"Buffalo Bill's" is E.E. Cummings's tragicomic reflection on the death of a legend. The poem's speaker thinks back on the spectacular feats of Buffalo Bill, the Old West showman whose death they're trying their best to wrap their mind around. The speaker's head-shaking astonishment suggests it's hard to accept that a larger-than-life figure like Buffalo Bill should fall prey to "Mister Death" like anyone else. Cummings first published this poem in The Dial (an American literary magazine) in 1920 and collected it in his important 1922 book Tulips and Chimneys.

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• “Buffalo Bill's” Summary

• “Buffalo Bill's” Themes

  • 

    The Inevitability of Death

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-11

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Buffalo Bill's”

  • Lines 1-2

    Buffalo Bill 's ...
    ... defunct

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-6

             ...
    ... break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-8

          ...
    ... a handsome man 

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-11

    and what i ...
    ... Mister Death

    

    

    

    

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• “Buffalo Bill's” Symbols

  • 

    Buffalo Bill

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Buffalo Bill”

• “Buffalo Bill's” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-5: “ who used to /                ride a watersmooth-silver /                                                                   stallion”
    • Line 10: “how do you like your blue-eyed boy”

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-11: “what i want to know is / how do you like your blue-eyed boy / Mister Death”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Bill 's / defunct”
    • Lines 3-4: “to /                ride”
    • Lines 4-5: “silver /                                                                   stallion”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Buffalo Bill”
    • Line 4: “silver”
    • Line 5: “stallion”
    • Line 10: “blue-eyed boy”

• “Buffalo Bill's” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Buffalo Bill
  • Defunct
  • A watersmooth-silver / stallion
  • Pigeons
  • Blue-eyed boy
  • (Location in poem: Lines 1-2: “Buffalo Bill 's / defunct”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Buffalo Bill's”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Buffalo Bill's” Speaker

• “Buffalo Bill's” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Buffalo Bill's”

• More “Buffalo Bill's” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Cummings on Poetry — Read Cummings's advice to young poets (framed by a short appreciation of Cummings by the essayist Maria Popova).

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to Cummings himself reading the poem aloud.

    • A Short Biography — Read the Poetry Foundation's biography of Cummings.

    • Cumming's Self-Portrait — Cummings was a painter as well as a poet. Take a look at his self-portrait to get a glimpse of how he saw himself.

    • Buffalo Bill — Learn a little background on Buffalo Bill, the poem's hero. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by E. E. Cummings

    • anyone lived in a pretty how town

    • i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

    • in Just-

    • next to of course god america i

    • nobody loses all the time

    • O sweet spontaneous

    • since feeling is first

    • somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond

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