Name
Date
Llano Vaqueros
Period
TPS-FASTT
Directions: Fill in the blanks with complete sentences. Enough space has been provided for a
thorough analysis—anything less is not thorough.
Title:
You type in your own sentences from yesterday’s work in class.
Paraphrase:
Padilla is a vaquero (cowboy) who is moving cattle. This particular cattle looks
like cattle of the past. Today’s cows are pampered and spoiled. They are bred to show at State Fairs
and to look pretty. Another cowboy describes his ride on Sunshine and how the cattle treat her with
disrespect. The mare does not appreciate today’s cattle because of the attitude that comes with
them. The speaker lists the things he likes about his ancestors—all of them macho attributes. The
poem ends with a description of the cowboys of yesterday.
Speaker: The speaker is a vaquero, or cowboy, who holds his ancestors in high regard. He states
that “I admire my ancestors, llano vaqueros” because they represent a different kind of man (21).
The speaker is able to make a connection between himself and the vaqueros before him. He wants
to be like them.
Figurative Language:
Alliteration: The alliteration at the beginning of the poem emphasizes the fighting between the
cattle. The bulls with “horns long and sharp/for bloody battle” are unique to today’s cattle (3, 4). The
speaker does not explicitly state that the fighting is among the bulls, but the repetition of the ‘b’ sound
puts a focus on the animal. The battle is exaggerated by adding bloody to the description. Cattle are
not usually known for extreme fighting.
Catalogue Verse: The use of catalogue verse at the end of the poem highlights the joy of cowboy
life. Vaqueros in the past “flicked a home-made cigarette in dust,/spit in scuffed gloves, grabbed one/
[a bull] by the horns, wrestled it down,/branded it with the same pleasure/they enjoyed in a bunkhouse brawl” (22-26). The vaqueros find happiness and fulfillment in what they do. Their rough and
manly lifestyle is what gives pleasure and earns them admiration. This catalogue verse also allows
the speaker to state that the vaqueros lifestyle mirrors and parallels the harshness of the Mexican
cattle.
Personification: The personification describes the cattle born and raised in today’s generation.
According to the second vaquero, who observes the cattle and other vaqueros, today’s herds are
“stall-salon dolls, hooves manicured/and polished, hide-hair blow-dried, lips/and lashes waxed” (1214). The cattle are sent to State Fairs to show off and be judged by experts. The personification
shows the cattle as beauty pageant contestants whose worth is valued in their image. Cows are no
longer considered tough and rugged, but weak and simple.
Attitude/Tone:
One of the main tones is frustrations which is shown in the beginning of the poem as “Padilla unloads
mangy herd of the Mexican cattle in the field” (1-2). The tone of frustration is created from the
speaker disliking how the herds of cows today are weak and doll-like unlike the herd of cows
yesterday which were rugged and tough. He wants these cattle to go back like how they used to be,
“meaner, horns long and sharp for bloody battle” not just “sluggish, pampered globs.”
Shifts: The speaker has a shift in his tone from talking about today’s cattle to talking about himself.
He goes from demeaning today’s animals to mentioning his own cattle, Sunshine. This shift to talking
about his own cattle in a more positive manner shows that he has more respect for himself than of the
other cattle owners in the present day. The speaker portrays the cattle of today with inferiority to the
cattle herded by vaqueros, but when speaking of Sunshine, he shows the same amount of regard as
he does to the cattle owned by the vaqueros in the past.
Title:
Theme:
Theme #1:
Theme #2: