Dust Bowl Folklore

How brown are the prairies of Kansas, 

How dust strewn her roadways today. 

The sun for the present has left us.

The air -- it is murky and grey. 

But if we should live till next springtime, 

How green her prairies will be, 

All starred with beautiful flowers

Like the waves of a restless sea. 

And far in the distance our sorrows, 

Will seem to have passed away, 

Like the brown of the lovely prairies, 

Like the air that is murky and grey. 

 -Mrs. Sarah E. Stotler 

"Duster" rolling over a town in the plains. Photo courtesy of USA Today. 

This type of folklore is a poem, specifically an agriculture poem about the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. According to Timothy Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time, "Cattle went blind and suffocated. When farmers cut them open, they found stomachs stuffed with fine sand... the instinctive act of hugging a loved one or shaking someone's hand could knock two people down, for the static electricity from the dusters was so strong."

Along with dying animals and the static electricity, the crops wouldn't grow, the sky wouldn't rain and the children became sick from the dust in their lungs. Housewives went mad because they couldn't keep anything clean for long; they spent all day sweeping and dusting, only to have to do it all again hours later. The husbands, the heads of the households, couldn't fix these problems and often turned to alcohol to solve them. Alcoholism, suicide, divorce and domestic violence plagued the personal lives of those living in the southern plains during the Dust Bowl. 

This poem shows the light of hope that some of the homesteaders of the southern plains were able to hold on to. In the first paragraph, the author explains the current situation in the plains. 

How brown are the prairies of Kansas. Sand covered everything and didn't let anything grow. How dust strewn her roadways today. This sand was thrown across the prairies and covered everything. The sun for the present has left us. The homesteaders literally wouldn't see sunlight for days, for the dust storms would block the light out; this is also a figure of speech for the darkness of depression and despair that blanketed everyone's thoughts. The air -- it is murky and grey. This explains the physical color of the air. 

In the second paragraph, she begins with But if we should live till next springtime, bringing up the consideration that they very well may die during this tragedy. How green her prairies will be, she continued, describing a world without dust. All starred with beautiful flowers, the plains will recover, the author truly believed. Like the waves of a restless sea, she envisioned a better life, and held on to hope of a better future. 

She ends the poem with the paragraph starting with And far in the distance our sorrows, Will seem to have passed away, she explains that even though she believes the physical dust bowl will pass by next spring, the emotional depression of the dust bowl will take longer to recover.  Like the brown of the lovely prairies, Like the air that is murky and grey. She redirects the focus of the poem back to their real world, hoping that with the passing of their sorrows, the horrible world of brown sand and the murky grey air will pass too. 

This poem exemplifies the true grit of the people during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. This poem reiterates the reoccurring theme of the Dust Bowl; when you have nothing left, know you still have hope. 

This hard lesson for the American people reminded them once again that when all else is gone, when you have nothing left, you still have hope, if you'll allow it to stick around. 

The sand piled up high from the dust storms. Photo courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica.

References:

Denver Post. (2011, May 12). When deadly dirt devastated the Southern Plains. Retrieved March 30, 2018, from https://www.denverpost.com/2011/05/12/when-deadly-dirt-devastated-the-southern-plains/

Egan, T. (2013). The worst hard time: The untold story of those who survived the great American dust bowl. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.