Song-craft

The purpose of the anecdote is to show the bold recklessness of the warrior, who could amuse himself with his song-craft in the very face of the enemy.

Pause by some neglected graveyard, / For a while to muse, and ponder / On a half-effaced inscription, / Written with little skill of song-craft, / Homely phrases, but each letter / Full of hope, and yet of heart-break, / Full of all the tender pathos / Of the Here and Hereafter;— / Stay and read this rude inscription, / Read this Song of Hiawatha!