The Powwow at the End of the World

Poetry Analysis:

By: Savannah Martin, Grace Corcoran, Mikayla Peterbark, and Mitch Jennings

Figurative Language

• "That salmon who has 3 stories it must tell before sunrise"

-Personification

• "Floodwaters find their was to the mouth of the Columbia River" (Line 6,7) -Personification
• "That salmon leaps into the night air above the water, thrown a lightning bolt at the brush near my feet" (Line 18,19)
• "And starts the fire which will lead all of the lost Indians home" (Line 19,20)

-Personification

Syntax

• FREE VERSE

• Begins each thought by saying, "I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall..."
• When he says, "After," he starts to describe an event that won't happen
• When he says, "when", he starts to describe an event that is bound to happen.

Diction

Audience

(+)

(-)

Individuals who are asking the speaker to forgive.

(-)

• Forgive (Line 1)
• After (Line 2)
• Topples (Line 26)
• Burst (Line 4)
• Broken (Line 12)
• Abandoned (Line 12)
• Alone (Line 16)

(-)

Purpose

Context

(-)

• Nature Worship

~polytheistic

• Negative relationship between Native Americans and Americans
• Reservation

To explain why the damaging actions made against Native Americans exempt them from having to extend forgiveness.

Theme

Tone:

Mood:

Frustrated, Annoyed

Sympathetic, Dejected

It is unreasonable to demand forgiveness when a transgressor has not even fixed his or her mistake.

Author

Sherman Alexie was born October 7, 1966 in Wellpinit, Washington, WA. He grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation, and uses his experiences as a Native American to write his books and poems, as well as screenplays for movies.

The Powwow at the End of the World

By: Sherman Alexie

I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall

after an Indian woman puts her shoulder to the Grand Coulee Dam

and topples it. I am told by many of you that I must forgive

and so I shall after the floodwaters burst each successive dam

downriver from the Grand Coulee. I am told by many of you

that I must forgive and so I shall after the floodwaters find

their way to the mouth of the Columbia River as it enters the Pacific

and causes all of it to rise. I am told by many of you that I must forgive

and so I shall after the first drop of floodwater is swallowed by that salmon

waiting in the Pacific. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall

after that salmon swims upstream, through the mouth of the Columbia

and then past the flooded cities, broken dams and abandoned reactors

of Hanford. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall

after that salmon swims through the mouth of the Spokane River

as it meets the Columbia, then upstream, until it arrives

in the shallows of a secret bay on the reservation where I wait alone.

I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall after

that salmon leaps into the night air above the water, throws

a lightning bolt at the brush near my feet, and starts the fire

which will lead all of the lost Indians home. I am told

by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall

after we Indians have gathered around the fire with that salmon

who has three stories it must tell before sunrise: one story will teach us

how to pray; another story will make us laugh for hours;

the third story will give us reason to dance. I am told by many

of you that I must forgive and so I shall when I am dancing

with my tribe during the powwow at the end of the world.