Elegy For My Father’s Father – James K. Baxter

Context (Encyclopedia Britannica)

James K. Baxter, in full James Keir Baxter, (born June 29, 1926, Dunedin, N.Z.—died Oct. 22, 1972, Auckland), poet whose mastery of versification and striking imagery made him one of New Zealand’s major modern poets.

Educated in New Zealand and England, he first published Beyond the Palisade (1944), which displayed youthful promise. Blow, Wind of Fruitfulness (1948), superficially a less attractive collection, was more profound. Recent Trends in New Zealand Poetry (1951) was his first critical work, its judgements revealing a maturity beyond his years. Later verse collections include The Fallen House(1953), the satirical Iron Breadboard (1957), Pig Island Letters (1966), Jerusalem Sonnets (1970), and Autumn Testament (1972). He also published Aspects of Poetry in New Zealand (1967). Baxter’s Collected Poems was first published in 1979 and his Collected Plays in 1982.

Further reading:

Poetry Foundation

NZ History

Te Ara

Poem

He knew in the hour he died
That his heart had never spoken
In eighty years of days.
O for the tall tower broken
Memorial is denied:
And the unchanging cairn
The pipes could set ablaze
An aaronsrod and blossom.
They stood by the graveside
From his bitter veins born
And mourned him in their fashion
A chain of sods a day
He could slice and build
High as the head of a man
And a flowering cherry tree
On his walking shoulder held
Under the lion sun.
When he was old and blind
He sat in a curved chair
All day by the kitchen fire.
Many hours he had seen
The stars in their drunken dancing
Through the burning-glass of his mind
And sober knew the green
Boughs of heaven folding
The winter world in their hand.
The pride of his heart was dumb.
He knew in the hour he died
That his heart had never spoken
In song or bridal bed.
And the naked thought fell back
To a house by the waterside
And the leaves the wind had shaken
Then for a child’s sake:
To the waves all night awake
With the dark mouths of the dead.
The tongues of water spoke
And his heart was unafraid.

cairn- a mound of rough stones built as a memorial or landmark, typically on a hilltop or skyline

pipes-bagpipes
sods-the surface of the ground, with the grass growing on it, turf
Aaron’s rod-Refers to any of the staves carried by Moses’s brother, Aaron, in the Torah. In the culture of the Israelites, the rod was a natural symbol of authority, as the tool used by a shepherd to correct and guide his flock.
burning-glass-A lens for concentrating the sun’s rays onto an object so as to set fire to it.

Burning glass

dumb-Temporarily unable or unwilling to speak
Boughs-The main branch of a tree
naked-(of an object): without the usual covering or protection
sober-Serious, sensible, and solemn

Analysis

The poem is an elegy for the poet’s paternal grandfather, in which the poet recalls his grandfather’s life and describes his grave in a morbid fashion. We often sense the poet’s resentment towards the fact that his grandfather was a taciturn man, yet throughout the poem we see that the poet admires his grandfather’s love towards nature as well as his resignation towards the inevitability of death. Throughout the poem, there is a sense of distance as the poet constantly refers to his grandfather using the personal pronoun, ‘he’, as well as the title of the poem which describes it as an elegy for my ‘Father’s father’.

He knew in the hour he died
That his heart had never spoken
In eighty years of days.

The poet’s grandfather had lived a long life of eighty years, which the poet further emphasises through the usage of  ‘eighty years of days’ instead of weeks or months. He only realises the fact that he had maintained his taciturn nature right up to his deathbed, during the ‘hour he died’, which hints at the fact that his death was drawn out.

O for the tall tower broken
Memorial is denied:

The poet seemingly uses ‘tall tower’ as a metaphor for his grandfather’s life, which is abruptly ended. He hints at the fact that what could have been a memorial to his grandfather’s long life is denied, simply because his grandfather tended to keep his feelings to himself.

And the unchanging cairn
The pipes could set ablaze
An aaronsrod and blossom.

The poet soon changes the subject of the poem to highlight the transience of human life with the suggestion that although human memories never survive, nature itself remains unchanged throughout the course of time. For example, the mound of stones will never disappear from the face of the earth. The bagpipes played at his funeral seemed to move even the unchanging cairn, with the aaronsrod symbolising his grandfather’s status as the patriarch of the family, with the blossoming flowers acting as his eternal memorial.

They stood by the graveside
From his bitter veins born
And mourned him in their fashion

These few lines are the most ambiguous of the entire poem. On one hand, we could infer that the blossoming flowers grew from his ‘bitter veins’, serving as a memorial to his long life.

Yet it is more likely that these lines refer to his kin, who mourned him in their respective manner. However, it is clear that his family members do not really know him and that his grandfather kept a lot of his emotions bottled up inside him, hence the ‘bitter veins’

A chain of sods a day
He could slice and build
High as the head of a man
And a flowering cherry tree
On his walking shoulder held
Under the lion sun.

The poet then turns to describe his grandfather in his prime. It is clear that his grandfather loved gardening and being in contact with nature. We can also infer that his grandfather had been a strong man who was not afraid of life’s difficulties, carrying a cherry tree under the unforgiving sun.

When he was old and blind
He sat in a curved chair
All day by the kitchen fire.
Many hours he had seen
The stars in their drunken dancing
Through the burning-glass of his mind
And sober knew the green
Boughs of heaven folding
The winter world in their hand.

The poet then returns to tell his grandfather’s life in his eventual decline. We see the remnants of a strong patriarchal figure, who grows old and is blinded. He becomes a passive figure, sitting by the kitchen fire throughout the day. Yet his mind isn’t idle, being drawn back to the days where he had seen the beauty of the stars in the night sky. (Some argue that the usage of drunken and sober suggests that the poet’s grandfather had loved to drink, which is comprehensible) He could picture the changing of the seasons , which further highlights the fact that our lives are transient, and like the seasons, will come and go. ‘Green bough of heavens’ also suggests the presence of Aurora Australis, enveloping the winterland in its ‘boughs’ (Thanks Hattan!)

The pride of his heart was dumb.
He knew in the hour he died
That his heart had never spoken
In song or bridal bed.

Despite being proud, he had never shown any arrogance towards his family members, and he had accepted the fact that so many grievances and thoughts would remain unspoken. We get the sense that his grandfather was indeed a serious individual, who shielded his thoughts even from his wife.

And the naked thought fell back
To a house by the waterside
And the leaves the wind had shaken
Then for a child’s sake:
To the waves all night awake
With the dark mouths of the dead.
The tongues of water spoke
And his heart was unafraid.

As the poet’s grandfather lies dying, his mind wanders, back to a ‘house by the waterside’, perhaps referring to his ancestral home. The leaves the wind had shaken further highlight the impermanence of all forms of life. His thoughts become childlike, as he recalls the tales regarding the waves of the sea that are in constant motion. He recalls the tales of how the sea can claim the lives of many, hence the ‘dark mouths of the dead‘. Yet as he recalls these tales upon his deathbed, as water itself spoke to him, he was resigned to fate, understanding that death is a natural part of life.

Literary Devices

Repetition

He knew in the hour he died
That his heart had never spoken

Emphasises the fact that his grandfather only realised in the moment of passing that he had never spoken from his heart, throughout his long life.

Personification

his heart had never spoken

Personifies the heart to emphasise the fact that he had never let his inner thoughts show.

The stars in their drunken dancing

The sparkle of the stars at night make them look as if they’re dancing.

Boughs of heaven folding
The winter world in their hand

The changing of the seasons seems to exude a hidden beauty in the mind of his grandfather. Spring (green boughs) seem to be heaven-like by hastening the departure of winter.

The tongues of water spoke

Upon his deathbed, the waves seem to speak to him, becoming a soothing presence instead of a terrifying one.

Alliteration

tall tower

Exaggerates the length of his life.

father’s father

Highlights the distance between the poet and his grandfather.

Pathos

When he was old and blind

Makes us pity the decline of the strong, proud grandfather.

Pathetic fallacy (attributes human qualities and emotions to inanimate objects of nature)

And mourned him in their fashion

Highlights the fact that only the flowers remain to mourn his death (Only if you deem the word ‘They’ to be referring to the flowers instead of his family members)