Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Robin
What about the poetry of the indigenous people there?
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I don't know what poetry of the Maori that you are talking about
. The pre-European Maori had no concept of rhyme nor, really, other techniques usually associated with the term "poetry".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Robin
Did they come up with nothing in the 5 centuries or so they lived there before English speakers arrived? Or does your definition of "cultural poetry" simply not include them?
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Putting aside the wokeish tone that could be associated with your post I'll comment.
They did have chants and incantations (which varied by tribe and because there was no written language), most of the chants are called
karakia and while most of these were to do with war and weapons, superstition associated with the likes difficult situations and wellness, etc. some were of topics that poems use; for example
karakia atahu are love charms. Most are directed at the gods and supernatural. Some chants are associated with posture dances such as the
haka, a couple of which rugby fans will be familiar with, but one has to keep in mind that many of these are modified to suit the modern ear (e.g. both the rugby
haka currently used are post European, as is the choreography of the postures they use).
There are, of course, modern poems and songs in Maori but the poetry has very limited exposure due to the small number of fluent Maori speakers, that number lessened further by the small number of such speakers with any deep attraction to poetry (as is the also case in English, for example, where only a small proportion of native English speakers have any deep attraction to poetry).
But, for myself, I would here rather see other posters poems, if you have a genuine interest in what cultures did or did not have poetry perhaps you could start a new thread? I would try to contribute with the help of my wife - she is a fluent speaker of modern Maori and the Polynesian languages that it sprung from.