Model Answer on the Poem Barn Stack and Tree

‘Actions caused by sudden anger result in disastrous consequences’. Explain with examples from the poem ‘Farewell to barn, stack and tree’. (an answer to the question 01 of the model paper). As in many traditional ballads, this poem tells a story of a conflict resulting in violent death, a consequence of sudden anger caused by a triangular romantic relationship involving the speaker, his brother Maurice and an unknown lady. The young man confesses to the narrator that he has killed his brother. Curiously, we are not told the reason. Instead, the poet has focused his interest on the young man’s state of mind. It is clear though, that the young man has acted out of sudden anger, or, to use legal terminology, sudden provocation. This is because he begins to regret his act immediately after the murder. His state of mind is given to us through the words of the young man. In fact, the whole poem is about this young murderer’s farewell to a friend named Terrence who, in turn, tells the story to us. The young man seems to have understood the disastrous consequences of his terrible act, now that he has come back to the normalty. We can see that he is suffering from a deep sense of guilt. This can be seen from the stanza 4: And here’s a blody hand to shake My bloody hand and I The repetition of “bloody hands” suggests his deep sense of guilt and regret. He is also aware that the terrible act he has committed will force him to leave his family and the loved ones behind. We can see this in the 1 st stanza when he says: Terrence look your last at me For I come home no more. In the second verse, the narrator begins to feel another disastrous consequence of his hasty action: The pain and grief caused to the others, especially to his mother. Speaking of his mother he says: She had two sons at rising day Tonight she’ll be alone. In the last verse too, the narrator feels his mother’s painful grief and the sense of loss when he says: “And long will stand the empty plate/”And dinner will be cold”. He also has forfieted the warmth of friendship and the communal life as a result of his henious crime. For example, the 5th stanza makes a moving reference to the enjoyments of communal life such as “Racing on the green at Lammastide”. The repetition of the wordf “longf” in the last verse also conveys to the reader how deeply painful it is to him. In this way, the poet makes us feel the great distress of his mind and the awareness of the enormity of his crime through the pointed references he makes to his mother and his

victim. He strongly feels that he has forfeited the close warm relationship he has had with his family and his friends as a penalty. As the story is told to us by a third party who just conveys the story to us objectively without any comments or moralizing, we feel all the more the dire consequences of the murder committed by the speaker whose action was triggered by sudden anger. Repetition and the dramatic quality imparted by the use of dialogue form which are typical of ballads contribute to the powerful impact made by this ballad on the listner or the reader.