Ox Cart Man

“Ox Cart Man” is a five-stanza, free verse poem of 25 lines by poet Donald Hall. Originally published in The New Yorker magazine in 1977, “Ox Cart Man” later inspired one of Hall’s children’s books—Ox Cart Man, published in 1979. With syntax and line breaks that mimic the plodding sense of labor and travel, Hall’s short poem examines ideas of work, meaning, satisfaction, and reward.

The straightforward diction and simple phrases of “Ox Cart Man” are hallmarks of Hall’s poetic style. Using a seemingly simple metaphor, Hall deftly crafts images that resonate outward, expanding the reach of the poem to encompass larger philosophical ideas of the cyclical nature of the human world, and how humans seek meaning and gain value from banal daily labors. Following the tasks of an unnamed man across a month’s work of work, Hall humanizes and universalizes the figure, quietly suggesting that the reader find small moments of satisfaction in their own work cycles too.

Poet Biography

Poet Laureate Donald Hall was born in 1928. He grew up in Connecticut and spent summers on his great-grandparents’ farm in New Hampshire, an experience that would help shape his poetic sensibilities.