Literature in English, Grade X, Project: Beyond Words
Fatima Aizaz, Ayesha Siraj, Reja Tahir and Ayesha Nasir
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.

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
imagery
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
repetition
Word
Meaning
Blackfeet
American Indian people of Montana, Alberta and
Saskachewan
Bellow
To make the loud deep hollow sound characteristic of a bull
Ranged
To roam at large or freely
Locomotive
A self propelled vehicle that runs on rails and is used for
moving railroad cars
Prairie
A wide area of land in North America without many trees and
originally covered with grass
Pawnees
American Indian people originally from Kansas and Nebraska
Buffalo
Also called Bison
Lie low
To lie prostrate, defeated, disgraced
Gore
To pierce or wound with something pointed
Trundle
To move on or as if on wheels

From lines 1-8 the tone is very calm and peaceful.

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.
‘The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring’
‘The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass….’
‘Left us, long ago’
‘They gore no more, they bellow no more’
‘Lying low’

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.
‘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’