Deaf American Poetry: An Anthology

J. Schuyler Long (1869–1933)

79  J. Schuyler Long (1869–1933) “I Wish That I Could Tell” is but one of many poems Deaf people have written about the music of tinnitus, the music for their eyes, and the music of signing hands. It is such a common subject that it is prevalent even in American Sign Language poetry; such classics as Ella Mae Lentz’s “Eye Music” and Cara Barnett’s “My Music” mirror the ideas found in the written poems. The similarities among these poems have much less to do with imitation than they do with correcting the ever-present mainstream attitude of how sad it is that Deaf people cannot hear music. Long writes in his poem that he wishes he could tell hearing people about what he enjoys, but “they would not understand.” Until they do, the poem about Deaf people’s music is here to stay. Joseph Schuyler Long was born in Marshalltown, Iowa. He started to lose his hearing at age eleven, after an accident and a bout with spinal meningitis, and became totally deaf by the time he was sixteen. He graduated with the first regular class of the Iowa School for the Deaf in 1883. He attended Gallaudet College, where he was the star quarterback on the football team. After graduating, he taught at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf until 1901, when he received an invitation to become the head teacher of his alma mater. A year later, Long was appointed acting principal , a position that became permanent in 1908. Out of the Silence, his collection of poems, appeared the same year. Long was deeply committed to the preservation of sign language against the spread of oralism as well as the maintenance of high “classical style” standards in signing. He presented widely on the subject and compiled a dictionary of signs that was published in 1909. The Sign Language: A Manual of Signs was the definitive J. Schuyler Long 80 textbook of its kind for four decades. In 1914, Gallaudet awarded Long an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work as teacher, editor, poet, and lexicographer. ...