flower fed buffaloes

Vachel Lindsay uses the buffaloes as a key symbol to represent a time that has passed in North America through his poem The Flower-Fed Buffaloes. The Flower –Fed Buffaloes show the extinct buffalo herds are related to the extinct tribes Blackfeet and Pawnees. There are a number of effective language techniques to express the change that has occurred so effectively. In this essay I will walk through them with you and explain them.
The first five lines Lindsay shows the freedom the buffaloes had. The first line shows the connection with nature the “flower-fed” buffaloes had and displays the use of alliteration. Words like “spring” and “blooming” positively shows new life. Also in the words “tossing”, “ranged” and “prairie” carries a sense of freedom. Ranged is in past tense which shows that the buffaloes had a lot of space to move but not anymore. The environment shows “locomotives sing” which is rather sarcastic as the machine really makes harsh sounds and displays the use of personification.
The next ten lines are more in depth and depressing as it reminds us that the buffaloes herd are now gone. The “perfumed grass is swept away by the wheat” shows the environment change. The repetition of “wheels” exaggerates the many machines that came. The words “left us”, “lying low” and “no more” show euphemism of their death.
Vachel Lindsay effectively uses symbols and language to express The Flower-Fed Buffaloes. Lindsay he also makes clear that this change has been for the worst. In doing so, Lindsay reminds people of the disappearance of a number of elements of nature in the past and reminds the reader that there is an opportunity for this change to end, lest the state of the world gets even worse.