Ploughing on Sunday
Ploughing on Sunday - meaning Summary
Ploughing Against Sabbath
Stevens presents a short, exuberant scene of agricultural labor that mixes natural detail and ritual energy. Repeated images of tails, wind and water create a sensory, musical evocation of ploughing. The speaker calls on "Remus" and insists on "Ploughing North America" on a Sunday, suggesting a willful blending of myth, work and a subversion of sacred rest. The poem celebrates bodily, communal engagement with landscape through repeated, celebratory motion.
Read Complete AnalysesThe white cock's tail Tosses in the wind. The turkey-cock's tail Glitters in the sun. Water in the fields. The wind pours down. The feathers flare And bluster in the wind. Remus, blow your horn! I'm ploughing on Sunday, Ploughing North America. Blow your horn! Tum-ti-tum, Ti-tum-tum-tum! The turkey-cock's tail Spreads to the sun. The white cock's tail Streams to the moon. Water in the fields. The wind pours down.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.