Kate Roberts

LACP

Grieving lost love: the exploration of loss through the ballad and the elegy. Reading Patrick
Kavanagh and Walt Whitman from a genre perspective.

Love and loss are human experiences that are explored in all areas of literature, in poetry
especially. The form that poetry is written in often lends itself to the meaning rather than just
containing the poetry (Eagleton, 67). Form provides more context to the language, making it a
richer experience for the audience. The two poems that I will be discussing are “O Captain!
My Captain!” by Walt Whitman, an elegy, and “On Raglan Road” by Patrick Kavanagh, a
ballad. Poetry is defined by the Webster dictionary as “writing that formulates a concentrated
imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific
emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm”. How the language is arranged in
these poems speaks just as much to the themes of love and loss as the language does. Each
poem expresses an experience of loss. Of course loss only occurs where there has been love.
Each poem is written is a specific style of poetry that adds a layer of emotion to the overall
experience for the reader (Eagleton, 69)

Although Whitman is known as the ‘father of free verse’ he uses the structure of the elegy to
pay tribute to Lincoln and commemorate the end of the Civil War. ‘O Captain! My Captain!’
is an elegy to a dead captain that didn’t live to see his ship return to victory. The speaker in the
poem introduces a solemn narrative that both mourns and celebrates his fallen captain.
Whitman illustrates the ship’s return to victory through three eight-line stanzas. This poem has
a regular meter and rhyming scheme (AABBCDED). Each stanza ends with the words ‘fallen
cold and dead’. The repetition of this morbid image draws the reader away from the narrative
of victory and back to the harsh reality of the poem. It is a constant reminder of the loss the
speaker is experiencing. The contrast of the image of the dead captain and the description of
victory encapsulates the relief and the despair that were simultaneously felt at the end of the
Civil War. ‘O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done’ (1). The use of regular meter and
the rigid form is similar to a soldier marching across a battlefield, which is fitting for the context
of this poem. (Perez Garcia)

Whitman includes an extended metaphor within the elegy to pay tribute to President Lincoln.
It is intended to memorialise Lincoln’s life and work. President Lincoln has ‘fallen cold and
dead’ (8), the civil war is represented by the ‘fearful trip’ (1), the ‘ship’ (2) is the United States,
 Kate Roberts
LACP

and the ‘prize we sought’ (2) is the salvaged union. As America lost its leader, there was a
definite feeling of uncertainty. That conflict between celebration and despair creates an
atmosphere of uncertainty and confusion in the poem that recounts that time in American
history. The speaker’s sense of loss is apparent in the violent imagery of the captain’s death.
‘O the bleeding drops of red, where on the deck my captain lies’ (6-7) The juxtaposition of the
scenes of victory and the very morbid image of the captain’s body just lying in blood on the
deck further illustrates the sense of conflict at this moment in history. Whitman’s use of
metaphor here to explain historical context give the audience even more insight into the gravity
of the loss that is expressed in this poem. (Polonsky, 41, 128,167)

Whitman’s use of the elegy immediately implies that the poem is an expression of loss.
(Furniss and Bath, 326) His use of the elegy helps to create an atmosphere in the poem. The
traditional format adds a solemnity to the poem. Whitman uses repetition throughout the poem
to emphasise the loss and bring dramatic force into the poem. The line ‘But o heart! Heart!
Heart!’ (5) Is a very raw and dramatic expression of emotion. It is as if the speaker cannot
fathom the hurt he is feeling because of this loss. Whitman’s choice of words brings an even
deeper meaning to his expression of loss. When he refers to the ‘Rise up- for you the flag is
flung’ (10). There is a sense that the Captain’s death is such a loss that it casts a shadow over
the celebrations. The poet refers to the fallen captain as "father"(13), representing his deep
respect for President Lincoln and Lincoln's role as father of the newly restored union.

Poetry has the ability to provide a texture for our emotions. When discussing an experience
such as loss, poetry provides the poet with a way to refine what can be raw, crude emotions.
The various conventions in poetry allow poets to filter a narrative through a format. When
reading poetry that refers to a loss, one cannot help but recognise a shadow of the strong
emotions such as love and admiration present in the narrative. These emotions echo into the
poetic expression of loss. Of course the greatest loss occurs when we lose someone or
something that we have loved. Be that love expressed as admiration like in ‘O Captain! My
Captain!’ or a romantic love as in Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘On Raglan Road’.

A formal poetic form that may be most accessible to an audience today is the ballad. Ballads
do not have the same formal consistency as other poetic forms but they have defining
characteristics that allow the audience to identify Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘On Raglan Road’ as a
ballad. Ballads are often associated with oral poetry and are meant to be song- like. ‘On Raglan
Road’ is recognisable by its strong rhythm, vivid imagery, and rhyme. ‘On Raglan Road’
 Kate Roberts
LACP

differs from the traditional ballad as it refers to Kavanagh’s own personal experience of loss
and feelings of bitterness and disillusionment. Keeping to the traditional ballad, this poem is a
narrative about a dangerous situation but in this case the danger is heartbreak.

Kavanagh immediately creates an atmosphere of melancholy and loss. ‘On Raglan Road of an
autumn day I met her first’ (1). The initial image is one of light fading and transition. Kavanagh
is looking back in retrospect at his past. This is a deeply personal expression of loss. ‘I’ is used
throughout the poem. Although he is only speaking about how they met in the beginning of the
poem, because of the tone that Kavanagh sets, we know that the future is not bright for the
couple. He alludes to the fact that he knew that he would ‘rue’ (2) the day but he pursued her
nonetheless. There is a tone of inevitability of hurt in the beginning of this poem. ‘And I said
let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day’ (4). Kavanagh uses imagery of autumn
leaves falling as a poetic expression of his bitter realisation that this love will only break his
heart. Kavanagh compares this situation to one of great danger, typical of the ballad form, and
creates an atmosphere of foreboding. ‘We tripped lightly along the ledge of a deep ravine’ (5-
6). Kavanagh eventually submits and expresses regret for this unrequited love. ‘O I loved too
much and by such by such is happiness thrown away’ (8). Kavanagh uses vivid imagery
throughout the poem to build to a sense of inevitable loss, regret, and heartbreak.

Although ‘On Raglan Road’ is a departure from the traditional ballad, at its core it is just that.
It delivers a narrative about a dangerous situation that more often than not does not end well.
In this case it is unrequited love. The ballad is a great medium for a narrative because of its
origins in the oral form. The ballad is not very rigid compared to the other poetic forms so it
allows Kavanagh to use beautiful imagery to explore his loss in retrospect. The ballad lends
itself very well to a narration that moves through Kavanagh’s hope and passion to his regret
and loss. The use of the ballad form allows Kavanagh to take this poetic expression of
something very personal to him and fashion it into something that is universally appealing. It
is lyrical poetry and a narrative combined.

Although ‘On Raglan Road’ is a modern ballad, it contains many of the characteristics of the
traditional ballad form. Kavanagh uses simple, colloquial language throughout the poem.
Kavanagh even uses ordinary images of Dublin to create a setting. ‘On Grafton Street in
November’ (5). Kavanagh tells a story that is deeply personal and uses imagery to emphasize
his emotions. Although Kavanagh does not use the usual refrain or repetition found in the
traditional ballad, there is assonance and alliteration throughout the poem. ‘That I had wooed
 Kate Roberts
LACP

not as I should a creature made of clay/ When the angel woos the clay he'd lose his wings at
the dawn of day.’(15-16). The repetition of similar vowels in the stressed syllables of
successive words contributes to the poem’s rhythm. Assonance and alliteration emotionally
impact the reader in a way that we may not be consciously aware of as we read, but the use of
these poetic devises contribute to the emotional of the poem overall. (Polonsky, 113)

Whitman and Kavanagh both demonstrate that the form a poem is written in does not just
contain the language, it adds another dimension to the theme being explored. Whitman uses
the formality of the elegy to memorialise the civil war and pay tribute to President Lincoln.
The rigid poetic format sustains a noble sentiment and an appropriate dignity of style. The
poet’s grief is accentuated by the regular metre that emphasises the contrasting celebrations of
victory and lamentations of death. In Kavanagh’s version of the ballad, he beautifully sums up
his loss in the line, ‘And I said let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day’ (4). Kavanagh
uses the narrative nature of the ballad to take his personal experience of loss and put it into a
form that is accessible to the reader and universally appealing. Each poem is written in a
specific style of poetry that adds a layer of emotion to the overall experience for the reader
(Eagleton, 69).
 Kate Roberts
LACP

Bibliography

Eagleton, Terry, how to read poetry. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing LTD, 2015
Whitman, Walt, “O Captain! My Captain!”. Leaves of Grass. Boston: Thayer and Eldridge,
1867
Kavanagh, Patrick, “On Raglan Road”. Dublin: The Irish Press, 1946
Perez Garcia, Diana ‘Poetry genres’: Class notes. Dublin: Rathmines College, 2017
Polonsky, Marc, The poetry reader’s toolkit. Columbus: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,
1998
Furniss, Tom and Bath, Michael, Reading Poetry. U.K: PEARSON Education LTD, 2007
Phythian, B A, Considering Poetry. London: The English Universities Press LTD, 1970