Rhyme of the

Dead Self
A.R.D Fairburn
What we'll discuss
Assessment objective 1: content
summary
Assessment objective 2: in-depth
analysis
Assessment objective 3: writer's
craft
Assessment objective 4: personal
response
Content Summary

Objective 1
So basically this poem is about someone reflecting on their
past self, lameting about the loss of a part of themself and
reflecting on how naieve they used to be. There is a certain
macabre nature to the poem as the reader sees a very crude
treatment of this past self, personified as a boy; helpless and
innocent. The themes here are of change, growth, how one
perceives themself and dark humour, with strokes of dark
romanticism embedded into it. It is like a darker twist on the
coming-of-age genre. There is also a variation of monomyth,
where this protagonist overcomes the ghost of his youth and
comes out transformed.
In-depth analysis &
Writer's Craft
Objective 2 & 3
The poem starts with a very firm footing, opening with "Tonight I have
taken all that I was/ and strangled him pale that lily white lad." which in
itself is powerful, but when coupled with the next verse, shows a certain
vigour with which not many poets dare start. The poet doesn't wait for
build-ups, he instead decided to dive straight in, also indicating that maybe
he has thought about this for a while, spent years mulling over his past. The
symbolism behind "white lily lad" is a picture of not just innocence and
naivety, but also of rebirth, tying in all the themes of the poem together and
also, ironically, relating both the poet's past self to his present. Another
rendition of this is that lilies also signify cowardice, and as we see later on,
the poet particularly despises that about himself, or his past self anyway.
As macabre as the poem sounds, it is supposed to shed light on the painful
process of erasing one's past self in order to grow, learning from the
mistakes of that innocent child and moving forward with life.
 I have choked him with these my hands these claws/catching him as
he lay a-dreaming in his bed. As we move forward the descriptions
become more gruesome, as the poet speaks of metaphorically
choking his past self with "claws". The use of the word "claws"
instead of just leaving it at hands and adding the alliteration also
indicates how one must violently kill themselves off in order to
move forward, also symbolising that ruthless and savage nature
of the poet compared to his softer, loving past self. The use of "he
lay a-dreaming in his bed" shows how life is so sudden in its
course and how anything can happen within just one moment.
This line also iterates the naivety and lack of retrospect of the
younger version of the poet and the phrase "catching him" again
makes it sound like a sudden moment of violence that changed
the trajectory of how the poet views himself from now on.
Then chuckling I dragged out his foolish brains/that were full of
pretty love-tales heigh-ho the holly. What strikes the reader most
here is how the poet "chuckles" as he scoops his brains out. The
tone of his voice during this transformation is almost maniacal as
we see him mock his past self, as he stares down at his
metaphorical dead self, about the childish nature of his past with
words like "foolish". The use of the children's rhymes as a crude
mimicry of childish innocence also shows that the poet has no
remorse for his past self and is unapologetic in his ruthlessness.
The so-called mistake of this past self seemed to be a simple,
human thing - love. From what the reader can infer, the poet is
now hardened by the realisation that love has been unfulfilling for
him, and we see this in the "heigh-ho the holly" line as it is a quote
from Shakespeare, an allusion more so of self- denigration.
 And emptied them holus bolus to the drains/those dreams of love oh
what ruinous folly. These two verses are a continuation of the ideas in
the previous two verses, the repetition of "dream" and "love" elude
more to the fact that this punishment was because of a failed attempt
at love in the past. The whole poem is aimed at creating a child-like,
nursery-rhyme esque vibe [??] which further mocks the poet's alter-ego
and tries to once and for all strip away all traces of his past self.
He is dead pale youth and he shall not rise/on the third day or any other
day There is more repetition of the phrase "pale youth", again showing
the bleak and tasteless death of the poet's younger self, stresses on the
youth part are also significant as it relates back to themes of the folly of
youth. The use of the biblical reference in "third day" takes us back to
the poet's roots, where 3 is supposedly a perfect number, signifying the
3 virtues of faith, or lack thereof here, as he seems to kill of all of that,
and the resurrection of his past self as well (biblical reference to Jesus).
It goes without saying that the poet seems to be making desperate
attempts to completely remove himself from the folly of his past self
and the line "on the third day or any other day" seems to sound like
another desperate attempt to convince himself that there will be no
connection between him and his past self anymore.
sloughed like a snakeskin there he lies/and he shall not trouble me again
for aye.
There is a tonal shift in these last two verses as the poet goes from his
mania episode of laughing over a figurative dead body to finally staring
down at it in thought - the silence after the storm - he personifies his
dead self as a "snakeskin", something he can just shed off and move
forward. The final verse is sort of like a full-stop, a final resolve to
never be worried by his past self. The poet feels as if he has finally been
freed of all traces of himself in the past. The sibilance here also creates
the effect of a snake finally being free from his old self.
Personal Response

Objective 4
To conclude, Rhyme of the Dead Self seems to be about a man who's
so haunted by a past relationship, or a past mistake that it has fully
consumed him and driven him to murder part of himself. In a way,
every single one of us has regrets and kills a part of themself in order
to grow into a person we more hope to be. Sometimes, even we can
be so maniacal that we want to murder some version of ourself. This
poem is just a representation of the thoughts people have, written
down. We may call him insane and cruel, but in reality every one of
us has someone in them that they'd like to forget or erase. There was
a lot that died with the poet's past self, and the poem thus goes to
show how much we have to give up to get to be the people we want
to be -or the people we want to show others- either way, there is no
way to grow without killing off the weeds. However, maybe things
would have been different if he had the heart to heal rather than
destroy. His violence could have gone towards understanding,
because in the process of killing himself off, he killed not only his
sanity as well, but also the good things about him (like the virtues if
we interpret it that way). There is no way of winning against
yourself, and that itself is the irony of man. We always end up losing
something, and sometimes, no matter what we gain, our losses
outweigh the positives; to lose a part of yourself over a mistake
seems like the poet, without realising it, has lost way more than this
temporary peace of mind can give him.