The Poetic Line, the Popol Wuj, and the History of Anthropology

Abstract

Sherzer's (1982) examination of the poetic line demonstrated that a focus on the poetic line provides new insights into the complexity of the structure of discourse across a wide range of genres. Here, I extend Sherzer's approach by considering how representations of poetic line structure reflect analysts’ relationship with speakers of the languages involved. Looking at representations of the poetic line across different editions of the K'iche’ Maya text, the Popol Wuj, suggests that scholarly attention to the poetic line has increased as scholars have come to recognize the importance of indigenous perspectives in linguistic anthropology.