Essay on Abandoned Farmhouse by Ted Kooser - 982 Words

Rebekah Friel English 102 Dr. Robert Kellerman March 26, 2013 Their World in Ruins: â€Å"Abandoned Farmhouse† by Ted Kooser The objects people keep in their homes can tell a story about who they are or were. Each item possessed by the residents of a house is evidence of how these people may have lived. Ted Kooser’s poem â€Å"Abandoned Farmhouse† takes the reader on a walkthrough of the remains of a farmhouse where a poor family once lived. In â€Å"Abandoned Farmhouse,† Kooser selects seemingly insignificant relics left behind by each family member to illustrate who these people were and how they lived. The picture he paints is a bleak one and reflects the impoverished life which the residents lived within this now lonely and desolate building.†¦show more content†¦Whether this is because of laziness or some other unseen aspect, readers must assume themselves. Kooser also takes time to emphasize the man’s Bible. There was a Bible found in an upstairs room â€Å"with a broken back on the floor, dusty with sun† (4). The Bible says more than first appears. The broken back on the Bible might suggest that â€Å"he was a good, God-fearing man† (4) who spent a lot of time reading. Perhaps it means that the man had a temper and threw the Bible in a fit of anger. He could still be a God-fearing man even if he had a temper; the quality of his â€Å"God-fearing† is unknown to us. The Bible â€Å"on the floor below the window, dusty with sun† (6) makes it seem as though he may have used the sun for light because they were too poor and were unable to pay their bills. The poem hints that a woman lived with the man in the old farmhouse and that she appeared to be a homemaker. Kooser makes this known when the speaker mentions â€Å"the bedroom wall papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves covered with oilcloth† (10-11). The food choices that the woman had available to feed the family really makes the reader think about the poverty that they may have lived: â€Å"money was scarce say the jars of plum preserves and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole† (13-14). What food they had needed to last, as the man had failed to produce any food for his family in his untended fields. The man living in the abandoned farmhouse was, in fact, not an effective farmer, â€Å"say theShow MoreRelated Abandonment and Struggle on a Farm1327 Words   |  6 Pagesextended message. Ted Kooser, an American poet and writer, is well known for his ‘simplistic’ style of writing and has been described as using an â€Å"[H]onest, accessible verse†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ted Kooser: The Poetry Foundation). Kooser was born in Iowa and now resides in Nebraska. Both Iowa and Nebraska are situated in the Midwestern United States, an area noted for its rural landscape and population. Kooser’s rural background and ‘accessible verse’ are exceedingly evident in his poem â€Å"Abandoned Farmhouse†. The poem isRead MoreTed Kooser: A Major American Poet1397 Words   |  6 PagesTed Kooser was born in Ames, Iowa, an area within the great plains of America. He credits his influences to both his mother and his father. His father worked as a store manager while hi s mother stayed home to raise him and his sister. During an interview he was asked how his parents influenced his poetry, he replied, My Father was a storekeeper, loved the public, and was a marvelous storyteller. I remember a women once said to me that shed rather hear my dad describe a person than see the person