Analysis Of The Vanishing Valley By Ernie Fanning

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In the poem The Vanishing Valley by Ernie Fanning, a cowboy began to see his way of life disappearing right before his eyes. The natural beauty the valley once had was in the process of being transformed in to a playground for the city folk. The cowboy had a strong desire to halt the production of the buildings but could do nothing more than grieve. With great detail, you will see just how every element needed to create a poem aided in the production of this heartfelt piece of writing.
The diction in the writing is one of the roles to the creation of this poem. For instance, looking at the title, it prepares you for the poem. How does it do this? It engages your mind to generate questions that you might want answers to. Such as, “How does a valley just …show more content…

Whatever happened to the fields of spuds
And onions that the old degos used to raise,
And where have gone the lush green meadows
Where the fat cattle used to graze? … (8-12)
This was the third stanza of the poem. The cowboy describes the meadows in detail for a reason here. He does this because the meadow was held near and dear to him and to the others that lived there. He is upset and does not approve of the production of the buildings and roads that are being built in the meadows. Fanning reminisces on “When Kietzke Lane was nothing more / Than a gravel country road” (23-24). With such detail put in to describing the setting, it was quite simple to paint an image in your head creates the mood.
This poem made feel the same sadness and disapproval that the cowboy portrayed throughout the piece of writing. The cowboy was losing a place he loved dearly. Others in the poem shared the pain with the cowboy as well. A place that was once calm and peaceful would soon be taken over by city folk building a place of business and fun. The winding asphalt roads would cover up the memories the people in the valley had experienced on the dirt roads beneath. Memories would be buried and new ones would be

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