# Charles Badger Clark — Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp character guide

> Charles Badger Clark in Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp by John A. Lomax.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Charley, The Cowboy, Charles Badger Clark Jr., Charles B. Clark

**First appearance:** 0003-songs-of-the-cattle-trail-and-cow-camp

## Snapshot

A poet who lived the range life he wrote about, lending the collection its sharpest eye for cowboy speech and its tenderest ear for loneliness.

## Who they are

Clark appears as both author and persona, a man who could swing a singin' pen and still smell the sheep on his clothes. His distinctive tension is between the literary East and the working West, between pretty wrongs and greasy gray reality. He matters because his poems, like The Sheep-Herder and A Cowboy at the Carnival, give the collection its most authentic voice and its most durable characters.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

Charles Badger Clark is a poet and author whose works are recited or referenced by the narrator.

### [Uncle Ed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/characters/uncle_ed)

_friendship_

Charles Badger Clark and Uncle Ed are fellow storytellers and cowboy poets who share camaraderie.

### [Uncle Ed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/characters/uncle_ed)

_friendship_

Charles Badger Clark and Uncle Ed are fellow storytellers and cowboy poets who share camaraderie.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

Charles Badger Clark is a poet and author whose works are recited or referenced by the narrator.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_professional_

Charles Badger Clark is a poet and author whose works are recited or referenced by the narrator.

## In the story

### [Dedication](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/dedication)

The author, who dedicates the book to his college friends.

### [A Border Affair](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/a-border-affair)

The narrator and speaker of the poem, reflecting on his past love.

### [When You're Throwed](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/when-you-re-throwed)

Attributed as the author of the poem, though the narrator is a generic cowboy.

### [The Bunk-House Orchestra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/the-bunk-house-orchestra)

Author of the poem, depicted as part of the cowboy group enjoying the bunkhouse orchestra.

### [Part III: Cowboy Types](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/part-iii-cowboy-types)

Author of 'The Sheep-Herder' and 'A Cowboy at the Carnival', providing vivid portraits of cowboy life.

### [A Ranger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/a-ranger)

Author of the poem, narrating the ranger's story.

### [The Outlaw](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/the-outlaw)

Author and speaker of the poem, reflecting on the struggle between man and beast, and man and himself.

### [The Sheep-Herder](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/the-sheep-herder)

The narrator and sheep-herder, identified as Charles Badger Clark, Jr., who expresses his solitude and longing for his sweetheart.

### [The Old Cowman](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/the-old-cowman)

The speaker and author of the poem, expressing personal nostalgia and lament over the fencing of the open range.

### [Just A-Ridin’!](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/just-a-ridin)

Author of the poem, as credited in the excerpt.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/chapters/endnotes)

Referenced in the endnote about a fragment not included in his poem.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/characters/charles_badger_clark
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/songs_of_the_cattle_trail_and_cow_camp_se/characters