Seven Little Injuns Analysis

Poetry in Different Cultures
“Seven little Injuns cuttin’ up their sticks, One broke his neck and then there were six”(Indian Country Media). There are 9 more stanzas similar to this one. Starting from 10 ending at 0, each explaining what happened to the next little soldier boy. Each stanza explains how the little soldier boy dies. Despite the fact of how gruesome this poem sounds it is actually meant for little children to learn how to count. Each nation has there own versions with different types of people being killed. The different people are influenced by the history of the nation or the culture. Originally the poem was first called “Ten Little Niggers” in England. It may seem to be very extremely offensive in this time period but back in 1869, it was not offense to anyone. Frank J. Green was the one to give it the name in England. It was not deemed racial discrimination nor frowned upon, more of a natural saying. They viewed the African Americans as inferior, and nothing but a piece of

Septimus was the one who had made the poem. He had named it Ten Little Injuns. It was the American version of the poem. Just as the British saw the African Americans as inferior the Americans viewed the Indians as inferior so they felt comfortable using it. Injuns only meaning American Indian, fitting. Again this poem was used in schools and sung to little children teaching them to count. More than just a kids song as well. Songs were also made from the poem. In 1954 Bill Haley and Comets had made a rock n’ roll song called “Ten Little Indians.” As well as the Beach Boys making a song with the exact name, “Ten Little Indians”. Both songs had different words and were not close to being the same but both had roots to the poem “Ten Little Injuns.” Even if the original version was not s ung in the 20th century many most people had known the poem without even knowing it was a thing real piece of poetry thanks to