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The Annotated Edition

TO MR. BUCKENAM by James Russell Lowell

Summary, meaning, line-by-line analysis & FAQ.

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This poem is a satirical letter from a rural New Englander to a newspaper editor, humorously critiquing the U.S.

Poet
James Russell Lowell
Themes
anger, freedom, identity
The PoemFull text

TO MR. BUCKENAM

James Russell Lowell

MR. EDITER, As i wuz kinder prunin round, in a little nussry sot out a year or 2 a go, the Dbait in the sennit cum inter my mine An so i took & Sot it to wut I call a nussry rime. I hev made sum onnable Gentlemun speak thut dident speak in a Kind uv Poetikul lie sense the seeson is dreffle backerd up This way ewers as ushul

Public domain

Sourced from Project Gutenberg

§01Quick summary

What this poem is about

This poem is a satirical letter from a rural New Englander to a newspaper editor, humorously critiquing the U.S. Senate's discussions on slavery and political cowardice. Lowell intentionally uses misspelled, phonetic dialect to give the speaker a folksy, uneducated tone — yet the humor hits hard. It's part of his *Biglow Papers*, a collection where straightforward country voices tackle political nonsense more effectively than any formal speech.

§02Themes

Recurring themes

§03Line by line

Stanza by stanza, with notes

  1. MR. EDITER, As i wuz kinder prunin round, in a little nussry sot out a year or 2 a go,

    Editor's note

    The speaker talks to the newspaper editor in a laid-back, somewhat apologetic way, as if he accidentally came across a political opinion while working in his yard. The 'nussry' (nursery) he's been caring for symbolizes the political thoughts he's been nurturing — and the misspellings are intentional on Lowell's part, crafted to capture the voice of a regular New England farmer who can see through political nonsense.

  2. the Dbait in the sennit cum inter my mine An so i took & Sot it to wut I call a nussry rime.

    Editor's note

    The Senate debate ('Dbait in the sennit') floated into the speaker's mind as he worked, prompting him to transform it into a 'nursery rhyme' — a playful jab at the senators. This suggests that the debate is worthy of no more serious consideration than a children's song.

  3. I hev made sum onnable Gentlemun speak thut dident speak in a Kind uv Poetikul lie sense

    Editor's note

    Here, the speaker acknowledges that he's attributing words to 'honorable gentlemen' who chose to remain silent during the actual debate. Referring to it as a 'Poetikul lie' is a playful nod to the reader — Lowell is candidly suggesting that fiction can reveal political truths more effectively than the Senate record itself. The silence of those senators regarding the slavery issue represents a significant moral failing.

  4. the seeson is dreffle backerd up This way / ewers as ushul

    Editor's note

    The closing lines ('the season is dreadfully backward') use a farming metaphor to imply that political progress, similar to a late spring, is stubbornly delayed. 'Ewers as ushul' ('yours as usual') is a folksy sign-off that maintains the letter's down-home tone while subtly highlighting the speaker's tired frustration with the current situation.

§04Tone & mood

How this poem feels

The tone appears comic and satirical at first glance, but there's a genuine anger simmering beneath. Lowell adopts the clumsy, misspelled voice of a country farmer to mock the Senate's absurdity — and the humor lies in the stark contrast between the speaker's rough grammar and his clear moral insight. There's also an underlying sense of weary frustration, as if this political backwardness has dragged on for far too long and anyone with common sense can recognize it.

§05Symbols & metaphors

Symbols & metaphors

The nursery (nussry)
The nursery that the speaker has been tending symbolizes the political ideas Lowell has developed in the *Biglow Papers* series. Pruning a nursery implies careful, patient work, which stands in stark contrast to the chaos and cowardice often found on the Senate floor.
The nursery rhyme (nussry rime)
By comparing the Senate debate to a nursery rhyme, Lowell diminishes the senators to the status of children — implying their arguments warrant no serious consideration. This is a calculated insult disguised as simple, down-to-earth charm.
The backward season (dreffle backerd up)
A late, slow-arriving season symbolizes the political and moral progress that seems to stall. In the slavery debate, this metaphor is particularly poignant: the country is long overdue for change, with the Senate acting as the frost that delays the arrival of spring.
The honorable gentlemen who didn't speak
The silent senators embody political cowardice—individuals who had the opportunity to oppose slavery or take a moral stance but opted for silence. By giving them imagined voices in his poem, Lowell holds them accountable for their inaction.

§06Historical context

Historical context

James Russell Lowell published the *Biglow Papers* in two series, starting in 1846 in the *Boston Courier*. He wrote them in reaction to the Mexican-American War and the national turmoil over slavery. To convey his political satire, Lowell created the character of Hosea Biglow, a straightforward Massachusetts farmer, whose unrefined speech allowed him to express ideas that might have seemed too blunt or risky in more refined verse. "To Mr. Buckenam" acts as a framing letter, similar to an editorial preface that introduces one of Hosea's poems to the newspaper editor. While phonetic spelling and dialect writing were common in American literature, Lowell used this technique with a pointed political edge. The poem is part of a larger American debate about who has the right to challenge authority and whether the voice of the common person holds more moral significance than the polished language of politicians.

§07FAQ

Questions readers ask

No, the misspellings are totally intentional. Lowell is capturing the voice of a rural New England farmer, and the phonetic spellings ('nussry,' 'sennit,' 'dreffle') are designed to reflect how someone would write based on their speech. This is known as dialect writing, and Lowell excelled at it.

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