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    A Study Guide for Simon J. Ortiz's "My Father's Song"
    A Study Guide for Simon J. Ortiz's "My Father's Song"
    A Study Guide for Simon J. Ortiz's "My Father's Song"
    Ebook28 pages32 minutes

    A Study Guide for Simon J. Ortiz's "My Father's Song"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Simon J. Ortiz's "My Father's Song," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 26, 2016
    ISBN9781535829144
    A Study Guide for Simon J. Ortiz's "My Father's Song"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Simon J. Ortiz's "My Father's Song" - Gale

      1

      My Father’s Song

      Simon Ortiz

      1976

      Introduction

      Ortiz’s poetry first appeared in 1969 in the South Dakota Review’s special Indian issue, The American Indian Speaks. Since that time, Ortiz has been critically acclaimed as among the best of the contemporary Native-American poets, a recognition that extends to Indian circles. While the Native-American oral tradition, which includes song and prayer, has generally been unchronicled, contemporary American Indians such as Ortiz are creating a canon of prose and poetry that draws on this tradition.

      Ortiz’s poetry, including My Father’s Song, which was first published in 1976 in Going for the Rain, is strongly narrative. Ortiz has defended his style, stating, Indians always tell a story. The only way to continue is to tell a story. This particular poem continues by remembering a moment in which his father passed on to him the reverence for the earth and for its living creatures. The language is deceptively simple and conversational, presenting images with full significance. Ortiz has said, I try to listen to the voices of the people back home and use their sounds to direct my composition. The impulse for My Father’s Song is the desire to hear his father’s voice, engendered by his own need to say things. In addition to this active practice of the oral traditions of his people and the basic philosophy they represent, Ortiz works to present in his poetry the

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