The poem describes the flower-fed buffaloes that used to roam the prairies in the past. It references how the buffaloes, Blackfeet tribe, and Pawnee tribe no longer roam as they once did due to changes like the introduction of locomotives, wheat fields, and conflicts that left the tribes "lying low." The poem expresses a sense of nostalgia and loss for the past ways of life on the prairie before progress and conflict arrived. It does so through imagery comparing the past and present, and repetition of the phrase "lying low."

1. THE FLOWER-FED
BUFFALOES
VAcHEL
LinDSAy

2. Consider these images and try
to make a connection between
them.

3. The Flower-Fed Buffaloes
The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
In the days of long ago,
Ranged where the locomotives sing
And the prairie flowers lie low;
The tossing, blooming, perfumed grass
Is swept away by wheat,
Wheels and wheels and wheels spin by
In the spring that still is sweet.
But the flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
Left us long ago.
They gore no more, they bellow no more,
They trundle around the hills no more:
With the Blackfeet lying low,
With the Pawnees lying low.
Lying low.

4. Background
• Vachel Lindsay was born in 1879 in
Illinois, USA. He often sold his poetry on
the streets and made long walking
expeditions, trading his poetry on the way
in exchange for food and lodging.
• His poetry was known for its
experimentation with sound and he often
gave recitals.

5. The Old West in America
The Blackfeet Indians are original residents of the
northern Plains, particularly Montana and Idaho, and
Alberta, Canada.
The Blackfoot lived in buffalo-hide houses called tipis
(or teepees).
The Pawnee Indians are original residents of Nebraska
and Kansas. However they were forced to move to a
reservation in Oklahoma during 1800’s.

6. The spirit of the buffalo
The spirit of the buffalo, an animal that seems to traverse the whole earth
in its migrations, was the very essence of the land especially for the
Indians who live there.

7. Subject and Tone
• It is hard to estimate how many buffalo once roamed North
America but it is thought that there would have been
between 30 and 75 million. By the time Lindsay was writing
there were about 300.
• Blackfeet and Pawnees are two American native tribes. The
population of the Pawnees in the early nineteenth century
was about twenty to twenty-five thousand, but it declined
rapidly in the later part of the nineteenth century mostly
because of smallpox and cholera, but also through falling
prey to traditional enemies.
• How would you describe the tone of the poem?

8. Imagery
• Consider how Lindsay suggests the passage of time
in the poem and how he suggests things which
haven’t changed.
• Look at the choice of words and imagine the scene.
Are the locomotives a discordant note in this scene
as Lindsay presents it?
• Look up the word ‘trundle’ in a dictionary. Does the
use of the word describe the movement of the
buffaloes?
• What about the other ways he describes them? Do
they help to capture their character?

9. Imagery
• The phrase ‘lying low’ is repeated. First it
applies to the prairie flowers and then to
the Blackfeet and the Pawnees. Consider
what meanings it has for them.
• Consider the extent to which there are any
sinister connotations and the effect of the
repetition of the phrase in a line of its own
at the end of the poem.

10. Form
• Read the poem aloud to yourself; read it
slowly and focus on the stresses in each
line.
• Explore the patterns of sounds in the
poem.

11. Feeling
Consider which of these words best describes
the whole poem:
• anti-progress
• threatening
• pretty
• nostalgic
• neutral
• strange