Poem 1
“Abandoned Farmhouse” – Ted Kouser
The poem is divided into three stanzas, of eight lines each. The lines do not rhyme. There is a kind of rhythmic quality about the poem created by the repetition of the phrases “says the … “ and the writer’s use of “and” to join ideas. The language is plain, everyday. The tone is that of an observer telling what he sees in the farmhouse and using his observations to draw conclusions about the people who lived there and their actions. The poet sets up a series of visual images, using objects in the house to gain information about the people. In the first stanza, the farmer is described as “big” and “tall,” which is determined by “the size of his shoes” and “the length of his bed.” He is also religious, since there is a “Bible with a broken back on the floor.” His poor farming skills are shown by “boulders in the fields” and a “leaky barn.”
The next stanza gives visual evidence of the woman who lived with him: “wall papered with lilacs,” and “oilcloth” on shelves. Their child had a sandbox and swing “made from a tractor tire.” The poet even finds clues that they were poor – from the canned vegetables and preserves. The rags stuffed windows meant cold weather.
In the last paragraph, the poet begins by saying, “something went wrong.” He tries to add up all of these visual clues to get an answer. The empty house says “something went wrong,” in the way things were just left abandoned. The simile of child’s toys left in the yard “like branches after a storm” adds to the sense of abandonment. Kouser also uses alliteration to add to the effects of his images: “Bible with a broken back,” “good, God-fearing,” “farming and fields.” The repetition of “something went wrong” shows the poet’s uneasy feelings about the house along with the words “lonely, “empty,” and “nervous haste.”
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