Literature - Farewell to Barn Stack and tree By A.E. Housman

 

Farewell to Barn Stack and Tree

by
A. E. Housman

About the Poet 

Alfred Edward Housman

(26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936)

He was an English classical scholar and poet.

He began his life as a clerk in the patent office and worked for eleven years.

In 1896 he published A Shropshire Lad a compilation of his poetry collection consisting of his sixty three poems.

In 1911 he became the professor of Latin in Cambridge

 and a fellow of Trinity College.

In 1936 he passed away in a nursing home in his sleep.

The Poem

Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree

 

Farewell to barn and stack and tree,

         Farewell to Severn shore.

Terence, look your last at me,

         For I come home no more.”

      

"The sun burns on the half-mown hill,

         By now the blood is dried;

And Maurice amongst the hay lies still

         And my knife is in his side."

      

"My mother thinks us long away;

         'Tis time the field were mown.

She had two sons at rising day,

         To-night she'll be alone."

"And here's a bloody hand to shake,

         And oh, man, here's good-bye;

We'll sweat no more on scythe and rake,

         My bloody hands and I."

 

"I wish you strength to bring you pride,

         And a love to keep you clean,

And I wish you luck, come Lammastide,

         At racing on the green."

      

"Long for me the rick will wait,

         And long will wait the fold,

And long will stand the empty plate,

 And dinner will be cold.”

Before start reading pay attention to the following words 

 

Farewell

 

 

Say good bye

Expressing good wishes on parting

 Barn

What is a barn?

Where would you find a ‘barn’? 

 

Large farm building used for storing grain, hay, or straw or for housing

livestock (farm animals)

 

Stack

What is meant by ‘stack’?

A pile of hay (grass that has been mown and dried for use as fodder)

 or straw (dried stalks of grain)

Fodder

Food, especially dried hay or straw, for cattle and other livestock

 

Tree

What is the picture created by the word ‘tree’?

Pay your attention to the following  

The setting of the poem is rural. 

 Which words suggest the rural agricultural background? 

How does the background of the poem differ from the local Sri Lankan background? 

What context (the circumstances /condition that form the setting for an event, statement) does the title suggest?

Glossary

 

half-mown - grass that has been left half-cut.

 

 

scythe - a tool used for cutting crops such as grass or corn, with a long curved blade at the end of a long pole or  short handle

.

rake - an implement consisting of a pole with a toothed crossbar or fine tines at the end, used especially for drawing together cut grass or smoothing loose soil or gravel.

  

 

rick - a stack of hay, corn, straw, or similar material, especially one formerly built into a regular shape and thatched. 

    

fold - a small enclosure for livestock (especially sheep or cattle), which is part of a larger construction.

 

 

Severn Shore - a small village by the side of the River Severn, which is the longest river in the United Kingdom.

 

 

Lammas tide - Lammas Day (Anglo-Saxon half-mas, "loaf-mass"), is a holiday celebrated in some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, usually between 1 August and 1 September. It is a festival to mark the annual wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year.

 

Reading the poem for understanding

 

Read the first three verses and answer the following questions.

• What is the situation that is hinted at here?

• The speaker is taking leave of Terence? Who do you think Terence is?

     What is his relationship with the speaker?

• Apart from the human, the speaker takes leave of non-human/ inanimate objects.  

   What are those?

• What is the speaker’s predicament? Why does he leave? Does he want to leave?

• What do the 2nd and 3rd verses reveal about the strain/ stress the speaker is going

    through?

 

Read the next three verses.

• Which verse gives a clue to the conflict? What had caused the quarrel?

• Does the speaker feel guilty about what he has done? Which lines convey this?

• What do the last two lines tell us about the character of the speaker? 

    Is he by nature a violent person or not? Give your reasons.

• What aspect of normal human life is he going to miss?

    Do the lines also convey anything about his future?

• How would you describe the conflict in this poem? Is this kind of conflict universal? 

   Do such conflicts go this far?

 

 

Appreciating and enjoying the poem.

 

•Do you think the poem has left out vital information? Does this affect understanding?

• Does it enrich its reading? Is the reader forced to bring his/ her experience of the world into     the reading? 

    What is the effect created?

• Do you think the violence was premeditated or impulsive.

• Write the meaning of the two lines given below :

             I wish you strength to bring you pride

            And a love to keep you clean

 •How important are these lines in understanding the conflict and the ensuing violence?

• How is the story narrated? Linear or in broken up scenes? 

    What do they tell us about the psychology of the speaker? The narrative skills of the poet?

Reading the poem for developing a critical outlook.

 

• The poem uses the form of the ballad. Which features of the ballad are used in the poem?                  How does it add to the interest/ tension created by the poem?

• It seems that the conflict had originated from love. The brothers seemed to have loved the                same woman. Which words/ phrases suggest that the woman had not been faithful to the           speaker?

• As brothers do you think the persons mentioned here behaved appropriately?

        How could they have resolved the conflict?

• What is the result of the conflict/ violence on the two brothers? Personally on the speaker?               On the mother? On the property / farm?

• The writer uses ordinary, homely images like:

 a) Barn and stack and tree

 b) Scythe and rake

 c) Rick

 d) Fold

 e) Empty plate

What do they mean?

What effects are created?

• Which features of the ballad are found in this poem? How do they enrich the narrative?

• What is the tone of the poem? Is the tone consistent throughout the poem?

• Would you think this poem is particularly relevant to adolescents?

Themes

 

Sudden impulse brings grief and regret 

Should not take decisions on sudden impulse 

We must develop patience and learn to respect other

Impulsive nature of youth

Young people are very hasty and reckless 

They do things without thinking of the consequences as  they come to hasty conclusions

Conflicts can led to regret and destruction, not only to you but also to those around you 

Conflicts should be resolved peacefully, through discussion, not through arguments, not through violence

Tragic Consequence of family conflict

 Disastrous outcome of a rivalry between two brothers

Transitory nature of life 

Life is not always permanent and it tends to change

Misunderstandings in life

People never spare time or make any a effort to understand others

 Techniques used to convey the theme

 

Ballad style

Rhythm and Rhyming-      scheme ab, ab,

            Farewell to barn and stack and tree,(a)

            Farewell to Severn shore. (b)

            Terence, look your last at me, (a)

            For I come home no more.” (b)

                                                This gives a touch of a lyrical effect

Assonance     –          for I come home no more

                                    Emphasizes about his departure and suggests his sighing

Tone               –          nostalgic, remorseful

Anaphora      –           Farewell to barn and stack and tree

                                                Farewell to Severn shore

                                    Delaying his farewell, suggests that he is not willing to leave

                                    but has to

                                    And Maurice amongst the hay lies still

                                           And my knife is in his side."

Increases the pace of the poem, the narrator wants to finish the story quickly

And long will wait the fold,

                                     And long will stand the empty plate,

                                    And dinner will be cold

                             Emphasizes his grief and his reluctance to leave the place where he                               grew and familiar to but he has firmly decided to leave and the                                             farming land will be abandoned quite a long time

Anastrophe     –      look your last at me

                                 Inversion of natural order of words, suggesting his hesitation or                                   confusion

                                    Maurice amongst the hay lies still.

                                    Shows his reluctance to reveal his crime

Enjambment–     run on line

                               forces reader to go through the lines to know what happens                                           next; increases pace and suspense in the poem, forces reader                                         to read the next line quickly to resolve a problem

 

Imagery       -      Tactile imagery          

                                                sun burns on the half mown hill

                                                reader feels the heat of the sun which dried the blood

                           -       visual imagery

                         barn, stack ,tree, scythe, rake, rick, fold an empty plate, blood                                       is dried, Maurice lies still among the hay, knife in his side                                                 bloody hand

 

Personification –  sun burns 

                                    It too has word play, if we put son instead of sun, it implies the                                      suffering and grief of the brother who killed his own  brother

Metaphor         –    sun burns

                                    in metaphorical level sun burns means the midday

                                     rising day

                                    refers to the morning

                                    bloody hand

                                    He introduces his hands are stained with death; his crime

Symbol          –          half mown hill  - half mown suggests that the boys have                                                              completed only a part of their lives, one is                                                        dead by now and other   has  ruined his  life,

                                    blood                       -    blood is a symbol to death

                                    night                       -   night is a symbol for hardships or danger                                                                                  

                                    green                       -   green symbolizes better life

                                    empty plate         -    suggests his uncertain or empty life in the                                                                                 future

 

Euphemism  –       And Maurice amongst the hay lies still

                                    And my knife is in his                               

                                    The effect of death and killing is reduced to imply that the                                               brother  has committed the crime unintentionally, he repents                                       over his work

 Subjunctive –      'Tis time the field were mown.

                                     shows the inability or improbability of something to happen

Word pun      –      son – sun

son can be replaced with the word sun that gives a sense too, mother   had   two suns to enlighten her life but after this incident her life is going to be   filled with darkness

 

Juxtaposition –  They were to mow the lawn but one killed the other

                                    she had two sons at rising day, to-night she’ll be alone

                                    "I wish you strength to bring you pride,

                                                And a love to keep you clean,

                                He contrasts his stained life with his hope his friend to have a clean life

 

Probable Context Questions

 

Read the given extract and answer the questions given below.

 

1. “We’ll sweat no more on scythe and rake

        My bloody hands and I”

            1.In which work do these lines appear? Who wrote it?

            2.Who are referred as “we"? What will they not do?

            3.why does the speaker describe his hands as bloody?

 

2. “And here's a bloody hand to shake,

      And oh, man here’s good bye

      We’ll sweat no more on scythe and rake

       My bloody hands and I”

            1.From where are these lines taken? Who wrote them?

            2.Who is the speaker addressing at the moment?

            3.Why are his hands bloody?

 

 

Reference:

Teacher Manual

Internet