Poem Analysis: A Cowboy Poetry, A Gathering

A Cowboy’s Prayer, a poem written in 1906 by Badger Clark, has meaningful diction that still triggers deep thoughts and emotions from the modern reader. The book in which this poem is found is called “Cowboy Poetry, A Gathering”. This book includes a series of poems written by more than 40 different poets. According to Hal Cannon, the author of the introduction, some of the poems are classic and have “proven their vitality by their longevity surviving tenaciously in the minds and hearts of cowboys and ranchers of the west for decades,” while others have a more contemporary taste. In the introduction, Hal Cannon describes the book as “spirit corraled into form”. You can immediately see western diction, which foreshadows the fact that the rest

I love how the poem immediately kicks off with a paradox. The poem begins with “Oh Lord, I’ve never lived where churches grow.” As a reader, when you begin a poem named “A Cowboy’s Prayer” you would not expect the poet to start the poem talking about living where there are no churches. As the poem progresses though, we learn that Badger Clark feels more in touch with God when he is out in God’s creation. In the first stanza there I was able to easily recognize the allusion to the bible. Clark says “And looked upon Your work and called it good” which I am familiar with because of my Sunday School teachers familiarizing me with the days of creation. God called all of his creations “good” and the creation of man “very good.” I appreciate how Clark used the abab cdcd rhyme scheme, and how he uses the word “plains” to refer to the outdoor area he is in. This simple but meaningful planning brings us all back to the fact that this poem is telling a western story that can touch our hearts when we analyze every

“A Cowboy’s Prayer” is a poem that gives the everyday person a taste of what it is like to be close to the holy spirit, even when you are not in the pews. Clark and I share the same appreciation for recognizing the power of the holy spirit in God’s beautiful creation. I feel that I felt connected to this poem for the reason that this cowboy has a deep appreciation for the Lord’s character, and tries to match his own with that of Jesus. Growing up in a rural area, I am able to relate to a lot of the language this poet uses while also understanding their deeper meaning. I thoroughly enjoyed analyzing this