2 - Tikopia poetic language and imagery

Summary

It can hardly be claimed for Tikopia poetry, as it has often been claimed for some European poetic treasuries, that it is among the deepest expressions and purest creations of mankind. Unlike French poetry, for example, that of Tikopia is not marked by oratorical beauty, power of incantation, profundity of thought - though perhaps it may be allowed the qualities of novelty and force of sentiment which mark effective poetic effort. Neither can it be awarded without question the distinction of possessing inspiration, natural grace and pure lyrical eloquence - qualities held to be characteristic of a poet such as Ronsard (Arland, 1947: 13, 17, 27). Yet one may say with Frangois Villon that poetry isn't just a correct assembly of sounds and images; it is the profound song of a man (or a woman), with its roots deep down in the human heart. By such criteria, any serious study of Tikopia poetry shows that while varying in quality, many of these songs do reveal expression of deep emotion and deal with universal human situations and problems - of struggle with nature, adjustment in personal relations, care for reputation, respect for authority, love for close kin, anguish at loss. Moreover, the songs convey such sentiments in formal language which clearly has had aesthetic value for the Tikopia. So these songs have served as a kind of treasury for them, a stock of memories of a stylised order which can be drawn upon by successive generations of Tikopia to remind them of past pains and pleasures, events in their community history, concepts of cultural individuality, in a nostalgic idiom which is highly meaningful to them.