18 pages • 36 minutes read
Donald HallOx Cart Man
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1977A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Lists
In nearly every stanza of “Ox Cart Man,” Hall employs lists to characterize the man and his way of life and work. The lists add to the calm, methodical approach the man takes toward his task, and establishes the tone of the poem. For instance, in the first stanza, he lists off all the counting the man does: “he counts potatoes dug from the brown field, / counting the seed, counting / the cellar’s portion out” (Lines 2-4). The following stanzas list items the man carries to market, from wool, honeycombs, and vinegar, to birch brooms, maple sugar, and goose feathers. The lists suggest bounty and hard work, illustrating the sheer amount of labor that went into creating the items. Lines like “hooped by hand at the forge’s fire” (Line 10) detail the craft and skill the man used, and suggest that each item is well-made and valuable, even if it is simple.
Assonance & Consonance
Hall creates rich sound texture throughout “Ox Cart Man,” relying heavily on assonance, or repeated vowel sounds, and consonance, or repeated consonant sounds, to draw attention to his imagery. In the second stanza, Hall writes: “He packs wool sheared in April, honey / in combs, linen, leather / tanned from deerhide” (Lines 6-8). The lines hang together with their repeated “i” sounds, and the visual near rhyme of “sheared” and “leather.” This technique influences the rhythm of the poem; the density of the words’ texture forces the reader to slow down and contemplate each individual image, and thus better understand the depth and breadth of the man’s skills and labor.
The following stanza, describing “the bag that carried potatoes, / flaxseed, birch brooms, maple sugar, goose / feathers, yarn” (Lines 13-15), repeats “b,” “f,” “p,” and “g” sounds, sometimes matching them up to create spondees, or two stressed syllables in a row, as in “flaxseed” or “birch brooms.” Again, this slows the pace of the poem, and asks the reader to mull over individual words and images, building out the man’s character and world.
Tone
The steady, methodical tone of “Ox Cart Man” evokes the simplicity and stoicism of the man’s life. This is a typical tactic for Hall; as former Poet Laureate Billy Collins points out, “His reliance on simple, concrete diction and the no-nonsense sequence of the declarative sentence gives his poems steadiness and imbues them with a tone of sincere authority. It is a kind of simplicity that succeeds in engaging the reader in the first few lines” (“Donald Hall.” Poets.org, Academy of American Poets).
Repetition
Hall’s use of repetition mimics the process of work. In the first stanza, he writes that the man “counts potatoes dug from the brown field, / counting the seed, counting / the cellar’s portion out, / and bags the rest on the cart’s floor” (Lines 2-5). The reiteration of this counting process sets the stage for the concerns and the action of the poem, establishing the man’s character and approach toward his work. Hall uses repetition again in the fourth stanza: “When the car is empty he sells the cart. / When the cart is sold he sells the ox” (Lines 16-17). The repeated phrase underscores the matter-of-fact approach the man takes toward his work, and the calmness with which he understands this labor is part of the larger seasonal cycle. The final line also acknowledges the repetition inherent in the man’s life; he must “build the cart again” (Line 25), continuing with the steadiness and sincerity that has prevailed in the poem until this point.
