Analysis of The Proud Farmer
Vachel Lindsay 1879 (Springfield) – 1931 (Springfield)
[In memory of E. S. Frazee, Rush County, Indiana]
Into the acres of the newborn state
He poured his strength, and plowed his ancient name,
And, when the traders followed him, he stood
Towering above their furtive souls and tame.
That brow without a stain, that fearless eye
Oft left the passing stranger wondering
To find such knighthood in the sprawling land,
To see a democrat well-nigh a king.
He lived with liberal hand, with guests from far,
With talk and joke and fellowship to spare, —
Watching the wide world's life from sun to sun,
Lining his walls with books from everywhere.
He read by night, he built his world by day.
The farm and house of God to him were one.
For forty years he preached and plowed and wrought —
A statesman in the fields, who bent to none.
His plowmen-neighbors were as lords to him.
His was an ironside, democratic pride.
He served a rigid Christ, but served him well —
And, for a lifetime, saved the countryside.
Here lie the dead, who gave the church their best
Under his fiery preaching of the word.
They sleep with him beneath the ragged grass...
The village withers, by his voice unstirred.
And tho' his tribe be scattered to the wind
From the Atlantic to the China sea,
Yet do they think of that bright lamp he burned
Of family worth and proud integrity.
And many a sturdy grandchild hears his name
In reverence spoken, till he feels akin
To all the lion-eyed who built the world —
And lion-dreams begin to burn within.
Scheme | X ABXB XCXC XDEDXEXE XFXF XXXA XGXG BHXH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010011101110010 0101010101 1111011101 0101010111 10001110101 1101011101 1101010100 111100101 110101101 11110011111 110101011 1001111111 101111110 1111111111 0101111101 1101110101 0100011111 111001111 111100101 1101011111 01011010 1101110111 10110010101 1111010101 010101111 0111110101 1001010101 1111111111 11001010100 0100101111 01001011101 1101011101 0101011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,473 |
Words | 268 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 33 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 33 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 28, 2023
- 1:20 min read
- 79 Views
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"The Proud Farmer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/37391/the-proud-farmer>.
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