Carter Revard is an Osage Indian, Rhodes scholar, and professor of medieval English literature. He was born on the Osage reservation in Pawhuska,Oklahoma, and attended a one-room country school through eighth grade. He worked his way through high school as a janitor, farmhand and greyhound trainer. The young man then snared a ticket to higher education by winning a scholarship to the University of Tulsa on a radio quiz show. He took B.A.s from the University of Tulsa and Oxford (Rhodes Scholarship, Oklahoma and Merton 1952), was given his Osage name and a Yale Ph.D., then taught medieval and American Indian literatures before retiring in 1997. How the Songs Came Down is a collection of Revard’s poems. Recordings of ten selections are included on his website, as well as a podcast interview. Exerpts from this collection are available from the publisher and thirteen poems are featured in a Google Books edition.This collection of poems demonstrates his eclectic ability to draw upon his Oklahoma Osage background and his classical Oxford education: “This major selection of Revard's work lets you hear duets of humpbacked whales and wine-throated hummingbirds. You can walk on Skye, shoot craps in Las Vegas and see an ex-bank-robbing uncle get shot dead hijacking a shipment of bootleg whiskey. You can watch a swan become a soul, see glass fibers bring tomorrow from Japan, taste watermelons transubstantiating, and track vanilla honey to a beehive on top of L’Opera Garnier.” (from the publisher)
Your Turn: In “Driving in Oklahoma,” the speaker observes the Oklahoma landscape as he travels in his car. Observe your own landscape. Begin by making a list of the things you observe. Record specific sensory images -- sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Using this record, write a poem which will capture some part of your own journey. If you have no landscape to inpire you, use one of the photographs above as inspiration. |
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Updated 23 August 2023.