Chapter 49 Summary: Homesick on a Farm in Franklin, Tennessee

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The speaker looks out into the dark from her cottage and imagines the farm animals sleeping in the barn: a pony, miniature donkeys, goats. She wonders what they dream about—perhaps a perfect field of grass or wind ruffling their coats. The landscape includes a hill she calls a mountain because she is from Ohio. She begins crying without explanation, then recalls that morning’s birthday party for a boy. Children offered flat palms to the donkeys, fed chickens, brushed the pony, cartwheeled in the paddock, and chased two pigs. The poem sets the peaceful, innocent animal interactions against the speaker’s unexplained sadness, suggesting a deep sense of homesickness that the pastoral scene cannot soothe.

Key Events

The speaker observes farm animals (pony, miniature donkeys, goats) bedded down in the barn at night.
She imagines the contents of their dreams: grass, wind, comfort.
She reflects on the hill she sees, calling it a mountain because her own sense of scale comes from Ohio.
She asks herself “Why am I crying?” without a clear answer.
She recalls a boy’s birthday party held on the farm that morning.
Children interact with the animals: holding hands out to donkeys, feeding chickens, brushing the pony, cartwheeling, chasing pigs.
The speaker watches from her cottage window, an observer rather than a participant.

Character Development

The Speaker – The poem’s central figure is a poet who experiences a wave of sorrow amidst a bucolic setting. Her homesickness is tied to her Ohio identity; she measures the landscape by her own origins. The unexplained tears suggest a grief or longing that cannot be resolved by the idyllic farm life. Her role as a watcher (from the cottage window) underscores her emotional separation from the joy of the children and animals.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Homesickness and Displacement – The speaker is a visitor (or new resident) in Tennessee, and her Ohio roots color her perception. Calling a hill a “mountain” reveals a deep longing for the familiar flatness of the Midwest.
Animal Empathy – The speaker anthropomorphizes the animals, wondering about their dreams. This empathy bridges the gap between human and nonhuman, but also highlights her own emotional vulnerability.
Childhood Innocence – The children’s joyful, tactile interactions with the animals stand in stark contrast to the speaker’s melancholy. The boy wanting only to touch the pigs symbolizes pure, uncomplicated wonder.
Observation vs. Participation – The speaker watches the birthday party from her cottage window. She is present but not engaged, mirroring the homesick person’s sense of being somewhere without truly belonging.

Why This Chapter Matters

This poem is a quiet emotional turning point in Goldenrod. It shows how a seemingly perfect rural scene can amplify rather than cure loneliness. Smith uses vivid, tender animal imagery to underscore the divide between external beauty and internal pain. The chapter deepens the collection’s exploration of longing, memory, and the ways we carry our origins into new landscapes. It invites readers to examine the difference between a place being picturesque and being home.

Study Questions and Answers

Why does the speaker call the hill a “mountain”? What does this reveal about her state of mind?
She comes from Ohio, a state known for flat terrain. Calling a modest hill a “mountain” shows that her sense of scale is still calibrated to the Midwest. It reveals her homesickness: she continually measures the new place against the old, and that comparison makes her feel out of place and sad.
What purpose do the children’s interactions with the animals serve in the poem?
The children’s easy, joyful contact with the animals—holding flat palms, feeding, brushing, chasing—illustrates the innocence and presence that the speaker lacks. They are fully immersed in the moment, while she watches from a distance and cries. The contrast highlights her emotional isolation and the unprocessed grief that the farm’s beauty cannot heal.
Why might the speaker be crying without an obvious cause? How does the poem support this?
The poem gives no single reason; the speaker herself asks “Why am I crying?” The evidence points to cumulative homesickness: the foreign landscape (a hill called a mountain), the unbidden memory of the birthday joy she observes but does not share, and the quiet night with sleeping animals that should bring peace but instead brings tears. The poem suggests that the heaviness of longing can surface without a logical trigger, especially in a place that feels like someone else’s home.