Unwritten Literature of Hawaii: Sacred Songs of the Hula - Tapa blanda

As in many other traditional cultures, Hawaiian art, dance, music and poetry were highly integrated into every aspect of life, to a degree far beyond that of industrial society. The poetry at the core of the Hula is extremely sophisticated. Typically a Hula song has several dimensions: mythological aspects, cultural implications, an ecological setting, and in many cases, (although Emerson is reluctant to acknowledge this) frank erotic imagery. The extensive footnotes and background information allow us an unprecedented look into these deeper layers. While Emerson's translations are not great poetry, they do serve as a literal English guide to the amazing Hawaiian lyrics. (Quote from sacred-texts.com)

About the Author

Nathaniel Bright Emerson (1839 - 1915)
Nathaniel Bright Emerson (born July 1, 1839 Waialua, Oahu, died July 16, 1915, at sea) was a medical physician and author of Hawaiian mythology.

He attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and served in the First Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, during which he was wounded three times. After graduating from Williams in 1865, he studied at Harvard and the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, from which he graduated in 1869. This was followed by work at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. In New York Dr. Emerson was associated with Dr. Willard Parker, the eminent surgeon, as student and assistant. For several years he was also clinical assistant to Dr. Seguin, professor of nervous diseases at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He served as a doctor in New York until 1878, after which he relocated to Hawaii.

Dr. Emerson was an able historian and writer of Hawaiian mythology. One of his notable efforts was