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Literature in English, Grade X, Project: Beyond Words. Fatima Aizaz , Ayesha Siraj , Reja Tahir and Ayesha Nasir . The Flower-fed Buffaloes. The Flower-fed Buffaloes by: Vachel Lindsay. The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring In the days of long ago, Ranged where the locomotives sing
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Literature in English, Grade X, Project: Beyond Words Fatima Aizaz, Ayesha Siraj, RejaTahir and Ayesha Nasir The Flower-fed Buffaloes
The Flower-fed Buffaloesby: Vachel Lindsay The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring In the days of long ago, Ranged where the locomotives sing And the prairie flowers lie low:- The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass Is swept away by the wheat, Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by In the spring that is still sweet. But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring Left us, long ago. They gore no more, they bellow no more, They trundle around the hills no more:- With the Blackfeet, lying low, With the Pawnees, lying low, Lying low.
Background • The settlers attempted to settle on the land and developed it to the point where it changed and drove away the natural flora and fauna. • The Pawnees and Blackfoot are two Native American tribes, both of which may have been dependent on the buffalo. A member of the Pawnees
Annotation The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring In the days of long ago, Ranged where the locomotives sing And the prairie flowers lie low:- The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass Is swept away by the wheat, Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by In the spring that is still sweet. But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring Left us, long ago. They gore no more, they bellow no more, They trundle around the hills no more:- With the Blackfeet, lying low, With the Pawnees, lying low, Lying low. Long vowel sound personification imagery repetition
TONE • From lines 1-8 the tone is very calm and peaceful. ‘The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring’ ‘The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass….’ • From line 8 onwards the tone of the poem changes to regret, loss, and nostalgic. Tone becomes more morbid, and tragedy seeps into the text. ‘Left us, long ago’ ‘They gore no more, they bellow no more’ ‘Lying low’
IMAGERY • And the prairie flowers lie low:- A picture of hidden splendor and nature’s buried/unseen beauty depicted • The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass A scene evoking sensory images (smell, sight) of the scent of the prairies • Wheels spin by An image of a regular and constant act of the wheels shown as if to show the mundane activity which happens daily • They trundle around the hills Helpless movement of the buffaloes described, makes them appear to the reader’s eye as carefree and wandering aimlessly • With the Blackfeet, lying low, With the Pawnees, lying low A scene of pure human nature shown here, when the tribe of Native Americans are hidden and out of sight. • Imagery evokes a sense of lost beauty.
WHAT THE POEM ACTUALLY MEANS ‘Flower –fed buffaloes’ implies that the buffaloes were a part a nature and they just simply blended in with the scenery.It brings to mind images of buffalo roaming wild, and also of the beauty nature ("grass-fed" wouldn't have sounded beautiful). The poet first describes how everything used to be so beautiful and natural but then how it abruptly changed as civilization settled in and destroyed all the beauty with its ‘progress’ This is a sentimental poem that takes you to long lost prairies with grazing cattle, flower-speckled greenery and all that which is now lost with the human race’s development. Also, there is a strong comparison between the past and present. ‘In the days of long ago’ ‘Left us, long ago’
