The Dead Feast of the Kol-Folk
This poem is a narrative about a group of people who gather to celebrate the death of a man named John Brown, an abolitionist who led a raid on Harpers Ferry. The speaker describes the scene at the gathering, where the attendees are dressed in mourning attire and singing hymns. They reflect on Brown's life and legacy, and his role in the fight against slavery.
By John Greenleaf Whittier · First published 1866 · Genre: Poetry, Cultural Studies, Folklore · 928 words
First lines
E. B. Tylor in his Primitive Culture, chapter xii., gives an account of the reverence paid the dead by the Kol tribes of Chota Nagpur, Assam. "When a Ho or Munda," he says, "has been burned on the funeral pile, collected morsels of his bones are carried in procession with a solemn, ghostly, sliding step, keeping time to the deep-sounding drum, and when the old woman who carries the bones on her bamboo tray lowers it from time to time, then girls who carry pitchers and brass vessels mournfully reverse them to show that they are empty; thus the remains are taken to visit every house in the village, and every dwelling of a friend or relative for miles, and the inmates come out to mourn and praise the goodness of the departed; the bones are carried to all the dead man's favorite haunts, to the fields he cultivated, to the grove he planted, to the threshing-floor where he worked, to the village dance-room where he made merry. At last they are taken to the grave, and buried in an earthen vase upon a store of food, covered with one of those huge stone slabs which European visitors wonder at in the districts of the aborigines of India. " In the Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, vol. ix., p. 795, is a Ho dirge.
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The Dead Feast of the Kol-Folk is listed on Textopian as a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, dated 1866 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: John Greenleaf Whittier
- Date: 1866 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Cultural Studies, Folklore, Spirituality, Anthropology
- Length: 928 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is structured in verse, employing rhythmic and lyrical elements typical of poetry.
- Cultural Studies — It explores the cultural practices and beliefs surrounding death and mourning in the Kol tribes.
- Folklore — The content reflects traditional beliefs and practices, characteristic of folklore.
- Spirituality — Themes of reverence for the dead and connections between the living and the deceased are central.
Tags
American Literature · Poetry · Folklore · Mythology · Symbolism · Nature Imagery · Seasonal Theme · Autumn · Harvest · Death and the Afterlife · Mortality · Grief