Summer in the Yakima Valley - Part 2

Summer in the Yakima Valley - Discuss Contrast

The lyric poem "Summer in the Yakima Valley," makes use of contrast. The speaker's attitude changes from one of confidence to one of anxiety and helplessness. During the day, his self-assurance is evident as he "[stomps] the uneven ground..." and "swaggers like [a cowboy] outdoors. He is fearless about swimming in the irrigation ditch, unconcerned with "the whirlpool pull/of the main pipe's undertow." However, at night, his feelings change. He feels lonely, abandoned by his cousin who has fallen asleep before him, "exiled in the moon-engorged room". The narrator describes the sounds of the night as "alien". The "coyote's hungry cry/the twist and scrape of tumbleweed" leaving him feeling uneasy. We see his fear again when he uses the word "nightmare" to describe the shadows in the room....