A Cycle of the West I The Mountain Men by John G. Neihardt

by John G. Neihardt

The first volume in this two-volume edition of A Cycle of the West includes The Song of Three Friends (1919), which received the National Prize of the Poetry Society of America, The Song of Jed Smith (1941). The first two songs, in the poet's words, "deal with the ascent of the river and characteristic adventures of Ashley-Henry men in the country of the upper Missouri and the Yellowstone. The Song of Jed Smith follows the first band of Americans through South Pass to the Great Salt Lake, the first band of Americans to reach Spanish California by an overland trail." Regarded by many as Dr. Neihardt's masterwork, the cycle as a whole "celebrates the great mood of courage that was developed west of the Missouri River in the nineteenth-century."

Genres: Westerns, Poetry, History, Classics

Paperback

First published June 1, 1971

About the author

John Gneisenau Neihardt

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This piece of epic poetry was not my thing. I had so much trouble trying to figure out what was happening in all these stories. In the last one it was a guy sitting around a campfire telling about a (long) journey with 2? other guys? I mean he talked about the sun, the color of the sand, feeling thirsty, not finding a water hole then finding it years later....I mean I was lost.
If this is epic poetry I guess I need to re-hone my reading skills because yeah not understandable. Wouldn't recommend.

Quote
"There was a sift of winter in his hair." p202

[Drew Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this more than I did. The poems are impressive, but I had a hard time getting pulled into the stories.