Farewell to Barn

and Stack and

11/9/2020
Tree

Helindu Gamage
"Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree" by A.E. Houseman.

In this poem A.E. Houseman uses traditional ballad style to narrate the story of some dramatic
happenings involving violent human emotions. Usually the narration in a ballad is not straight forward
story-telling from beginning to end - the story in a ballad is communicated in a few dramatic word
pictures with vivid details with much of the actual happenings let to be learnt by implication.
This poem tells a story of conflict and death as in many traditional ballads. A young man has killed
his brother. We are not told why; the poet has focused his interest on the state of mind of the young
man.
This state of mind is given to us through the words of the young man. The whole poem is this young
murderer's farewell to a friend named Terence. We learn that he has a deep sense of guilt. This can
be seen from stanza 4: "And here's a bloody hand to shake"/My bloody hands and I." This stanza
refers twice to his 'bloody hands' which points to his deep sense of guilt and regret. He also feels
that the terrible act he has committed forces him to leave his familiar life and close relationships.
This too we learn from the words it the 1st verse: "Terence look your last at me'/'For I come home no
more."
The 2nd verse mentions clearly that he has killed his brother, but of his deep remorse and sense of
guilt we learn indirectly. He speaks of his mother: "She had two sons at rising day'/Tonight she'll be
alone." In the last verse too he refers to her waiting for him: "And long will stand the empty plate,"/
And dinner will be cold." This suggests that the narrator feels the mother’s painful grief and sense of
loss.
The poet makes us feel the great distress of mind the speaker suffers as a result of his crime. He
feels guilty, he feels remorse and he feels that he has forfeited the close warm relationship he has
had with his family (mother) and his community as a penance. This can be seen in the lines: "I come
home no more,'/'She had two sons at rising day,'/'Tonight she'll be alone.'
The 5th verse speaks of his close relationship to his friend and makes a moving reference to the
enjoyments of communal life. (Racing on the green at Lammastide.) All this warm, communal and
family life he now has to give up and the last verse with the repetition of the word 'long' conveys to
the reader how deeply painful it is to him. This poem is a literary ballad i.e. it is a poem written by an
individual poet in the style of a traditional ballad. Many ballad features can be seen in it: it deals with
strong human emotions (violent anger leading to killing and deep remorse); the story is not told
directly and simply from beginning to end, but rather the story and its emotional impact is indirectly
conveyed through the words of the speaker. And finally it uses the traditional short 4 lined ballad
stanza, rhyming ab, ab of abcb.