Inuit Poems and Songs

These poems erupted in the East Greenlanders heartthe human sea at the outer limit of the northon Earth's most desolate and rugged shores. They were found in the living tradition of a small, recently discovered Eskimo people that I (Thalbitzer) had gone to study. For the first time I heard their language as it sounded on people's lips, as it must have sounded through many generations. I understood that this was part of the Inuit peoples ancient poetry, and these songs and poems deserved to be written down for greater humanity. from the introduction