''The Divine Enchantment'' is

John Neihardt John Gneisenau Neihardt (January 8, 1881 – November 3, 1973) was an American writer and poet, amateur historian and ethnographer. Born at the end of the American settlement of the Plains, he became interested in the lives of those who had been ...

's earliest

narrative poem Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be s ...

, first published in 1900. The poem is divided into ten

canto The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry. Etymology and equivalent terms The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from the ...

s, and uses a variety of rhyming styles.

Introduction

When the Princess Devanaguy falls into a deep trance-like sleep, she is visited by the god

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

: who causes her to fall pregnant with his holy child, Christna. Devanaguy's sleep is prolonged supernaturally by Vishnu: allowing the god to relate to her his divine secrets through a series of ecstatic visions. Among the mysteries revealed to Devanaguy, she is shown how the gods will shortly powerfully intervene directly in human affairs. When the princess finally re-awakens she is awestruck by her experiences, and bursts into a spontaneous rhapsody of praise.Neihardt, John. ''The Divine Enchantment''. New York: White & Company, 1900. pp. 14-46.

Notes

External links

''The Divine Enchantment''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

. *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Divine Enchantment American poems Epic poems in English Poetry by John Neihardt 1900 poems