Flower and Song: Poems of the Aztec PeoplesMichael Schmidt Shake the flower, root out songin your house, Ipalnemoani, Master of Herons.-- Rejoice Perhaps with wordsyou will be pierced, brokento understand, Prince Warriors: earth is all over with.-- Rejoice The brilliant Aztec poetic tradition would have all but vanished after the Spanish Conquest in 1521 without the friars who painstakingly transcribed and preserved the poems in the years that followed. In this new edition of their translations, Edward Kissam and Michael Schmidt--two poets who spent formative years in Mexico--give us powerful echoes of the lyrical and philosophical songs; the songs of rejoicing, sorrow, ritual, and war; the laments made by Nezahualpilli and others as the end of their empire approached; and the epics of myth and legend. Their introduction is a distilled account of the background to the Aztec empire, its way of life, and its fall, including the role of poetry in Aztec life and how the poems were preserved. Michael Schmidt, poet, scholar, critic, and translator, is the founder-director of Carcanet Press and PN Review. He studied at Harvard University and Wadham College, Oxford, before settling in England. He lives in Manchester. Edward Kissam studied at Princeton University and Magdalen College, Oxford. He works at JBS International on a variety of applied research issues related to education in developing countries. He is the author (with David Griffith) of Working Poor: Farmworkers in the United States. He lives in Oakland, California. |
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arrow Ayocuan Aztec beautiful become began birds blood blue body bones born called capital Caves cloud Cloud-Serpent cloud-snakes complex Conquest corn culture dawn dead death deer dressed drink drum drunk eagle earth face fall feathers fire flowers four friends gave gods gold gone green grows hand head heart hills Huexotzinco Ipalnemoani jade jewels kill King Lady Lake lament land leave live Lord means Mexico mother mountains native never Nezahualpilli night offer once origin painted palace perhaps plumes poems poet poetry precious princes quetzal Quetzalcoatl rain raise Rejoice rises rule sacred shield shining sing smoke song sound spread spring stones symbolic Tamoanchan temple Tenochtitlan Texcoco things thought tiger Toltec took tradition translated tree tribe Viricota warriors woman yellow