Here Comes Another, Bumping Over the Sage

Name Period Date __

Directions: Actively read the poem. Mark meaning and techniques.

Tumbleweed

David Wagoner

Here comes another, bumping over the sage

Among the greasewood, wobbling diagonally

Downhill, then skimming a moment on its edge,

Tilting lopsided, bouncing end over end

And springing from the puffs of its own dust

To catch at the barbed wire

And hang there, shaking, like a riddled prisoner.

Half the sharp seeds have fallen from this tumbler,

Knocked out for good by head- stands and pratfalls

Between here and wherever it grew up.

I carry it in the wind across the road

To the other fence. It jerks in my hands,

Butts backwards, corkscrews, lunges and swivels,

Then yaws away as soon as it’s let go,

Hopping the scrub uphill like a kicked maverick.

The air goes hard and straight through the wires and weeds.

Here comes another, flopping among the sage.

About the poem

1. If you have ever seen a tumbleweed, you know that this poet has given you a picture of how it “behaves.” List at least ten verbs in the poem that tell what the tumbleweed does.

2. Identify two similes that give the tumbleweed human or animal qualities.

3. What other words personify the tumbleweed?

4. On a literal level, this poem is a detailed description of tumbleweeds, plants that break off from their roots and are carried away by the wind. On a symbolic level, however, the poem is about something quite different- something that concerns people. Describe the kinds of people the tumbleweed might symbolize.

5. Name some of the conditions that might make people feel like a tumbleweed-“rootless” and at the mercy of any “wind.” How might such people behave?

6. Describe how the speaker seems to feel toward the tumbleweed and the people it represents. Are his feelings critical, or do you detect a tone of amusement as he watches these “mavericks”? Explain.

Writing About the Poem- A Creative Response

Writing a Poem. Pick a type of person or a group of people- artists, athletes, politicians, flirts, wallflowers, teacher’s pets, wanderers, hypochondriacs, punk rockers- and see if you can find some object from nature that could symbolize them. Then write as short poem of five to ten lines that describes the actions or behavior of this natural object.

Analyzing Language and Vocabulary - Multiple Meanings

Several words in this poem have multiple meanings. Words with multiple meanings may be of two types. In one type, the words not only have different meanings but also different origins. The fact that such words are spelled identically is an accident. In the other type, a single word has developed more than one meaning. In this latter type, the meanings of the word are usually related in some way. Use a dictionary to answer the following questions:

1. The poet uses the word sage (line 1) to mean a kind of plant. What is another meaning for this word? What are the origins of these two words?

2. What is the meaning of the word riddled in line 7? What is another meaning for this word? Do these meanings have the same origin?

3. The word tumbler has several meanings. What is its meaning in line 8? In what sense is the word tumbler related to a lock? What type of drinking glass does the word tumbler refer to? How are all these meanings related?

4. In line 13, the word corkscrews is used as a verb. What does it mean? As a noun, what does it mean? Explain the origins of the two words.

5. The word scrub (line 15) has many different meanings and two distinct origins. What are the two origins? Identify the meaning of scrub as it relates to:

Shrubs or trees

Sports

Cleanliness

Rockets