26
Cowboy Poetry Writing in the Western/ Rural Style

Cowboy poetry

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

This talk covers the history of cowboy poetry, some of the themes and influences, and highlights what is available in the South Sioux City Public Library's cowboy poetry collection

Citation preview

Page 1: Cowboy poetry

Cowboy PoetryWriting in the Western/

Rural Style

Page 2: Cowboy poetry

A simple definition of cowboy poetry is…

a form of poetry which grew out of a tradition of extemporaneous composition carried on by workers on cattle drives and ranches.-Wikipedia

Page 3: Cowboy poetry

"It [is] a jazz of Irish storytelling, Scottish seafaring and cattle tending, Moorish and Spanish horsemanship, European cavalry traditions, African improvisation, and Native American experience, if also oppression. . . . the songs and poems of the American cowboy are part of that old tradition of balladry." --Western Folklife Center Archive

Page 4: Cowboy poetry

Cowboy Poetry & Western Music

Page 5: Cowboy poetry

“Then in the evenings there’d be songs, old trailherd songs that some used to sing. There was even poetry at times, made right there at the cow camp.” (James, 228)

Page 6: Cowboy poetry

Poetry, on such occasions, played second fiddle to singing.

Page 7: Cowboy poetry

Were cowboys illiterate?

Page 8: Cowboy poetry

“the widespread Victorian affection for parlor and public—often schoolhouse—recitations” was equally loved around cowboy campfires and chuckwagons, and included “a mass of popular poetry from Shakespeare to Stephen Vincent Benét…Rudyard Kipling and Robert W. Service….” (Stanley, 3)

Page 9: Cowboy poetry

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Page 10: Cowboy poetry

John Whitcomb Riley

Page 11: Cowboy poetry

Robert W. Service

Page 12: Cowboy poetry

Robert Frost

Page 13: Cowboy poetry

Rudyard Kipling

Page 14: Cowboy poetry

Stephen St. Vincent Benet

Page 15: Cowboy poetry

Themes

• Ranch work and those who perform it

• Western lifestyle

• Landscape of the American and Canadian West

• Cowboy values and practices

• Humorous anecdotes

Page 16: Cowboy poetry

Themes Continued

• Memories of times and people long gone

• Sarcasm regarding modern contraptions and/or ways

Page 17: Cowboy poetry

Buck Ramsey•Born in New Home, TX 1938

•Worked as a day rancher until he was paralyzed in 1963

•Became a writer

•Died in 1998

Page 18: Cowboy poetry

Vess Quinlan

•Born in 1940

•Lived most of his life in Colorado

•Polio opened the door to poetry

Page 19: Cowboy poetry

Linda M. Hasselstrom

•Born in TX 1943

•Moved to SD 1947

•Graduated USD

•Worked for SC Journal

Page 20: Cowboy poetry

Baxter Black

•Born Jan. 2. 1945

•Las Cruses, New Mexico

•Large animal veterinarian

•Active writer since 1970’s

Page 21: Cowboy poetry

Rod McQueary

•Born in 1951

•Traditional and experimental poetry

•Worked as a writer and editor

•2012

Page 22: Cowboy poetry

R.W. Hampton

•Born in Houston 1957

•Rancher until 1984

•Became a singer/ songwriter

•Appeared in many movies

Page 23: Cowboy poetry

Yvonne Hollenbeck•From Gordon, NE

•Rancher in Spearfish, SD

•Poet, historian and singer

•Sweethearts in Carharts

Page 24: Cowboy poetry

Marci Broyhill

•Has deep roots in Northeast Nebraska

•Teacher, Researcher, poet, Performance artist

Page 25: Cowboy poetry

Henry Real Bird•Crow Indian

•Montana Poet Laureate 2009-2011

•Rancher and educator

•Rode across MT on horseback

Page 26: Cowboy poetry

Ask for the and Reading List