In any case its thematic resonance with the story is clear. It was the first poem she had published in McClure's Magazine, and it is unclear whether she always intended it to be part of the story. Whether or not Cather is successful in making the land the hero (or anti-hero) of the story, some of the most famous sections of the book are her descriptions of the land and of Alexandra's relationship with the land.Ĭather wrote the poem which precedes the text soon after she completed the novel itself. In response, Cather explained that she wanted the land to be the 'hero' of the piece, and this kind of land had no underlying structure. Sergeant's only criticism was that the underlying structure seemed a weak. All who read it found it beautiful and moving. Sergeant greatly admired the novel and shared it with the French family she was staying with as well as a young woman from Boston. She finally sent it to a very close friend, Elizabeth Shipley Sergeant, who was living in Paris at the time. When Cather finished the novel, she was very worried about its success.

She retained the titles of both stories as section names in O Pioneers!. After finishing both works, Cather realized that they belonged together. In her adaptation of this story, which she named 'The White Mulberry Tree,' Cather told the story of the fatal passion of Marie and Emil. In that tale, Dante expresses sympathy for Paolo and Francesca, who are in hell for committing adultery, suggesting that they gave in to unbearable temptation without intending to do wrong. Cather set the novella aside and began work on a short story inspired by the tale of Paolo and Francesca in Dante's Divine Comedy. The novella told the story of the first two-thirds of O Pioneers!: Alexandra's taming of the land and the effect of settlement on her family. The novel began as a novella called Alexandra, which Cather wasn't entirely happy with. O Pioneers!, then, is an act of memory for Cather.

Jewett told Cather that whatever she could not get out of her head is what she ought to write about, and Cather took those words to heart.

Jewett wrote twenty volumes of fiction about the rural region of Maine where she grew up and her body of work helped Cather to realize that she should write about her memories of the pioneer west. Cather dedicates O Pioneers! 'To the memory of Sarah Orne Jewett, in whose beautiful and delicate work there is perfection that endures.' Cather met Jewett in 1908, only a year before her death, but ever after modeled her own writing career after Jewett's.

The story of O Pioneers! begins in the dedication and poem which precede the work.

O pioneers