Explain how Charles Causley uses literary effects in his poem, 'The Cowboy Song'. How do they add to the reader’s enjoyment?
The poet, Charles Causley, and his poem, the Cowboy Song, is about a lonely ghost cowboy. Gradually the poet is telling the reader through the stanzas that the cowboy is died, at 20. The cowboy led a sad life with events like his sister and father fleeing.
Charles Causley does this effectively, and this essay is going to explain how the poet uses literary effects like onomatopoeia, alliteration and metaphors, and how these effects add to the reader’s enjoyment.
To start with, I am going to tell you about the rhythm and rhyme of the poem. The rhythm and rhyme give the poem and sort of fell that makes it fell like a song. We can connect this with the title (Cowboy Song). There is a steady beat of 8,7,11,6 but this may vary slightly in some stanzas. Like in the last stanza it is 7,6,8,6. The rhythm and rhyme actually make the poem quite jolly, though it is a very sad poem!?! It is a big contrast. There is a strong difference and it is there to leave us with a moral. Which infact is the whole poem, and this is what the contrast does.
The first stanza is set at nighttime. In this stanza we can see a verity of effects like alliteration, metaphors, similes and the effect you would find in any good poem, rhythm and rhyme.
Setting the scene in Salem County, the poet is already hinting at the supernatural. Salem is a place where we associate with witchcraft, ghosts, and unnatural things. One way to back this theory up is a simile, “sweet as an angels feet”. Here he is describing the wheat and the effect is that obviously no one can touch or taste an angel’s foot, so it makes it odd, and supernatural.
The metaphors are ‘blue-bone orchard’ and ‘marmalade moon’. I believe the blue-bone orchard is a graveyard. This is because he is awakening from his grave and it would make sense for someone to get up at the introduction of a poem, and not at the end for example. Also we have ‘marmalade moon’. This is possible when the moon is rising or setting. But it is not made of marmalade, however the use of this metaphor gives a jolly effect.
Alliteration highlights the words the poet wants you to fell and take in, not just read them. For example, ‘zithering zephyrs’. We take this in and think about it better than a simple phrase like ‘wind making noise’. He also mentions ‘Silver Melons’ Appratly these silver melons are a reality but the Silver gives the effect of a ghostly place. This can be connected to Salem County. The idea we go away with from this stanza is that it is setting the scene.
