Bill Non-Committal by Payson Sibley Wild
Bill Non-Committal is a dialect poem in which the narrator reflects on how farmers, battered year after year by rain, drought, flooded cricks, bugs, lightnin', winter-killin', rust, smut, and twisters, become unable to commit firmly to any statement. The narrator holds up Bill as the ultimate example of this trait: Bill won't say for certain whether there are "cats" in Four Mile, whether it will rain, or even whether a freshly stuck pig is dead, telling his boy Willy only "I suspishun so; he'd orter be." Asked if the alfalfy will ketch, Bill strings together a long chain of ifs about rain, warmth, frost, Lon's fosfate, and inoculatin' luck, concluding it might "mebbe make a start." After a mule kicks Bill in the jaw and lays him up for two weeks, he later tells the mule, shaking his finger playfully, that he might get mad if he knew for sure the mule did it on purpose, "but I dunno," and hands it a fresh-pulled carrot. Fifty years of farming's gamble have made Bill guarded in speech and able to take his dose without squealing.
By Payson Sibley Wild · First published 1918 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Rural Fiction, Character Study · 1,074 words
First lines
I s'pose all farmers gits thet way in time, / An' I don't wonder; it's enough ter make / Perfesh'nal prophits feel onsartin like. / I mean the everlastin' buckin' up / Agin ol' Nacher an' the elemunts / Year in, year out, ontil ye wouldn't sw'ar / 'T ye've got 'ny oats at all, f'r exampel, even / When cut an' thrashed an' layin' in the bin; / Yew know thet somp'n still kin spile thet crop. / 'F a farmer wants ter gamble, he don't hev / Ter speckerlate on 'Change; I should say not; / Jes' let 'im farm it, plain an' orn'ry farm it- / Thet's all he's gotta dew. I'll bet ye'n less / 'N a fortnit he'd be plum dead sure 't 'is chances / Fer buy'n' a kerosene kerridge playin' faro / Was ten ter one agin the farmin' game.
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Genres
- Narrative Poetry — The work is structured as a poem employing verse, rhythmic patterns, and poetic language to tell the story of Bill, making this the primary formal classification.
- Rural Fiction — The entire narrative centers on farming life, agricultural challenges, crop management, and rural American landscape, establishing this as the core subject and setting.
- Character Study — The work functions as an extended portrait of Bill's personality, demonstrating his non-committal nature and how fifty years of farming shaped his philosophical worldview.
- Philosophical Literature — Explores themes of uncertainty, fate, luck, and the wisdom gained through hardship, with Bill's cautious speech representing a philosophical acceptance of life's unpredictability.
Tags
dialect poetry · narrative poem · character portrait · farmers · rural setting · American vernacular · agricultural hardship · non-commitment · uncertainty · stoicism · resilience · pragmatism
What this Textopian page supports
Bill Non-Committal is listed on Textopian as a poem by Payson Sibley Wild, dated 1918 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Payson Sibley Wild
- Date: 1918 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Narrative Poetry, Rural Fiction, Character Study, Philosophical Literature, Humorous Fiction
- Length: 1,074 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Bill Non-Committal by Payson Sibley Wild
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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