THE CONVERSAZZHYONY by Eugene Field: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
A rugged Colorado mining camp hosts its first upscale social event, but chaos ensues when a frontiersman’s clumsy attempt at speaking French is taken as an insult directed at a woman named Charlotte Rooze.
The poem
What conversazzhyonies wuz I really did not know, For that, you must remember, wuz a powerful spell ago; The camp wuz new 'nd noisy, 'nd only modrit sized, So fashionable sossiety wuz hardly crystallized. There hadn't been no grand events to interest the men, But a lynchin', or a inquest, or a jackpot now an' then. The wimmin-folks wuz mighty scarce, for wimmin, ez a rool, Don't go to Colorado much, excep' for teachin' school, An' bein' scarce an' chipper and pretty (like as not), The bachelors perpose, 'nd air accepted on the spot. Now Sorry Tom wuz owner uv the Gosh-all-Hemlock mine, The wich allowed his better haff to dress all-fired fine; For Sorry Tom wuz mighty proud uv her, an' she uv him, Though _she_ wuz short an' tacky, an' _he_ wuz tall an' slim, An' _she_ wuz edjicated, an' Sorry Tom wuz _not_, Yet, for _her_ sake, he'd whack up every cussid cent he'd got! Waal, jest by way uv celebratin' matrimonial joys, She thought she'd give a conversazzhyony to the boys,-- A peert an' likely lady, 'nd ez full uv 'cute idees 'Nd uv etiquettish notions ez a fyste is full uv fleas. Three-fingered Hoover kind uv kicked, an' said they might be durned So far ez any conversazzhyony was concerned; _He'd_ come to Red Hoss Mountain to tunnel for the ore, An' _not_ to go to parties,--quite another kind uv bore! But, bein' he wuz candidate for marshal uv the camp, I rayther had the upper holts in arguin' with the scamp; Sez I, "Three-fingered Hoover, can't ye see it is yer game To go for all the votes ye kin an' collar uv the same?" The wich perceivin', Hoover sez, "Waal, ef I _must_, I _must_; So I'll frequent that conversazzhyony, ef I bust!" Three-fingered Hoover wuz a trump! Ez fine a man wuz he Ez ever caused an inquest or blossomed on a tree!-- A big, broad man, whose face bespoke a honest heart within,-- With a bunch uv yaller whiskers appertainin' to his chin, 'Nd a fierce mustache turnt up so fur that both his ears wuz hid, Like the picture that you always see in the "Life uv Cap'n Kidd." His hair wuz long an' wavy an' fine as Southdown fleece,-- Oh, it shone an' smelt like Eden when he slicked it down with grease! I'll bet there wuzn't anywhere a man, all round, ez fine Ez wuz Three-fingered Hoover in the spring uv '69! The conversazzhyony wuz a notable affair, The bong tong deckolett 'nd en regaly bein' there; The ranch where Sorry Tom hung out wuz fitted up immense,-- The Denver papers called it a "palashal residence." There wuz mountain pines an' fern an' flowers a-hangin' on the walls, An' cheers an' hoss-hair sofies wuz a-settin' in the halls; An' there wuz heaps uv pictures uv folks that lived down East, Sech ez poets an' perfessers, an' last, but not the least, Wuz a chromo uv old Fremont,--we liked that best, you bet, For there's lots uv us old miners that is votin' for him yet! When Sorry Tom received the gang perlitely at the door, He said that keerds would be allowed upon the second floor; And then he asked us would we like a drop uv ody vee. Connivin' at his meanin', we responded promptly, "Wee." A conversazzhyony is a thing where people speak The langwidge in the which they air partickulerly weak: "I see," sez Sorry Tom, "you grasp what that 'ere lingo means." "You bet yer boots," sez Hoover; "I've lived at Noo Orleens, An', though I ain't no Frenchie, nor kin unto the same, I kin parly voo, an' git there, too, like Eli, toot lee mame!" As speakin' French wuz not my forte,--not even oovry poo,-- I stuck to keerds ez played by them ez did not parly voo, An' bein' how that poker wuz my most perficient game, I poneyed up for 20 blues an' set into the same. Three-fingered Hoover stayed behind an' parly-vood so well That all the kramy delly krame allowed he wuz _the_ belle. The other candidate for marshal didn't have a show; For, while Three-fingered Hoover parlyed, ez they said, tray bow, Bill Goslin didn't know enough uv French to git along, 'Nd I reckon that he had what folks might call a movy tong. From Denver they had freighted up a real pianny-fort Uv the warty-leg and pearl-around-the-keys-an'-kivver sort, An', later in the evenin', Perfesser Vere de Blaw Performed on that pianny, with considerble eclaw, Sech high-toned opry airs ez one is apt to hear, you know, When he rounds up down to Denver at a Emmy Abbitt show; An' Barber Jim (a talented but ornery galoot) Discoursed a obligatter, conny mory, on the floot, 'Till we, ez sot up-stairs indulgin' in a quiet game, Conveyed to Barber Jim our wish to compromise the same. The maynoo that wuz spread that night wuz mighty hard to beat,-- Though somewhat awkward to pernounce, it was not so to eat: There wuz puddin's, pies, an' sandwidges, an' forty kinds uv sass, An' floatin' Irelands, custards, tarts, an' patty dee foy grass; An' millions uv cove oysters wuz a-settin' round in pans, 'Nd other native fruits an' things that grow out West in cans. But I wuz all kufflummuxed when Hoover said he'd choose "Oon peety morso, see voo play, de la cette Charlotte Rooze;" I'd knowed Three-fingered Hoover for fifteen years or more, 'Nd I'd never heern him speak so light uv wimmin folks before! Bill Goslin heern him say it, 'nd uv course _he_ spread the news Uv how Three-fingered Hoover had insulted Charlotte Rooze At the conversazzhyony down at Sorry Tom's that night, An' when they asked me, I allowed that Bill for once wuz right; Although it broke my heart to see my friend go up the fluke, We all opined his treatment uv the girl deserved rebuke. It warn't no use for Sorry Tom to nail it for a lie,-- When it come to sassin' wimmin, there wuz blood in every eye; The boom for Charlotte Rooze swep' on an' took the polls by storm, An' so Three-fingered Hoover fell a martyr to reform! Three-fingered Hoover said it was a terrible mistake, An' when the votes wuz in, he cried ez if his heart would break. We never knew who Charlotte wuz, but Goslin's brother Dick Allowed she wuz the teacher from the camp on Roarin' Crick, That had come to pass some foreign tongue with them uv our alite Ez wuz at the high-toned party down at Sorry Tom's that night. We let it drop--this matter uv the lady--there an' then, An' we never heerd, nor wanted to, of Charlotte Rooze again, An' the Colorado wimmin-folks, ez like ez not, don't know How we vindicated all their sex a twenty year ago. For in these wondrous twenty years has come a mighty change, An' most of them old pioneers have gone acrosst the range, Way out into the silver land beyond the peaks uv snow,-- The land uv rest an' sunshine, where all good miners go. I reckon that they love to look, from out the silver haze, Upon that God's own country where they spent sech happy days; Upon the noble cities that have risen since they went; Upon the camps an' ranches that are prosperous and content; An' best uv all, upon those hills that reach into the air, Ez if to clasp the loved ones that are waitin' over there.
A rugged Colorado mining camp hosts its first upscale social event, but chaos ensues when a frontiersman’s clumsy attempt at speaking French is taken as an insult directed at a woman named Charlotte Rooze. This mix-up costs Three-fingered Hoover the town marshal election, and the poem concludes with a nostalgic tribute to the early pioneers who have since departed. It’s a tall tale infused with dialect humor, celebrating the quirky and heartfelt aspects of frontier life.
Line-by-line
What conversazzhyonies wuz I really did not know, / For that, you must remember, wuz a powerful spell ago;
Now Sorry Tom wuz owner uv the Gosh-all-Hemlock mine, / The wich allowed his better haff to dress all-fired fine;
Three-fingered Hoover kind uv kicked, an' said they might be durned / So far ez any conversazzhyony was concerned;
Three-fingered Hoover wuz a trump! Ez fine a man wuz he / Ez ever caused an inquest or blossomed on a tree!
The conversazzhyony wuz a notable affair, / The bong tong deckolett 'nd en regaly bein' there;
When Sorry Tom received the gang perlitely at the door, / He said that keerds would be allowed upon the second floor;
As speakin' French wuz not my forte,--not even oovry poo,-- / I stuck to keerds ez played by them ez did not parly voo,
From Denver they had freighted up a real pianny-fort / Uv the warty-leg and pearl-around-the-keys-an'-kivver sort,
The maynoo that wuz spread that night wuz mighty hard to beat,-- / Though somewhat awkward to pernounce, it was not so to eat:
Bill Goslin heern him say it, 'nd uv course _he_ spread the news / Uv how Three-fingered Hoover had insulted Charlotte Rooze
Three-fingered Hoover said it was a terrible mistake, / An' when the votes wuz in, he cried ez if his heart would break.
For in these wondrous twenty years has come a mighty change, / An' most of them old pioneers have gone acrosst the range,
Tone & mood
Warm, humorous, and nostalgic. For most of its length, the poem reads like a tall tale with a playful twist — the dialect spelling, the clumsy French, and the growing absurdity all show that Field is enjoying himself. Yet, the humor is kind-hearted, never cruel. The final stanza softly shifts the mood: the laughter subsides, leaving behind a real sadness for a lost world and the men who created it. It's reminiscent of someone sharing a funny story about an old friend who has passed away.
Symbols & metaphors
- The conversazione itself — The party represents the frontier's desire for civilization and respectability. The miners and their wives are striving for a refined Eastern world that they only partially grasp, and the humor arises from that disconnect. It's not about mockery — Field genuinely admires their efforts to reach out.
- Mangled French — The broken French, phonetically spelled as (*parly voo, tray bow, oon peety morso*), captures the entire idea of bringing Eastern culture to the West. It functions just enough to create issues, and that’s precisely the intention.
- Charlotte Rooze — The dessert-turned-woman serves as the main comic symbol in the poem, embodying a misunderstanding that spirals into something much larger. She also reflects the actual scarcity and social influence of women on the frontier — the camp's outrage at her alleged insult feels real, even though the insult itself is imaginary.
- Going acrosst the range — The euphemism for death in the final stanza shifts the entire perspective of the poem. The lively, humorous scene of the mining camp reflects a world that has completely disappeared. The silver land beyond the mountains represents not only a physical Western landscape but also serves as a metaphor for the afterlife.
- Three-fingered Hoover's hair — His sweet-smelling, slicked-back hair — shining *like Eden* — serves as a small, tender symbol of the effort these rugged men put into looking presentable. It adds a touch of humanity and vulnerability before the comedy even begins.
- The chromo of Frémont — The chromolithograph of explorer and politician John C. Frémont on Sorry Tom's wall reflects the pride that pioneers have in their own history and their loyalty to those who opened the West. The narrator's comment that *"lots uv us old miners is votin' for him yet"* anchors the poem in a tangible political identity.
Historical context
Eugene Field penned this poem in the 1880s, inspired by his experiences as a newspaper journalist in Denver, Colorado. The Colorado mining boom of the 1860s and 1870s had given rise to instant towns filled with men who struck it rich overnight and their wives eager for the social perks that wealth could bring. A *conversazione* was a chic European-style salon gathering, and the idea of bringing that concept to a mining camp was just the kind of comic mismatch Field enjoyed. Known for his dialect humor and sentimental verses about childhood and the American West, this poem merges both elements: the humor in frontier pretension and a heartfelt elegy for a generation of pioneers who were already fading from living memory by the time he wrote it. The poem was included in his collection *A Little Book of Western Verse* (1889), which helped establish him as one of the most widely read American poets of his time.
FAQ
A *conversazione* (Italian, later adopted in English and French social circles) was a formal gathering for educated people to discuss art, literature, and ideas. The humor lies in hosting one in a rough Colorado mining camp — a place where the main social events were lynchings and poker games. The miners are sincerely attempting to be civilized, which Field finds both amusing and endearing.
He orders a Charlotte Russe (a cream dessert) in broken French: *"oon peety morso... de la cette Charlotte Rooze."* His political rival Bill Goslin intentionally spreads the rumor that Hoover insulted a real woman named Charlotte Rooze. In the mining camps, where women were few and fiercely protected, the camp votes against Hoover in outrage. It all stems from a misunderstanding based on a pun.
Completely intentional. Field was a talented journalist and poet who employed dialect spelling as a way to immerse you in the narrator's voice and world. Words like *wuz, uv, ez, keerds,* and *parly voo* are deliberately selected to mimic a particular style of Western American speech. This approach follows the same tradition as Mark Twain's dialect writing.
John C. Frémont was an explorer known for mapping large parts of the American West and later becoming the first Republican presidential candidate in 1856. Many pioneers from the old West regarded him as a hero. The narrator's comment that miners are *still* voting for him humorously reflects the stubborn loyalty of those on the frontier — and serves to anchor the poem's setting in a particular political time.
Field wrote about a world that had mostly disappeared by the 1880s. The men he portrays — the rough, humorous, loyal pioneers from the Colorado boom of the 1860s — were either dead or spread out. The final stanza loses its comedic tone because the subject has shifted: it’s not a funny story anymore; it’s an elegy. This change is intentional and evokes its emotional weight because the humor preceded it.
It's a darkly comic way to refer to being hanged — like a body hanging from a tree. The narrator affectionately calls Hoover *"ez fine a man ez ever caused an inquest or blossomed on a tree,"* indicating that in this camp, surviving or causing a hanging is seen as a sign of character rather than a disgrace.
The poem intentionally keeps things unclear. Goslin's brother Dick suspects she was a schoolteacher from a nearby camp who came to the party. However, the narrator confesses that no one ever discovered the truth, and nobody seemed to care enough to find out. The irony is that the camp was so protective of a woman's honor that they never bothered to see if she was real.
Women were truly rare in mining camps, and that rarity granted them unique social power. The poem reflects this well: the men are almost hilariously protective of women, even going so far as to ruin a friend's political career because of a misheard dessert order. Field doesn't ridicule this protectiveness — he portrays it as one of the more relatable qualities of an otherwise tough community.