1841

Smith, Seba. Powhatan: A Metrical Romance. New York, 1841. Smith, best known as one of the first vernacular humorists with his Maine Jack Downing character, here focuses on Powhatan, the man, not the tribe. Pocahontas does not play a major role (though there's a long note about her taken from Burk in the notes). She has a tender, loving relationship with her father, knows she cannot love the Indian picked out for her ("He has a cruel heart / . . . . He never saves a captive’s life, / But a scalp will always bring: / How could I live with such a man"), but feels "something" (pity? love?) for Smith and saves him. Powhatan is emotionally devasted at the English threat to kill the hostage Pocahontas if he doesn't agree to peace terms, sending him into self-imposed exile. Opechancanough takes over and engineers a massacre (like the 1622 one), triggering a war that brings Powhatan back as a fierce warrior. But Pocahontas is forgotten in the story, which ends with a solitary, sorrowful Powhatan heading west alone.
[poetry]
[Electronic Version]