The Indian Burying Ground : Philip Morin Freneau - Summary and Critical

Analysis
The Indian Burying Ground is a romantic poem by Philip Morin Freneau that
imaginatively analyzes the Native American’s rite of burying the dead in a standing
(active) posture as a meaningful act that symbolizes the continued existence of their
spirit and influence among the living. The speaker is at one of the burying grounds of
the native tribes, thinking over the Indian rite of burying the dead in an upright position.

The visitor of the Indian graveyard

meditates upon the burying rites of the
native Indian peoples; the primitivistic
speaker is in the guise of a common
man but he is challenging civilized burial
customs of the Europeans. He says: "In
spite of all that the learned have said / I
still my opinion keep". This suggests
that the speaker is refusing to accept
what the so-called learned people say;
he rejects rationalism in favor of
mysticism. When civilized culture
demands burying a corpse in a prone
(sleeping) position, death is seen as an
eternal 'sleep' for the soul. The speaker
goes on to argue, his imagination
becoming more active.

If readers consider antiquity of the American world, they contemplate America’s

primordial race of Indians, whose sitting posture in their graves suggests that their soul
actively continue the simple pursuits of their former mortal lives as also depicted on
their pottery and as indicated by their weapons. For example, an Indian arrow head or
“head of stone”, symbolizes the opposite of a European headstone (tombstone), namely,
the enduring vitality of the dead person’s spirit unlike the cold, engraved memorial for a
dead white man.
The title of the poem "The Indian Burying Ground" is American in the sense it
describes the American Indians tradition in burying a dead body. When Indians die they
bury them in sitting position; they think that the dead are with life, in their own world.
The poem is in ten regular stanzas with the rhyming scheme abab. The first half of the
poem describes what happens in burial ground and second half of the poem describes
how to treat on burial ground. Poet, here, in fact is suggesting Americans not to ignore
Indian burial. The learned Christian is more pedantic, and the learned Indian is more
open. Poet sides with the Indians from the outset of the poem.
A new dimension of looking at life is introduced here. The posture we keep to our
dead determines how we look at life after death. Death is not end it is a release, life
is seen as bondage. Choosing a typical American topic here Freneau is successful to
create American flavor. American Indians believe in life as lasting or existing forever it is
an adinfinitum process. Activities of man, in Indian concept, continue even after death.
So dead are buried in a sitting posture and they are supposed to share “joyous feast’
with the friends. Indian concept of life after death is quite different from Christian
concept that believes in an annual of earthly activities after death. The image of bird
and painted bowl in third stanza suggest the restless life of Indians after death;
whereas, image of bow and arrow shows remain of ideas after death. Poet request
Americans who are quite unknown to the tradition to remain quite and commit “no fraud
upon the death”.
Last few stanza of the poem gives a glimpse of the hunting nature of Indians. The
attachment of Indians with the forest is still the same as it was earlier.
Poet, here, has tried to convey a message that the culture of American Indians is as
The Indian Burying Ground : Philip Morin Freneau - Summary and Critical
Analysis
significant as the culture of Christians. All the cultures do have significance in the world.
And instead of frowning at something different, we should acknowledge the diversity- in
people, in customs, in language, religion and culture.

The Indian Burying Ground - Poem by Philip Morin Freneau

In spite of all the learn'd have said;

I still my old opinion keep,
The posture, that we give the dead,
Points out the soul's eternal sleep.

Not so the ancients of these lands --

The Indian, when from life releas'd
Again is seated with his friends,
And shares gain the joyous feast.

His imag'd birds, and painted bowl,

And ven'son, for a journey dress'd,
Bespeak the nature of the soul,
Activity, that knows no rest.

His bow, for action ready bent,

And arrows, with a head of stone,
Can only mean that life is spent,
And not the finer essence gone.

Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way.

No fraud upon the dead commit --
Observe the swelling turf, and say
They do not lie, but here they sit.

Here still lofty rock remains,

On which the curious eye may trace,
(Now wasted, half, by wearing rains)
The fancies of a older race.

Here still an aged elm aspires,

Beneath whose far -- projecting shade
(And which the shepherd still admires
The children of the forest play'd!

There oft a restless Indian queen

(Pale Shebah, with her braided hair)
And many a barbarous form is seen
To chide the man that lingers there.

By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews,

In habit for the chase array'd,
The hunter still the deer pursues,
The hunter and the deer, a shade!

And long shall timorous fancy see

The painted chief, and pointed spear,
The Indian Burying Ground : Philip Morin Freneau - Summary and Critical
Analysis
And reason's self shall bow the knee
To shadows and delusions here.