Cowboy Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Craig Miller

Critical Essay by Craig Miller

SOURCE: “Nature and Cowboy Poetry,” in Cowboy Poets and Cowboy Poetry, edited by David Stanley and Elaine Thatcher, University of Illinois Press, 2000, pp. 226‐38.

In the following excerpt, Miller focuses on how early cowboy poets depicted their close association with nature, and how these references to the natural environment changed as the encroachment of civilization continued to alter the western landscape.

The culture and way of life of cowboys and the cattle industry in the American West are inextricably linked to nature and the physical landscape. It is a relationship that has always been at the very soul of the cowboy's existence, for his occupation, cultural heritage, and often personal identity are built upon day‐to‐day, long‐term associations with nature.

Just as cowboying as an occupation has evolved since the early days of the western frontier, the cowboy's relationship to nature has also evolved. Evidence of change is everywhere visible;...
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