1. Abandoned farmhouse
Ashlyn White
By: Ted Kooser

2. Abandoned Farmhouse Underlined Things Are Imagery
He was a big man, says the size of his shoes
on a pile of broken dishes by the house;
a tall man too, says the length of the bed
in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man,
says the Bible with a broken back
on the floor below the window, dusty with sun;
but not a man for farming, say the fields
cluttered with boulders and the leaky barn.
This Stanza Of The Poem Is My Favorite. It Shows How The Man Was Never Really A Farmer. But Someone Else. It Does Not Explain Much Rather Than He Not Being A Farmer. But It Gets You Thinking. It Gets You More Interested On What It Is Truly About.
There Is A Lot Of Imagery In This Stanza. The Leaky Barn, Pile Of Broken Dishes Etc.

3. Stanza Two
This Comes Off As This Farmhouse Is Old. Or Built A Long Time Ago. There Is Rags In The Window Frame, There Is A Cellar.
A woman lived with him, says the bedroom wall
papered with lilacs and the kitchen shelves
covered with oilcloth, and they had a child,
says the sandbox made from a tractor tire.
Money was scarce, say the jars of plum preserves
and canned tomatoes sealed in the cellar hole.
And the winters cold, say the rags in the window frames.
It was lonely here, says the narrow country road.
In This Stanza, It Talks Of Money Being Scarce. Which Explains A Sandbox Made Of A Tractor Tire, And The Fact That They Had To Put Rags In The Window Frames When It Got Cold There.

4. Stanza Three
Something went wrong, says the empty house
in the weed-choked yard. Stones in the fields
say he was not a farmer; the still-sealed jars
in the cellar say she left in a nervous haste.
And the child? Its toys are strewn in the yard
like branches after a storm—a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls. Something went wrong, they say.
The House Is Now Abandoned. No One Lives There Anymore. It Looks As If The Family Left As Fast As They Could.
How Is It That The Family Could Have Left All Their Stuff Behind, Yet Money Was Scarce?

5. Biographical Information
Ted Kooser Was Born April 25, 1939 In Ames Iowa.
Attended Ames Public Schools.
Much Of Kooser’s Work Focuses Were On The Great Plains.
Worked For A While As A Life Insurance Executive.
Kooser Has Won Two NEA Literary Fellowships ( 1976 & 1984 )

6. Literal Meaning
He Is Tall Tough Man Yet Not Made For Farming, He Doesn’t Clean
The Woman Is Very Dainty And Organized, Also Cares About The Appearance Of Her Home She Is A Farmer And Preserves Her Own Food, So It’s Saying They’re Completely Opposite, Yet Live In The Same Home.

7. Structure And Form sandbox made from a tractor tire
Ballad – Often Tells A Story, And Tend To Be Of A Mystical Nature
Imagery – Sensory Language
Catalog Poem – Presents A List Of Many Different Images.
Sensory – Elements That Help You Imagine How Something Looks, Sounds, Feels, Smells, Or Tastes.
Bible with a broken back
—a rubber cow,
a rusty tractor with a broken plow,
a doll in overalls.

8. Sources Of Information

9. Figurative Meaning
There Is A Family Whom Live In A Farmhouse Yet They Aren’t Good At Farming. The Family Split Up, And Went Their Separate Ways. The Family Left As Soon As They Could. It Seems The Man Had Fallen Ill Or Passed, And The Woman And Her Child Left In A Nervous Haste.

10. Authors Purpose