The Drouth by Payson Sibley Wild
A farmer narrator describes the worst drouth ever seen along Skillet way, after corn planted in May was drowned, then replanted and growing well until the dry spell struck hard, withering even tough weeds like fennel, hog-weed, pusly, and dock. Pitch sizzles on the hoss barn wall, roads turn to dust, Four Mile creek dries to scummy pools, and the cistern water grows foul. The corn becomes a field of rattling skeletons. One moonlight night, Bill claims the withered stalks speak, telling him Ma Nacher cares only for life as a whole, not individuals, and that living things get little more than fizz from existence. The narrator grows frightened watching a stalk nod and wave its arms.
By Payson Sibley Wild · First published 1918 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Ballad, Dialect Literature · 665 words
First lines
Buggosh I never seen it dryer 'n 'tis / Ri't now down this 'ere Skillet way; / It's scassly rained a drop sence 'long in Joon, / An' gittin' dryer every day. / We got our corn in early 'n May, an' seen / It mos'ly drownded out, an' then / We planted it onct more an' watched it grow / An' stick out spiky leaves again. / A little later Bill 'e sez ter me / In one them joky little talks: / "We'll hev ter git a ladder when Fall comes / Ter reach the ears on them thar stalks. " / It shorely looked like that 'a' way ontil / The drouth begun ter hit us hard, / An' fennel, hog-weed, pusly, dock an' sich, / An' even plantain in the yard- / The sort o' stuff ye jes' cain't kill 'f ye try- / Was withered wisps o' nothin' 't all.
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Genres
- Narrative Poetry — The work is composed entirely in verse form and tells a sequential story of drought and its consequences on a rural farm, making it fundamentally a narrative poem.
- Ballad — The piece employs conversational dialect, folk-like storytelling traditions, and a dramatic narrative arc typical of ballads, with dialogue driving the plot forward.
- Dialect Literature — The entire work is characterized by consistent rural American vernacular dialect ('tis, 'ere, 'n, sez, etc.), making dialect representation a defining stylistic feature.
- Rural Literature — The work is centered on farm life, agricultural labor, and rural community experiences, with farming constituting the primary setting and context.
Tags
drought · farming · crop failure · rural America · vernacular poetry · dialect verse · nature indifference · existentialism · supernatural · withering · death · heat
What this Textopian page supports
The Drouth 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, Ballad, Dialect Literature, Rural Literature, Agricultural Literature
- Length: 665 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Drouth by Payson Sibley Wild
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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