Eureka mill: poetry
Eureka Mill is Ron Rash’s first poetry book which comprises of 42 poems. The poems in the book reflect on the lives of Appalachian famers who worked in a mill village near Chester, South Carolina. The poems in the books go into detail about the lives of the mill workers, the community and the town. For instance, in the poem preparing the body, Rash discusses the ritual of preparing a dead man’s body in the region (Rash 1-4). In his poem the fighting gamecocks, Rash explains how men in the community enjoyed watching fighting birds because the game was violent and satisfied their violent fantasies. In the poem “Jokes”, Rash explains how workers used jokes for humor and political satire. The Jokes were also used to give a positive outlook during desperate times. For instance, shooting squirrels for food was referred to as shooting hoover Hogs (Rash 11-12). The poems in this book show the importance of poetry to the Appalachians.
Appalachian Folklife
In the book “a handbook to Appalachia”, Debora Thompson and Irene Moser have examined the rich and complex folk-life of the Appalachian people. The Appalachian culture is diverse because there are a wide variety of groups living in the region such as Huguenot, English, Welsh, Jewish, Scottish Irish and African among others. The Appalachians region provides a creative environment with a rich cultural background which has led to the growth of many novelists and poets. Storytelling and poetry provides natives with a chance to exercise their linguistic skills whilst entertaining others. In addition, it creates social bonds between the audience and story tellers. Thompson and Moser have classified Appalachian story telling tradition into personal narratives, Cherokee myths and psychologically complex ballads (152). Traditional story telling in the region has been done in Appalachian speech patterns. This includes the use of double negatives, Anglo-Saxon verbs and unique pronunciation.
Works Cited
Rash, Ron. Eureka Mill. Spartanburg: Hub City Writers Project, 2001.
Thompson Deborah & Moser Irene. “Appalachian Folklife” A handbook to Appalachia: an introduction to the region. Edwards Grace Toney, Asbury JoAnn Aust and Cox Ricky L. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2006. 143-162.
