Farmhand - James K. Baxter
You will see him light a cigarette
At the hall door careless, leaning his back
Against the wall, or telling some new joke
To a friend, or looking out into the secret night.
But always his eyes turn
To the dance floor and the girls drifting like flowers
Before the music that tears
Slowly in his mind an old wound open.
His red sunburnt face and hairy hands
Were not made for dancing or love-making
But rather the earth wave breaking
To the plough, and crops slow-growing as his mind.
He has no girl to run her fingers through
His sandy hair, and giggle at his side
When Sunday couples walk. Instead
He has his awkward hopes, his envious dreams to yarn to.
But ah in harvest watch him
Forking stocks, effortless and strong –
Or listening like a lover to the song
Clear, without fault, of a new tractor engine.
O'Sullivan, V. (Ed.). (1979). An anthology of twentieth century New Zealand poetry. Wellington: Oxford University Press.
You will see him light a cigarette
At the hall door careless, leaning his back
Against the wall, or telling some new joke
To a friend, or looking out into the secret night.
But always his eyes turn
To the dance floor and the girls drifting like flowers
Before the music that tears
Slowly in his mind an old wound open.
His red sunburnt face and hairy hands
Were not made for dancing or love-making
But rather the earth wave breaking
To the plough, and crops slow-growing as his mind.
He has no girl to run her fingers through
His sandy hair, and giggle at his side
When Sunday couples walk. Instead
He has his awkward hopes, his envious dreams to yarn to.
But ah in harvest watch him
Forking stocks, effortless and strong –
Or listening like a lover to the song
Clear, without fault, of a new tractor engine.
O'Sullivan, V. (Ed.). (1979). An anthology of twentieth century New Zealand poetry. Wellington: Oxford University Press.
Tasks:
- Copy and paste this poem into a new Word/ Pages/ Growley N
- What is each stanza in this poem about?
- What is the feeling you are left with?
- Reduce the poem using only the actual text to 50 words. How will you do this?
- How has it changed? Explain your thoughts.
- Reduce it to 5 words.
- How has it changed? Explain your thoughts.
Your turn - You're a poet and you didn't even know it!
Copy and paste the poem again, but this time using only the words from the poem, create a whole new poem that is yours, with a different theme/ idea/ topic/ feeling.
Unfamiliar Text Practise
Choose a LF from the first 3 stanzas and explain with relevant quotes;
- Copy and paste the text into a new word.doc called: Unfamiliar Text - The Farmhand
- Underline and identify all on the language features- how many how fast???
Choose a LF from the first 3 stanzas and explain with relevant quotes;
- Why the author used this LF?
- How does this LF add to our understanding and meaning of the poem?
- Explain how this LF supports this idea of sympathy for the main character?
- Explain what the character is good at. How does the reader know this? Use quotes to support your points.