Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Grasshopper Apocalypse “The grasshoppers are coming! The grasshoppers are coming (Wilder, 79)!”, my neighbor screamed, not knowing these words would be seared into my mind forever. Late at night, my dreams were plagued with hoards of milky white wings. Everywhere I turned, I could feel them crawling all over my body. Even so much as the sight of one of those horrendous creatures would have me running for the hills. I feared nothing more than the return of the grasshoppers. Later, when I would look back upon my years, I would conclude that nothing else in my entire life had been as thrilling and terrifying as that natural phenomenon. My family had been living in Minnesota for a while now, and our future was looking …show more content…
15 They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt(Exodus 10, New International Version).” Definitely sounded like what was happening now. Staring up at the sky in awe, it occured to me that this was probably God coming to punish me for stealing Mary’s biscuit the other day. The millions of grasshoppers descended and immediately began to eat anything and everything green - the garden, the grass, the leaves on the trees, and especially, poor Pa’s wheat field (Wilder 79). It was like my family's worst nightmare coming true. Just when we thought that everything was going to be alright, Mother Nature came back and smashed it right into our faces. Everywhere we stepped we mashed grasshoppers and they crawled up under their skirts and down the backs of our necks (Wilder 79). Pa tried, and failed, to keep the grasshoppers at bay. He hauled straw and manure in piles around and through the field, then set it on fire hoping that the smoke would keep the destructive creatures away. The …show more content…
There were no crops to be harvested nor anything to live on until crops could grow again, and therefore we were left without any money to buy food (Wilder 81). There was not a green thing in sight except a few grasshoppers with broken wings who could not fly (Wilder 79). The first time I stepped outside after the grasshoppers were gone, I notice that the ground looked like honeycomb, for it was so full of the little round holes in which the grasshoppers had laid their eggs (Wilder 81). Something about the sight of the clustered holes rattled me so greatly that I refused to set a foot outside until the rain came and buried them up. I suppose you could call it trypophobia, or a fear of holes. But I was not afraid of the sight, rather it was just very disturbing and unsightly to look at. Now that the ground was full of holes and not money-making wheat, we had to find another way to keep living, else we wouldn’t survive the winter. So one day, Pa told us all goodbye, put on his hat, and carrying his coat over his shoulder, started walking east to where there was harvesting to be done(Wilder 81). He walked because there was no money for a train fair, although, the day before, we had run around the house, upturning pots, blankets, and anything that could a hold hidden penny, but, alas, we were not able to salvage enough to
In these novels, the authors will demonstrate their knowledge about a few of the most common concerns of their times. Nature can play an important role in multiple stories and that’s exactly what happened
People are just giving Grass more work to do. In the final two lines of the poem “I am the grass. Let me work.” (Lines 10, 11) This annoyed tone comes from how humanity continuously asks questions even years later, or the ghosts of humanity does.
The Poem “The Poet” by Tom Wayman is a poem that takes the reader through the physical characteristics of your average poet. The entirety of the “The Poet” consists of a list of 14 descriptors that could be used to describe the typical poet. Each of the descriptive phrases seems to be negative towards the unknown poet that he is talking about. Although the poem seems quite literal, a figurative message is portrayed though text, tone, structure and the literary devices used in the poem. To start off, the specific word usage that Wayman chose to use gives off the impression that poets have their drawbacks.
I was 10 years old when my parents finally allowed me to help cultivate the corn crops on the plantation we owned. Even though the hot Mexico sun was beating down and the air was so humid you could feel it on your fingertips, I loved every second of it. Year after year, I remember salvaging a few ears of corn and running back into the house, hoping that I don’t hear my parents coming after me. “Andrea!” they would shout, and I would giggle and put my hands behind my back. Then, I would stuff the stolen crops in the small crevice between the cupboard and the wall.
The poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee depicts the complex relationship between a boy and his father when the boy asks his father for a story and he can’t come up with one. When you’re a parent your main focus is to make your child happy and to meet all the expectations your child meets. When you come to realize a certain expectation can’t satisfy the person you love your reaction should automatically be to question what would happen if you never end up satisfying them. When the father does this he realizes the outcome isn’t what he’d hope for. He then finally realizes that he still has time to meet that expectation and he isn’t being rushed.
The reader could assume that Nick could adapt and manage his condition. Second, the grasshopper represents Nick. When the grasshoppers were cold and wet with the dew so, they could not jump until the sun warmed them, hence, finally, they “Fly away somewhere” (Hemmingway). This means there is giving hope to Nick. With suffering,
Along with the farmer’s crops rapidly diminishing, the unforgiving weather and the drought they faced, an unusual epidemic arose in 1932. This was the year when grasshoppers plagued the land. They came in swarms of millions and would eat entire fields in hours and even household items. Without fields there would be no hay to feed the livestock and Farmers would be forced to start eating the animals or leave them to starve. They could live off of their livestock for a year at most but the drought lasted far longer than that.
“The lightning bugs trapped in empty peanut butter jars with triangular holes on top, made with the point of a beer can opener. The fading smears of phosphorescent yellow-green where the older, more jaded kids have used their sneaker soles to smear the lights across the gray pavement. “Let them out,” our mothers would say, “or they will die in there.” Finally, perfect sleep. Sweaty sheets, no dreams.”
The poem, At Mornington was written by Australian poet, Gwen Harwood. It was published in 1975 under her own name. At Mornington is about a woman reminiscing about her past when she is with her friend. There are many themes explored in this poem including memory, death and time passing.
Drifters by Bruce Dawe “Why have hope?”, is the question raised in the poem “Drifters” by Bruce Dawe. Bruce Dawe’s poem explores how change can damage a family 's relationship and cause them to drift apart. This poem has underlying and straight forward themes depicted about change. Straight forward depiction is the physical movement of the family from place to place and not everyone is in favour of this change. The very first line of the poem, “One day soon he’ll tell her it’s time to start packing”, supports the inevitable change that no one else has a say in except the man.
There’s no reason in 1947 to eat grasshoppers… Grandfather laughed aloud!... “You should have done what your cousin did. But you know more about what is happening to our people today than I do. You would have passed the test in any time.”
I looked out from the passenger side window as we pulled into our parking spot. The trees were beginning to go bare in the frigid October weather, and the ground was covered in their dry, crispy leaves. The four of us were going on a haunted hayride tonight, a popular past-time for season. We clambered out of the car and left our bags behind. It had rained the day before, and it made the ground beneath us soft with mud and trampled leaves.
The poem A Step Away From Them by Frank O’Hara has five stanzas written in a free verse format with no distinguishable rhyme scheme or meter. The poem uses the following asymmetrical line structure “14-10-9-13-3” while using poetic devices such as enjambment, imagery, and allusion to create each stanza. A Step Away From Them occurs in one place, New York City. We know this because of the lines, “On/ to Times Square, / where the sign/blows smoke over my head” (13-14) and “the Manhattan Storage Warehouse.”
The Mower Against Gardens is one of four "mower" poems from author Andrew Marvell. The poem describes the capacity of mankind to destroy and manipulate nature. Marvell 's poem is deceiving, to first glace the poem appears to be non-stanzaic but is has hidden stanzas from lines 1-18 and 19-36. The division of the poem in such a way is strategic, the stanzas have a specific build, making the poem more structured and effective. Throughout the poem there are many poetic devices used, such as iambic pentameter and tetrameter, repetition and rhyming, as well as imagery.
There was no chattering or chirping of birds; no growling of bears and no chuckling of contented otters; instead, the clearing lay desolate and still, as though it never wished to be turned into day. The only occupants were rodents and spiders who had set their home in the dank, forgotten shack. From its base, dead, brown grass reached out, all the way to the edge of the tree-line, unable to survive in the perished, infertile soil that made up the foundations of the house. Bird houses and feeders swung still from the once growing apple trees, in the back garden, consigned to a life of