"Farmhand" was written by the 20th-century New Zealand poet James K. Baxter. The poem focuses on a young farmhand standing outside a dance hall, attempting to seem cool and aloof despite an internal longing to join the party and maybe even get a girlfriend. With his "hairy hands" and "sunburnt face," however, the farmworker feels too rough and tumble to enter the world of the dance hall. At the same time, the poem presents him as an image of strength, skill, and grace when working the harvest, sorting crops, and using his tractor. The poem explores the angst and awkwardness of adolescence while also suggesting that sometimes people are "made" for certain roles in life.

• Read the full text of “Farmhand”

• “Farmhand” Summary

• “Farmhand” Themes

  • 

    Identity and Belonging

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20
  • 

    Youth, Angst, and Romance

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-16

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Farmhand”

  • Lines 1-4

    You will see ...
    ... the secret night.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    But always his ...
    ... old wound open.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    His red sunburnt ...
    ... as his mind.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    He has no ...
    ... to yarn to.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    But ah in ...
    ... new tractor engine.

    

    

    

    

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• “Farmhand” Symbols

  • 

    The Dance Hall

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “At the hall door careless, leaning his back / Against the wall,”
    • Lines 5-6: “But always his eyes turn / To the dance floor and the girls drifting like flowers”

• “Farmhand” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “dance,” “floor,” “drifting,” “flowers”
    • Line 8: “old,” “open”
    • Line 9: “hairy hands”
    • Line 13: “He has,” “girl,” “her”
    • Line 14: “His,” “sandy,” “hair,” “giggle,” “his side”
    • Line 15: “Sunday”
    • Line 16: “He has his,” “hopes,” “his”
    • Line 18: “stooks,” “strong”
    • Line 19: “listening like,” “lover,” “song”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “Slowly,” “old,” “open”
    • Line 9: “hands”
    • Line 10: “dancing,” “love-making”
    • Line 11: “wave breaking”
    • Line 12: “slow-growing”
    • Line 14: “giggle,” “his”
    • Line 17: “ah,” “harvest”
    • Line 18: “strong”
    • Line 19: “song”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “careless, leaning”
    • Line 3: “wall, or”
    • Line 4: “friend, or”
    • Line 12: “plough, and”
    • Line 14: “hair, and”
    • Line 15: “walk. Instead”
    • Line 16: “hopes, his”
    • Line 18: “stooks, effortless”
    • Line 20: “Clear, without,” “fault, of”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “hall,” “careless,” “leaning”
    • Line 3: “wall,” “ telling”
    • Line 4: “secret night”
    • Line 6: “dance floor,” “drifting,” “flowers”
    • Line 7: “Before”
    • Line 8: “mind,” “ an old wound open”
    • Line 9: “sunburnt,” “and ,” “hairy hands”
    • Line 10: “made,” “dancing,” “love-making”
    • Line 11: “wave breaking”
    • Line 12: “crops slow”
    • Line 13: “He has,” “girl,” “run her fingers”
    • Line 14: “His sandy hair,” “giggle,” “side”
    • Line 15: “Sunday,” “Instead”
    • Line 16: “He has his,” “hopes,” “his”
    • Line 17: “harvest,” “him”
    • Line 18: “Forking stooks,” “effortless,” “strong”
    • Line 19: “ listening like,” “lover,” “song”
    • Line 20: “Clear,” “tractor”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “night.”
    • Line 8: “open.”
    • Line 12: “mind.”
    • Line 16: “to.”
    • Line 18: “strong –”
    • Line 20: “engine.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “cigarette / At”
    • Lines 2-3: “ back / Against”
    • Lines 3-4: “joke / To”
    • Lines 5-6: “turn / To”
    • Lines 6-7: “flowers / Before”
    • Lines 7-8: “tears / Slowly”
    • Lines 9-10: “hands / Were”
    • Lines 10-11: “love-making / But”
    • Lines 11-12: “breaking / To”
    • Lines 13-14: “through / His”
    • Lines 14-15: “side / When”
    • Lines 15-16: “Instead / He”
    • Lines 17-18: “him / Forking”
    • Lines 19-20: “song / Clear”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “At the hall door careless, leaning his back”
    • Line 16: “He has his awkward hopes, his envious dreams to yarn to.”
    • Lines 19-20: “the song / Clear, without fault, of a new tractor engine”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 7-8: “Before the music that tears / Slowly in his mind an old wound open”
    • Lines 11-12: “earth wave breaking / To the plough”
    • Line 12: “crops slow-growing as his mind”
    • Line 16: “his envious dreams to yarn to”
    • Lines 19-20: “the song / Clear, without fault, of a new tractor engine”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “the girls drifting like flowers”
    • Line 12: “crops slow-growing as his mind”
    • Lines 19-20: “Or listening like a lover to the song / Clear, without fault, of a new tractor engine.”

• “Farmhand” 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.

  • Plough
  • Yarn
  • Forking stooks
  • (Location in poem: Line 12: “To the plough, and crops slow-growing as his mind.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Farmhand”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Farmhand” Speaker

• “Farmhand” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Farmhand”

• More “Farmhand” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Baxter's Biography — Learn more about the poet's life and work courtesy of the poetry foundation.

    • New Zealand's Dance Halls — Learn more about the dance hall craze that hit New Zealand's shores in the 1950s.

    • Baxter's Poetry Out Loud — Listen to the poet read one of his poems aloud.

    • Baxter and Religion — An article about the poet's relationship with his faith throughout his lifetime.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by James K. Baxter

    • Elegy For My Father's Father

    • The Bay

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