The poem “The Camp of Souls” by Isabella Crawford is a beautiful literary piece that became one of her most famous works. There is might be a discussion about whether it is just a romantic and sad poem created for pleasure and earnings or an attempt to dive deep into the culture of native Canadians. The fact that dispute about the topics occurs suggests that some moments prove either or both of that points. Still, the fact that someone who has experienced none of the things that they write about makes it hard to believe that there was an intention to provide people with the harsh truth about the life of natives and educate the society.
Therefore, the poem has a feeling of slight sadness and bitterness of loss. The moment where the spirit says that “and I sail from the spirit shore to scan” (Crawford 59) or “where the weaving of that strong cord began” (Crawford60) is still looking more like a lovely story about the original land and mode of life of native people. That leads to the thought that the author was more about fantasizing about the indigenous culture, taking inspiration from their traditions than studying it, and bringing awareness to the masses about the harmful effects of racism and its consequences.
Isabella Crawford is well-known for her poems about native Canadian and their indigenous culture, and some of them even became some of the most famous works “The Dark Stag” (1883), “The Canoe” (1884), “Malcolm’s Katy: A Love Story” (1884). Despite all of that, there are still things to be skeptical about her art. There are reasons why there might be questions, whether this is a deep dive into the culture and historical roots or just a romanticization of indigenous myth and legacy. The central aspect that may come to the mind analyzing Crawford’s poem is the lack of experience.
It can sound strange and curious that a privileged white woman writes poems about an indigenous experience, pain, multiple struggles, and sufferings. It is impossible to be completely honest and sincere in creating a literary piece about something that the person has never experienced and never will because of the different cultural background, skin color, and social rules. No one except those who went through life full of fear and oppression can imagine what it is like to be oppressed and struggle to live on the land that a group of colonizers took. Although Crawford was interested and fascinated by the native Canadians myth, traditions, and history, it is not enough to dive into the topic and reside the path of being an indigenous person in the period of colonization and facing the consequences after that.
Through “The Camp of Souls” lies the idea of the spirit of indigenous man that comes to visit his land and lings for the human life. In Crawford’s poem, there are lines, “since they laid my bow in my dead right hand” (20), “and chanted above me the “song of grief” (21) that depicts the author had some knowledge about native Canadians rituals and traditions when they say goodbye to their loved ones. Despite the beauty and tragedy of the poem, there can be a feeling that it is more about aesthetics than the actual cultural representation. Since in the poem, there is no mention of severe problems and issues indigenous people have been facing for many years of colonization, even after dealing with many awful things from the colonizers and racist white population.
Albeit the sad feeling of the consequences of what white people have done while colonizing the territory of Canada, the poem does not describe or illustrate the horrors and emotions of native people. Still, instead, it has a tone of huge romanticization here. However, Said claims that he is “entirely refusing designations like “Orient” and “Occident” (95). The original concept of fantasizing about foreign culture negatively influences the indigenous communities still exists.
Despite all the sensuality and emotional deliveries of the poem, it could be different if the author intended to show the real-life natives, colonizers’ horrible actions and attitudes. Instead of romanticization Crawford could emphasize the action of white people such as invading the territory, killing locals, enslaving them. Even in the postcolonial era, the oppressions have been happening until nowadays.
There are so much more history and details that could show and describe the experiences and events going on back then, but the author never used it in the “Camps of souls”. Said expressed a similar point of view in his work “Orientalism Reconsidered,” which states that “the ideological suppositions, images, and fantasies about a currently important and politically urgent region of the world called the Orient” (90).
In this way, it can make sense and proves that Crawford’s poem was nothing more than just a romantic depiction of a native’s life. Still, it might be hard to blame her for this, primarily due to the constant misrepresentation of human groups and overriding their historical reality, which can occur nowadays, according to Gibson. And his reference to the postcolonial critic’s Fanon “colonial situation, the natives, the tribes-people, the masses, the peasantry, and so on, are so utterly dehumanized by the violence of colonial reality and its discourses that they seem unable to articulate their thoughts” (7). Thus, those examples demonstrate how one nation’s ignorance influences another, which is why the gap between cultures is still significant, and people struggle to overcome it. Misunderstanding and the lack of dialogue lead to the absence of proper cultural representation and excessive romanticization of the sufferings of indigenous people.
In conclusion, “The Camp of Souls” is a beautiful and touching poem with its unique atmosphere of grief, longing, and nostalgia, which can touch a reader’s heart. At the same time, it can give more pleasure to read it if it is possible to forget for a moment that the poem is about the native Canadians sorrows and rituals written by a white woman. The problem is in the absence of deep understanding and the impossibility of experiencing the life of native people and talk about serious and important things in the literary piece.
Although Crawford’s interest in native Canadians’ culture can be seen through the poem, it gives an impression of the romantic and melancholic novel that tells more about white people’s depiction of the situation of natives than the accurate picture of the event. Throughout the concept of “Occident” and “Orient,” it is possible to see how one culture creates an unrealistic depiction of another and does not try to learn from it and respect it. Thereby influence of racism and colonialism may still feel in the literary pieces of the post-colonialism literature.
Works Cited
Crawford Isabella V. The Collected Poems of Isabella Valancy Crawford, ed. J. W. Garvin (Toronto: William Briggs, 1905): 52-55. Web.
Gibson Nigel C. Fanon: The Postcolonial Imagination. John Wiley & Sons, 2017.
Said, Edward W. “Orientalism Reconsidered.” Race & Class, vol. 27, no. 2. 1985, pp. 1–15. Web.