The Song of Hugh Glass

by John G. Neihardt

The wonderfully realized poem that launched the epic A Cycle of the West, The Song of Hugh Glass celebrates the American fur trade west of the Mississippi in the early nineteenth century. The lives and adventures of the early fur traders and trappers who crossed the Missouri River are told with unforgettable vigor and magnificence by the brilliant epic poet John G. Neihardt. As he tells it, this was an age of individualism in our national historical epic, a time of the struggles and triumphs of solitary men more than communities. Although a satisfying tale in its own right, The Song of Hugh Glass is also one of the cornerstones of Neihardt's masterpiece, A Cycle of the West, now available in two affordable volumes from Excelsior Editions.

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

John Gneisenau Neihardt

Reviews

[Doug D'jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a captivating and quite haunting epic poem. Given the time it took place, about the 1830s, and the time it as written, early 1900s, the closeness of Hugh and Jamie is all the more surprising, how the young man thawed the heart of the grizzled old trapper and was his one true love (like I said, surprising), and how Hugh managed, mostly dead, to survive and crawl back from the wild.

The tale is the basis for "The Revenant" which I can't wait to see, though I am sure that relationship will somehow be redefined in the film.

The book is a buck on Kindle.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I glanced at the first few pages of this because of The Revenant, and when it became clear that it was a love story - between two men - from the 1910s - I kept reading it because, well, I mean, that's awesome. And then it became surprisingly gripping and moving, enough that I wound up reading the whole thing in one sitting, even though I had just been planning to glance at it.

It's not perfect, it has a few lazy rhymes and ridiculously convoluted turns of phrase, but I wound up really enjoying this.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2
Mountain Man Hugh Glass’s epic crippled crawl of vengeance has been the subject of several novels and numerous biographies, but this is, to my knowledge, the only Homeric poem based on Glass. I commend Neihardt for his poetry and his effort, but I became confused often by the language. I fault myself and the narrator. I will undoubtably return to this poem in both the print and other audio versions because the subject fascinates me, and Neihardt’s grand effort deserves multiple readings.

[Forked Radish]

First published in 1915...
"While those in whom all living waters sank
To some dull inner pool [poem] that teemed and stank"

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to do my best to avoid poetry even as I'm running out of books at the library I've never read before

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too long. IT wasn't terrible but not my cup of tea. Also there were parts where I got lost/confused and wondered if I was the injured/hallucinating one because I had no idea what was happening.