Canon Barnett V2: His Life, Work, and Friends (1919)

Every imaginable human emotion is captured in this bittersweet work, a modern interpretation of Percy Bysshe Shelleyas moving 1818 poem from which it takes its name, and a dysfunctional immigrant familyas vain attempt at survival on the fragile prairie, sod overturned and pulverized by corporation farmers snapping up bankrupt homesteads, followed by sheriffas sales of personal effects and resulting in mass exodus of penniless homesteaders and squatters to Seattle and Los Angeles defense plants, leaving the land to the unrelenting wind that carries it a thousand miles to sea, and a barren empire of broken dreams and boarded up small towns. Meet unforgettable Grandpa Collins with a penchant for urinating on his daughter-in-lawas laundry on the backyard line; Uncle Leonard who prophesies from under a bed; proud, burly Arsaloosa, a Colored mule skinner and philosopher who stole a muleas identity; and toothless Sheep Camp Maude who makes a livelihood servicing lonely, love-starved sheepherders and all-night stands at gandy dancer work trains.