.
I think I'd think seriously about calling the natives dull, as they are and were anything but.
I love your Red Cloud. I have a great picture of him somewhere, want it?
Schmidt's good, he's another character who'd be a great protagonist.
Imagine the life that guy lived, huh?
Blessings always,
Jin
-
-
Thank you for reading and commenting. The use of the word dull to describe Native Americans was supposed to enunciate Fetterman's racist position. Personnally, I dont know much about Schmidt.
One thing I do know, this is not a Terzanelle.
Mike
-
-
Superb
A most excellent write indeed. Imagery, rhythm and rhyme are just fine. Thanks for sharing this one with us. Here's three links that readers of this poem might be interested in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Fetterman
Sioux Nation: http://www.snowwowl.com/peoplesioux.html
Harold von Schmidt: http://www.vonsworks.com/
-
-
Thank you for reading and commenting. I based most of my poem on the writings of Dee Brown. Originally this was part of a much larger poem written in the Ottava Rima style. Due to a recent illness I was less ambitious about it.
I am glad you enjoyed it.
Mike -
-
You are quite welcome.
-
-
Adding your comment:
1 - 5 of 5
