Farwell To Barn and Stack and Tree

Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree
Poem
“Farewell to barn and stack and tree,

Farewell to Severn shore.
Terence, look your last at me,
For I come home no more.”
“The sun burns on the half-mown hill,

By now the blood is dried;
And Maurice amongst the hay lies still
And my knife is in his side.”
“My mother thinks us long away;

‘Tis time the field were mown.
She had two sons at rising day,
To-night she’ll be alone.”
“And here’s a bloody hand to shake,

And oh, man, here’s good-bye;
We’ll sweat no more on scythe and rake,
My bloody hands and I.”
“I wish you strength to bring you pride,

And a love to keep you clean,
And I wish you luck, come Lammastide,
At racing on the green.”
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“Long for me the rick will wait,
And long will wait the fold,
And long will stand the empty plate,
And dinner will be cold.”
Paraphrase –
 “Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree” Paraphrase

o "Goodbye to the barns and the haystacks and the trees; goodbye to the banks of
the River Severn. Terence, take a good last look at me, for I won't be coming home any
more.
"The sun shines hot on the half-mowed hill; by now, the blood will have dried. Maurice
lies dead in the hay with my knife in his body.
"My mother thinks we're far away; by this hour, we should have finished mowing the
field. This morning, she had two sons, but by tonight, she won't have any.
"Shake my bloodied hand; goodbye, my friend. I won't be using these bloody hands to
mow hay any more.
"My friend, I wish you a strength that will make you proud, and a love that will make you
virtuous. And when the harvest festival comes around in August, I wish you luck in the
races.
"The haystacks and the sheep pens will wait for me a long, long time. My dinner plate
will sit there empty, and the food will go cold."
A.E. Housman was a popular poet and was born in 1859 in Worcestershire England. He began
his life as a clerk in the patent office for eleven years. Meanwhile Housman was making his
name in the field of textual criticism by being engaged in some serious study works and research
in the British museum. In 1896 he published A Shropshire Lad a compilation of his poetry
collection consisting of his sixty-three poems. In 1911 he became the professor of Latin in
Cambridge and a fellow of Trinity College. In 1936 he passed away in a nursing home in his
sleep.
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In this poem A.E. Housman uses traditional ballad style. A ballad is a narrative poem which tells
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.
Features of a Ballad:
Ballad
 A ballad is a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas in a simple, rhythmic

language.
 Ballads tend to be narrative poems that tell stories, as opposed to lyric poems, which
emphasize the emotions of the speaker.
 Ballads tell us about the time when they were written.
Characteristics of Ballad:
 Ballad is a short story in a verse.

 It has a universal appeal.
 Use of colloquial language.
 Ballad has an abrupt and unexpected opening.
 There are no extra details.
 Dialogue is an important element of a ballad.

 Use of ballad stanza.
 Use of supernatural elements.
Types of Ballads
1. Literary ballad
2. Traditional or folk ballad
3. Broadside ballad
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1.Literary ballad
 Literary ballad is an imitation of folk ballad.

 The only difference between the two ballads is the authorship.
 The author of folk ballad may be an unknown personality or a common man.
 Samuel Coleridge, Wordsworth and John Keats are well known poets of ballad.
 John Keat’s “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” is a remarkable ballad of English language.

2.Traditional or folk ballad
 This type of ballad was developed by anonymous poets in ancient times and handed
down to the next generations.
 It has no written form.

 It is a verbal form of poetry.
 We can find changes in this type of ballad during the course of time due to altering
circumstances and conditions.

3.Broadside ballad
 A broadside is a large sheet of paper printed on one side only.
 The broadside ballad refers to ballads which were sold on the streets and at county fairs
in Britain from the 16th to 20th centuries.
 They were sung to well-known tunes and often dealt with current events, issues or
scandals.
 The equivalent of contemporary tabloid papers.
How to Recognize a Ballad:
 A ballad must be a narrative.

 Impersonal in tone.
 Written in stanza of four lines in which the first and third consist of 8 syllables each and
the second and fourth consist of 6 syllable each.
Structure of Ballad
A ballad has the following structure.
 ABCB or ABAB rhyme scheme is maintained

 It generally takes the form of quatrain form or four-lined stanzas.
 The first and third lines are written in iambic tetrameter.
 The second and fourth lines are in the trimeter.
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 Narrative poetic form.
 On some occasions it is sung as a song
Overview
Narrator – Terrance (in reported speech)
setting – pastoral
structure – ballad form
Rhyme scheme – ABAB
Tone – nostalgic, remorseful
Theme – sudden impulse brings grief and regret
Deep-end analysis of the poem
For I come home no more.
anaphora – farewell (delaying his farewell, he is not willing to leave but has to)
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anastrophe – look your last at me (inversion of natural order of words, suggesting his hesitation
or confusion)
assonance – for I come home no more (emphasizes about his departure)
enjambment – run on line (forces reader to go through the lines to know what happens next;
increases pace and suspense in the poem)
alliteration – seven shore
farewell (good bye in old English) bidding goodbye to inanimate objects suggests that he avoids
human contacts and they have a close connection to his life.
Severn – is the largest river in UK
In the beginning the reader is shown a farewell speech of a speaker whose words are directly
presented in direct speech form. He bids farewell to inanimate objects and places: which must
have bene very close to his life. His intention of not returning is clearly shown by his repetitive
utterances. The reader may feel sympathetic towards him and curious to know what really has
happened. His hesitation is an implication that he has made the decision without his will. His
friend Terence seems to be a closer friend of him as he bids farewell to him in an intimate way.
And my knife is in his side.
tactile imagery: sun burns on the half mown hill (reader feels the heat of the sun which dried the
blood)
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visual imagery: blood is dried/Maurice lies still among the hay/knife in his side
personification – sun burns (it too has word play, if we put son instead of sun, it implies the
suffer and grief of the brother who killed his brother)
metaphor – sun burns (in metaphorical level sun burns means the midday)
symbol – half mown hill, blood (half mown suggests that the boys have completed only a part of
their lives, one is dead by now and other has ruined his life, blood is a symbol to death)
euphemism – Maurice amongst the hay lies still / my knife is in his side (The effect of death and
killing is reduced to imply that the brother has committed the crime unintentionally, he repents
over his work). Instead of sayingm “I killed Maurice by stabbing him in the side” a less severe
phrase is used.
anastrophe – Maurice amongst the hay lies still. (shows his reluctance to reveal his crime)
anaphora – and (shows urgency)
enjambment – 3rd and 4th line (forces reader to read the next line quickly to resolve a problem)
here reader finds out who killed Maurice.
alliteration – half mown hill
possessive pronoun – my (shows that he admits his crime)
Second stanza half - reveals the secret behind his departure. He has murdered a person called
Maurice and he confesses that he is the murderer. The time and place of death is hinted as
somewhere before noon as now the blood is dried and the hill is half mown. His hesitation and
the way he reveals the death of Maurice suggests that he has not planned this crime. The reader
is kept at the edge of seats to know more about the incident.
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To-night she’ll be alone.
dramatic irony – my mother thinks us long away. (The reader and the narrator know what has
really happened but mother does not know about the tragedy)
word pun – son (sun; son can be replaced with the word sun that gives a sense too, mother had
two suns to enlighten her life but after this incident her life is going to be filled with darkness)
symbol – night (night is a symbol for hardships or danger)
juxtaposition – they were to mow the lawn but one killed the other. /she had two sons at rising
day, to-night she’ll be alone
subjunctive – were (shows the inability or improbability of something to happen)
metaphor – rising day (refers to the morning)
Possessive Pronoun – my (Possessive nature is shown by possessive pronoun; this might be the
actual cause for his sudden impulse to kill his brother)
Third stanza further reveals about the relationship between the victim and the culprit. He is his
own brother! (Killing a brother is called a fratricide.) Mother is yet unaware of the plight of any
of her sons. The mother’s uncertain future is brought out as she has lost both her sons. His
concern and grief about the plight of mother is also revealed.
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My bloody hands and I.
metaphor – bloody hand means his guilty conscious (He introduces his hands are stained with
death; his crime)
imagery – bloody hand
commas and pauses – shows that he is getting emotional.
His remorse is clearly visible in his confession saying his hands are blood soaked and admitting
that he can never go back to his previous life. He is repenting over his actions which resulted him
to lose his way of life forever.
And love to keep you clean,
At racing on the green.
anaphora – and (increases the pace of the poem, the narrator wants to finish the story quickly)
juxtaposition – bring you pride/ love to keep you clean (he contrasts his stained life with his
hope his friend to have a clean life)
symbol – green (green symbolizes better life)
Lammastide – a holiday celebrated on August 1st to mark the wheat harvest
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His concern for his friend to have a better future sharply contrasts with his lost future. Because of
his crime, he can never be clean nor proud. His future intention to meet his friend in Lammastide
is hinted here showing the intimate friendship they share. He will never have a clean love.
Probably, the love he had with a girl was unfaithful because the girl may have promised love to
Maurice too. So it was an unfaithful and unclean love.
anaphora – and long, and (emphasizes his grief and his reluctance to leave the place where he
grew and familiar to)
imagery – empty plate
symbol – empty plate (suggests his uncertain or empty life in the future)
the simple future form will – has a positive remark that one day he hopes to come back home
His nostalgic and remorseful feeling is clearly visible by his worry to leave his familiar places
and farm. He craves for the lost- warmth of the family and worries about what might happen next
in his home. However, this provides an anticlimax to the tragedy where the culprit understands
the depth of his crime. Therefore, this poem is in a way an eye-opener of the reader to think
before act.
In the first lines of this poem, the speaker tells his listener, Terence, that he has to leave. He’s
going away because, as the second stanza drastically reveals, he killed his brother Maurice. The
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next stanzas of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ don’t provide a reason for this action, but
do meditate on the present and future. Housman’s speaker is leaving behind his mother, the farm,
and everything on it. He knows his life is never going to be the same again.
Stanza One
Line One
● Farewell means good bye.

● The narrator bids farewell to three inanimate objects. Note negativity associated
with the numerological symbol of number three.
● It is questionable why the narrator bids farewell to inanimate objects, but not to
the people associated with them. It figuratively reveals how he cuts himself off
from the rest of human civilization.
● The statement further depicts the connection of the speaker to his familiar
surrounding.
● The phrase, “barn and stack and tree” is an enumeration/list. Since the listing is
done using coordinating conjunctions, it can be classified as a syndeton too.
● Syndeton is a rhetorical term for a sentence style in which words, phrases, or

clauses are joined by conjunctions (usually and). A construction that uses many
conjunctions is called polysyndetic. Writers use syndeton when they want to make
a list and keep it as direct as possible. When they choose not to use it, it’s usually
for stylistic purposes. If a series of words or phrases are linked without
conjunction, they may want to make it feel more dramatic or drawn out. If
conjunctions are used between every word or phrase, they might want the list to
feel long and repetitive. These are not characteristics that every writer is going to
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want every list to have. Therefore, syndeton is commonly used and easily found
within all literary genres and forms.
Line Two
● The narrator continues to say good bye to inanimate objects. This time he says it
to “Severn shore,” the land bordering the River Severn in England.
● The name of the river adds a specific geographical setting to the poem.
● The repetition of the first word “farewell” in consecutive lines can be identified as
anaphora. It adds emphasis to the deeper emotions associated with the departure
of the speaker.
Line Three
● Terence is a friend who happens to meet the narrator. Terence is told the tragic
incident that has taken place by the speaker, which is re-told in direct speech to
the reader.
● The comma (,) in the middle that disturbs the flow of the line is called a caesura.
The brief pause it adds effectively mixes a solemnly melancholic tone to the
poem. It also indicates that something violent/shocking will be mentioned later.
● We usually say, “look at me for the last time.” However, the the regular
syntax/structure is inverted by the narrator. The technique is classified as an
anastrophe.
● In the usual syntax, the emphasis is added to “time,” whereas in the version
spoken by the speaker emphasis is placed on “me.”
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Line Four
● For is a synonym for because.

● The diction of the speaker is peculiar and it adds pathos/evoking pity and sadness
to the overall tone. Note the assonance of “O” sounds produced when the words
are enunciated/pronounced. It makes the poem mournful.
● The repetition of the ending consonants in “come,” and “home” is a consonance.
Book of Genesis
Cain and Abel were the two sons of Adam and Eve, the first human beings, according to the
biblical narrative. Abel was a shepherd, and Cain was a farmer. Both brothers brought offerings
to God, but God favoured Abel’s offering of the best of his flock. In contrast, God did not favour
Cain’s offering of the fruits of the ground which were spoilt.
Feeling jealous and angry, Cain lured Abel into a field and killed him out of resentment. God
confronted Cain about his actions, asking him about Abel’s whereabouts. In response, Cain
famously replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God then pronounced a curse on Cain for
murdering his brother, making him a wanderer on earth, and placing a mark on him to protect
him from harm.
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The story of Cain and Abel serves as a cautionary tale about the consequences of envy,
disobedience, and violence. It illustrates themes of sin, guilt, and the importance of moral
responsibility.
Why Genesis?
In an alternative reading, the story of the fratricide is an allusion to the story of Abel and Cain.
Maurice, the diseased brother, the pastoral setting, the love that divides the two brothers, and the
wandering off of the murderer are all parallels to the story of Cain and Abel. Even though the
Book of Genesis provides an omniscient third-person point of view that is not entirely
transparent, the poem presents the first-hand experience of the one who is guilty of killing his
brother. While the biblical version abruptly vilifies the accused, Housman provides an emotional
and poignant account of the confession of the convict.
Stanza Two
Line One
“The sun burns on the half-mown hill,”
● This line figuratively describes the time. The burning sun on the hill is a creative
way to say its after noon.
● The sun is personified in the line as it performs the action of burning.
● “half-mown” is a neologism/ a newly-coined/created word/phrase. It indicates an
incomplete action that symbolises the incomplete lives of both the convict and the
victim.
Line Two
“By now the blood is dried;”
● “blood” is a symbol that reveals upcoming tragedy.

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● Even though it is evident that an accident has happened, the dried blood does not
immediately indicate any sign of a murder.
● The euphemistic opening of the confession indicates the hesitation of the speaker
to reveal what happened.
Line Three
“And Maurice amongst the hay lies still”
● The coordination conjunction reveals that the blood is connected to Maurice.

● Amongst is a dated synonym for the preposition, among
● Maurice is dead, but the narrator does not directly reveal it. The literary device
here is called ‘euphemism.’
● Note the similarity between Maurice and hay. Both are not alive and were cut and
stabbed.
● The word order of the line is inverted. The common syntax should be “And
Maurice lies still amongst hay.” However, the narrator brings the motionlessness
of Maurice to the end of the line, adding emphasis to it.
Line Four
“And my knife is in his side.”
● The speaker euphemistically says that he has stabbed Maurice to death.

● The coordinating conjunction repeats in the consecutive lines, producing an
anaphora. It adds emphasis to the emotional trauma of the speaker.
● The possessive pronoun immediately makes the speaker responsible for the
murder of Maurice.
Stanza Three
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Line One
“My mother thinks us long away;”
● Mother is the fourth character in the poem. (Maurice, his brother who killed him,
Terence, to whom the story is told, and the mother)
● This line reveals for the 1st time that the speaker and Maurice are brothers
because their mother is the same. This is why we earlier introduced the murder as
a fratricide.
● The mother can be identified as a victim as she will have to face the society in the
absence of her two sons.
● Note that there is no mention of a father in the poem.
Line Two
“‘Tis time the field were mown.”
● ‘Tis, is an apheresis; which is a version of an elision/removal where a syllable is

removed from the beginning of a word.
● Time and the transience associated with it are themes present in the overall poem.
● The field is singular, and the verb associated with it is plural. This grammatical
construction is called the subjunctive mood. It is used to indicate hypothetical
ideas that are not achievable in the immediate present.
Line Three/Four

● “she” is a reference to the mother.

● The simple past tense indicates that the mother has lost both her sons because one
is murdered and the other is fleeing.
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● “rising day” is another way to say morning. The use of circumlocutory language
can be identified as a periphrasis/use of an indirect phrase.
● Circumlocutory - using many words where fewer would do, especially in
a deliberate attempt to be vague or evasive; long-winded.
● The final line highlights the isolation of the mother as a result of the actions of her
children.
Stanza Four
Line One
“And here’s a bloody hand to shake,”
● The coordinating conjunction connects the stanza to the previous one. Thus, it
further explains the isolation of the mother, which is connected to the departure of
the speaker.
● The speaker extends his hand towards Terence to bid farewell to him. Note that he
never left, even though he had already said good-bye several times. The speaker’s
hesitation to leave further sheds light on his attachment to the surrounding.
● Shaking hands is a spontaneous/sudden greeting, and one does not announce it
prior to the action. This indicates the broken esteem of the speaker and his fear of
being rejected by others—in this case, by Terence.
● “bloody hands” refers to hands that are covered by blood. His awareness of the
blood in his hands figuratively reveals his acknowledgement of his sin.
● “hand” functions as a synecdoche in the line. A part of the speaker’s body is
introduced separately, as he does not prefer to call it his own. Therefore, his
repulsive/disgusted attitude figuratively reveals that the murder was a reflex, a
sudden and involuntary response to stimuli.
Line Two
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“And oh, man, here’s good-bye;”
● The repetition of the coordinating conjunction “And” functions as an anaphora,

and it continues to indicate the emotional trauma of the narrator.
● “oh” is an interjection that contributes to enhance the woe of the narrator.
● Note the commas that continue to disturb the reading pace; the technique is called
caesura and it is used to indicate the dejection of the speaker.
● He keeps saying good-bye and does not seem to actually go anywhere. It is a clear
indication of his hesitation as well as his sadness to leave what he loves.
Line Three
“We’ll sweat no more on scythe and rake,”
● The pronoun “We” refers to the narrator and Maurice. The line further indicates
the remorse of the former.
● “sweat” figuratively refers to work.
● Note the diction and syntax that contribute to produce an assonance of “o” sounds.
The repetitive “o” sounds throughout the entire poem indicate the sadness of the
narrator.
● “scythe” functions as a symbol of death/farm life.
Line Four
“My bloody hands and I.”
● Bloody hands refer to hands covered by blood. The blood on his hands continues
to remind the reader of the sin committed by the narrator.
● The narrator’s awareness of his wrongdoing indicates guilt and regret.
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● A synecdoche is used as the hands of the narrator are separated from him. This
again reminds the reader that the murder is not a premeditated crime but a
reflexive response.
In the final stanza, the speaker reveals that he will no longer be there to enjoy work in the farm
or to enjoy dinner. The empty plate symbolizes how empty his life is going to be now without his
mother, brother, friend – Terence, the community at Severn Shore and his daily lifestyle.
Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree – Further Analysis
Housman’s poetry is noted for its simplicity, elegance and melancholic themes and is
characterized by its use of traditional form and nostalgic tones.
He wrote about themes of youthful innocence, lost love and death and his words are widely
regarded as some of the finest examples of the late Victorian and early Modern period of poetry.
His themes include:
1. Pastoral beauty
2. patriotism
3. youth
4. death
5. love
6. grief
7. loss
This poem appears in his collection of poetry – A Shropshire Lad which is a collection of 63
poems published in 1896. It was originally titled, “The Poems of Terrence Hearsay”.
Terrence is a fictional character who lives on a farm in rural Shropshire.
In the poem, Terence is repeating the words of the speaker’s confesison.
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Terence is often seen as a symbol of the young carefree spirit of youth, and his name appears in
many of Houseman’s poems as a way of evoking youth, innocence and optimism.
In this poem, Terence is the one repeating the speaker’s confession.
Features of a ballad - a ballad is a poem that tells a story - Mostly used characteristics or features
of a ballad are mentioned below:
Ballad Poem Definition
The word ‘Ballad’ has been derived from the French word ‘Ballare’ meaning ‘to dance’.
Fundamentally, “a ballad is a poem that tells a fairly simple story” (narrative). Thus a story is
what a ballad tries to convey. Ballads are often used in songs & have a musical quality in them.
How Many Stanzas in a Ballad?
Ballad Stanza, the most famous type of ballad has four stanzas. The basic form of the ballad is
iambic heptameter (seven sets of unstressed & stressed syllables per line), in sets of four with the
second & fourth line rhyming. The rhyme scheme of the ballad is usually abab or aabb.
13 Characteristics of a Ballad
● It is a song that tells a story.
● The beginning is often surprising.

● Its language is simple.
● It concentrates on a single episode.
● The theme is often tragic & sad.

● The story is told through dialogue & action.
● It lacks specific detail.
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● It has a surprising ending.
● It includes some sort of repeated lines.
● It is rarely moral.
● It has 4-line stanzas, the first & third lines have four stresses & fourth line has
three stresses.
● It has an orientation, complication & resolution.
● It can have a question & answer format. One stanza presents the question & the
next stanza answers the question.
Language in Ballad
● It includes language that focuses on actions & dialogues.
● It includes language that indirectly conveys information about the characters,
relationships.
● It is often written in third or first person.
● Generally, abac, aabb, abbc is ballad rhyme scheme.
● It has a regular beat structure.
● It is often written in complete sentences
○ It includes language that conveys a particular mood.

● 2 Types of Ballad
○ Folk Ballads
○ Folk ballads were originally composed by anonymous singers & were passed
down orally from generation to generation before they were written down. The
English Folk Ballads we read today took their present form probably in the 15th
century.
Literary Ballads are the imitation of the ballad. The difference between the traditional ballad &
the literary ballad is that the authors of Traditional Ballads are unknown whereas Literary ballads
are composed & written down by known poets usually in the style of folk ballads.
● Famous Ballad Poems
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● La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats
● Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth
● The Ancient Mariner by ST Coleridge
In this ballad, very stanza is given within quotation marks. Even though Terence is repeating the
confession, the words are that of the speaker who kills his own brother, Maurice.
The speaker says goodbye to his familiar agricultural surrounding.
Barn is a large building on a farm. Barns are used to store the harvest and to keep animals.
He says goodbye to stack - pile of hay and tree.

He says goodbye to his village - Severn Shore which is situated close to the River Severn - the
longest river in England.
Terence is a close friend of the speaker.
“Terence, look your last at me

I am not going to return to my village.

Begins with an act of goodbye.
This is a surprise beginning which is a quite common balladic feature.

In the 2nd stanza, the reader is able to understand the reason why the speaker is trying to leave
the village forever.
The sun burns on the half-mown hill - this gives an idea about the time of the poem -
noon/afternoon now.
Half mown hill - the hill has been mown partially.
By now the blood is dried - the reader can identify something terrible has happened. Blood
represents violence.
We understand the act is a murder - and Maurice amongst the hay lies still.
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The poet has changed the word order to keep the rhyme scheme - inversion.
Maurice is the speaker’s own brother.

This line suggests that Maurice was killed by his own borther - the speaker in the poem.
He has stabbed Maurice to death - a heinous/horrible crime
3rd stanza - Mother - Small family - mother and 2 sons.

Mother is waiting for both of her sons to return after working in the fields.
Mother thinks it is taking long for them to return.
They had enough time to complete the task of mowing the field - tis time the field was mown.
Tonight she will be alone. This is the sad plight/unfortunate situation of this mother because she
is going to be alone by herself - one son is killed and the other one is going to leave the village
forever.
4th stanza - the speaker says goodbye to his friend.

Bloody hand - weapon used to commit murder.
They suggest the guilty feelings/guilty consciousness of the speaker because he committed a
crime.
Bloody hand to shake
Oh man here’s goodbye
“Oh” suggests frustration

Again he says goodbye
We’ll sweat no more on scythe and rake

My bloody hands and I
Speaker and his hands - hands covered with blood
We are not going to work hard on the field with our labour, hands and with these tools anymore.
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In this stanza we get a clue as to why he killed Maurice -
I wish you strength to bring you price - he lost his own pride by killing his own brother
And a love to keep you clean- maybe both brothers loved the same woman - maybe they got to
know that while working and the speaker stabbed his own brother.
So he wants his friend Terence to find a love to keep him clean and out of trouble - he wishes
him to find a faithful lover.
He wishes him good luck.
Lammastide - festival celebrated in August. Lamma - August- celebrated in the 1st week of
August.
Unmarried men and women can socialize and find partners.
They can mingle with others.
At racing at the green - green -symbol for nature, prosperity and harvest time. This suggests the
agricultural setting of the poem.
He also remembers the things he is going to miss when he leaves the village.
Rick is a stack of hay in the open air.
He seems to be addressing an animate thing. That is personification. The rick will “wait”.
His flock of sheep is going to wait for him.
His plate is going to be empty so is his life. Not just his, but his mother’s too. The mother has
lost both sons. One is dead the other is going to leave the village forever. Dinner will be cold. He
is not returning home tonight and his dinner will be cold. Here “cold” can suggest the distant
relationship between the mother and the son - it will be a strained one now because of the
heinous crime.
Themes -
1. This is about a fratricide - killing one’s own brother – the speaker kills his own brother
probably because of a love triangle.
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2. The poem is about sudden anger and its devastating results. The speaker kills his own
brother due to sudden anger and sudden impulse - it is not a premeditated murder,
because of this anger, the other brother lost his life.
3. It’s about loss of life and how Maurice could not fully spend his life an it is symbolized
by the phrase - half mown hill
4. Broken relationships - the relationship between the two brothers is broken and also the
relationship with the mother too because of the murder and he is going to lose his close
friend Terrence too because he says goodbye to him - he is not going to communicate or
keep the relationship with his friend.
5. Domestic conflict and its effect on the family - it happened within the family. The
members were the 2 brothers and the mother - because of the conflict the whole family
faced a tragedy.
6. This poem is also about the mindset of a murderer - the speaker - he experiences a sense
of deep regret and loss. The phrases my bloody hands and I - repeated phrase - bloody
hands- shows his guilty consciousness for killing his own brother.
7. Impact of a confession - the whole poem is a confession.
Techniques -
Balladic form - you can find a story about the brother who kills his own brother Maurice. It has a
surprise beginning - the story is given in a narrative form - simple language is used and the story
is tragic. These are the features of a ballad.
This is a relatively simple and short ballad.
Agricultural setting - barn, stack,. Tree, half-mown hill, lammastide, hill,
Anaphora - repetition of some words at the start of consecutive lines - anaphora - stanza is
repeated, the word “and” is repeated.
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The writer is unable to articulate/express his feelings, express his emotions because he is in a
confused state of mind after killing his own brother.
Anastrophe - change of the word order - and Maurice among the hay lies still has been written
instead of Maurice lies still; amongst the hay - to keep the rhyme scheme.
Alliteration - Severn shore, look your last
Assonance - home, no more - o sound - sighing moaning sound
Consonance - blood is dried - d sound
Maurice amongst the hay lies still – s sound has been repeated
His side - s sound
Dramatic irony - situations in a piece of literature where the audience or reader is aware of what
has happened or what will happen. the characters are unaware of the particular situation. The
mother’s character is completely unaware or oblivion to the fact that her two sons are not going
to return. By this time, the reader knows that.
Visual imagery - blood is dried, bloody hand, my bloody hand and I creates a scary picture of a
crime scene - bloodshed/ a disturbing picture of the dead brother, Maurice.
Symbols - barn, tree, scythe, rake, Lammastide, rick, fold, - symbolize an agricultural
background
half mown hill -the half-spent lives of the brothers.
Empty plate - the emptiness of the life of the speaker and his future is quite unclear and his life is
now empty without his loved ones as he is going to leave his familiar surroundings.
Use of commas and pauses - there are commas and semi-colons - why?
It suggests a pause and once again the speaker is quite disturbed and is in an agitated state of
mind and is unable to express his feelings clearly - to indicate that the writer has used a lot of
commas, pauses and anaphora,
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Nostalgic and melancholic tone of the poem - he is about to leave the village- there is a nostalgic
feeling about leaving the village.
Themes –
1. Fratricide
2. Sudden anger and its devastating results
3. loss of lives
4. broken relationships
5. domestic conflict and its effect on family
6. mindset of a murderer
7. sense of deep regret and loss
8. confession
Poetic Techniques
1. Balladic form
2. setting
3. anaphora
4. anastrophe
5. alliteration
6. assonance
7. consonance
8. dramatic irony
9. imagery
10. symbols
11. use of commas and pauses
12. nostalgic tone
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Main Themes –
Murder, Guilt, and Consequences

“Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree” expands [gives more details] on the old tradition
of the murder ballad (a type of folk song that tells the story of a murder) to reflect that the
killing ends the killer’s life as surely as it ends the life of the victim. A transgression
[crime] this deep cuts the murderer off from the world around him, marking him
permanently with guilt and shame.
The poem’s speaker has just murdered his brother; about to go on the lam [escape or hide
from someone, especially from the police or an enemy], he pauses to say goodbye to the
countryside he grew up in, but also to life as he’s known it. He confesses his murder to
his friend Terence, admitting that his brother Maurice lies dead in the hay with the
speaker’s “knife [...] in his side.” He gives no motive for his murder: it’s simply
something that he’s done, and (as Lady Macbeth knew) it can’t be undone. Maybe, this
crime took place over a love triangle – the two brothers may have loved the same girl.
This irrevocable [irreversible] crime means the speaker can no longer live as he has. He
must bid farewell not just to Terence, but also to the familiar “barn and stack and tree” of
the English countryside he's grown up in, alongside all its traditions and comforts: he
won’t be there to bring in the hay, to eat the dinner his mother has made for him, or to
share in the fun at the Lammastide harvest festival.
He's also going to have to live with his guilt for the rest of his life. He knows he's left his
poor mother "alone" in the world as well as murdering his brother; his terrible actions
have damaged more lives than one. And his repeated nervous thoughts of his "bloody
hands" suggest that he feels his hands will stay symbolically bloodied/guilty forever.
The speaker’s farewell to Terence and to his home doesn’t merely suggest that, on a
practical level, he’s going to have to go on the lam (or even kill himself) if he wants to
evade [escape] punishment. It reveals that his killing has distanced him from ordinary
life. The deep wrongness of murder (and fratricide, the murder of a brother, no less)
irrevocably severs [breaks off/puts an end] his connection to the people and places he
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knew, making him into an outcast [a person who has been rejected/ostracized by their
community/society]—a fate that he must recognize and accept. *Ostracized - excluded
“Farewell to barn and stack and tree” begins with the speaker’s parting words to his friend
Terence—the sort of things a guy might say before he emigrated to a new country or went off to
war. The speaker bids farewell not just to Terence, but to the whole landscape: to the “Severn
shore” (the banks of the River Severn, which flows through Wales and the southwest of
England), and to every “barn and stack” (haystack, that is) “and tree” that dots his part of the
English countryside.
The poem is a ballad, or a folk song that tells a story. Appropriately, then, it uses ballad
stanzas: quatrains (or four-line stanzas) rhymed ABAB and written in common meter. That
means that its stanzas alternate between lines of four iambs (metrical feet with a da-
DUM rhythm), as in “Farewell | to barn | and stack | and tree,” and lines of three iambs, as in
“Farewell | to Sev- | ern shore.”) This earthy form suits the earthy setting; at first, readers might
expect this poem (like many in Housman’s A Shropshire Lad) will tell a gentle, melancholy tale
of loss in the English countryside.
It will not. This isn’t just a ballad, the reader soon realizes, but a murder ballad, a poem telling
the tale of a killing. The speaker’s confession will reveal that, in becoming a murderer, he has
destroyed more than another man’s life: his killing also effectively ends his own life. This
farewell to Terence marks the beginning of a new and darker existence for him.
Symbols
Bloody Hands
The speaker’s bloody hands symbolize inescapable guilt over a murder (and thus join a
long tradition of bloody hands in literature).
Having killed his brother, the poem’s speaker offers his friend Terence a (rather
unappetizing) “bloody hand to shake” on his way out of town. But he also reflects that he
and his “bloody hands” will “sweat no more on scythe and rake,” that the blood on his
hands means he’ll have to give up the rural/pastoral life he’s known. That line suggests
he feels his hands will stay symbolically bloody forever. Like Lady Macbeth’s, his
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“bloody hands” won’t wash clean, not this harvest season and not the next. Murder leaves
a permanent mark of guilt on the murderer.
(The bloody hands here also support the poem's echoes of the biblical story of Cain and
Abel. After Cain murders his brother Abel, God permanently scars him with what's
become known as the "Mark of Cain"—a mark that sets him apart from other, less
fratricidal people. The speaker's bloody hands work in just the same way.)
The Story of Cain and Abel from the Holy Bible
In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abelare the first two sons of Adam and Eve.
Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers
made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Abel's offering, but
had no regard[ for Cain's. Cain killed Abel and God cursed Cain, sentencing him to a life
of transience/change. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod (‫נֹוד‬, 'wandering'), where he built
a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch.
Important Poetic Devices –
“Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
 Repetition
Repetitions help to give this poem its haunted, driving rhythm. The very first lines set the tone:
"Farewell to barn and stack and tree,

The anaphora of "farewell" makes the speaker sound solemn [formal] and dazed [unable to
think or react properly] as he bids goodbye to everything he knows, from the familiar "barn and
stack and tree" of his hometown to the whole sweep of the "Severn shore." The polysyndeton on
"barn and stack and tree" might help to create the impression that the speaker's gaze is roving
from one of these countryside landmarks to another. *Polysyndeton is the use of repeated
conjunctions [in this pome, the conjunction “and” between words or clauses in a sentence to
emphasize what's being said.
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Later moments of anaphora create a build like something out of a horror movie—as in the second
stanza, for example:
"The sun burns on the half-mown hill,

Each "and" here creeps closer to the real shock: Maurice is dead, and the speaker is the one who
did it. Similar echoes make the fourth stanza feel sinister, too:
"And here’s a bloody hand to shake,

When someone does something wrong and is retelling/recounting what happened, they use the
term “and” a lot.
Alongside the same sort of parallelism the poem has used before, the diacope on "bloody hand"
waves that unsettling image in front of the reader's face like, well, a bloody hand. *diacope -
Diacope is the repetition of a word or phrase after one or more intervening words or phrases.
This figure of speech can add emphasis to an idea or theme and create rhythm and cadence in the
sentence. It can also make the writing more memorable and easier to read. Cadence – rhythm on
words.
These repetitions play a role in the poem's flavor as well as its drama: this poem draws on the old
tradition of the murder ballad, a folk genre that's often full of punchy repetitions. The final stanza
might sound most ballad-y of them all:
"Long for me the rick will wait,

And dinner will be cold."
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That sequence, with its emphasis on the countryside's "long" (indeed, eternal) wait for the
speaker to return, might make readers think of the old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, with its
similar ominously repeated "long."
 Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree”
o Form
"Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree" is a latter-day murder ballad, a 19th-century take
on a form that goes back centuries. (See the classics "Matty Groves" and "The Twa
Sisters" for comparison.)
As well as a murder ballad, the poem is a dramatic monologue, a poem spoken in the
voice of a particular character—rather like a monologue from a play. That character, in
this instance, is a nameless murderer: a man who has just committed fratricide,
killing his brother Maurice. Strangely enough, he still makes time to bid his friend
Terence goodbye before he either goes on the lam [escape from the police] or kills
himself (a decision about which the poem remains ominously vague – uncertain in a
negative way).
As any good murder ballad does, this poem tells the story of a murder in ballad stanzas.
A ballad stanza is:
 A quatrain (or four-line stanza; this poem uses six of them)

 Rhymed ABAB
 Written in common meter: alternating lines of iambic tetrameter (four
iambs in a row, as in "Fare well | to barn | and stack | and tree") and iambic
trimeter (three iambs, as in "By now | the blood | is dried").
All these choices make this unsettling poem sound a lot older than it is. Like many of the
poems in Housman's "A Shropshire Lad," "Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree" roots
itself in the countryside world it describes by turning back to simple folk forms.
o Meter
"Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree" is written in common meter, also known
as ballad meter. That means that its lines alternate between iambic tetrameter—lines of
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four iambs, metrical feet with a da-DUM rhythm—and iambic trimeter, lines of three
iambs. Here's how that rhythm sounds in lines 1-2:
"Farewell | to barn | and stack | and tree,

Farewell | to Sev- | ern shore.
This rhythm (which is indeed common in all sorts of folk verse, from hymns to nursery
rhymes) fits the poem into the ballad tradition. Housman is drawing on old murder
ballads here, songs that told tales of dark deeds. In writing a countryside tale in ballad
meter, he might also have been working in the tradition of Wordsworth, the Romantic
poet who argued that poetry should tell the stories of real people in unpretentious, earthy
verse.
The poem doesn't stick strictly to that iambic pulse all the way through. The first line of
the closing stanza, for instance, does something different:
"Long | for me | the rick | will wait,

Housman lops the first unstressed syllable off the front of this line, so the line leans hard
on that ominous "long."
o Rhyme Scheme
This poem's simple rhyme scheme runs as follows:
ABAB
That back-and-forth pattern of rhyme is in keeping with the ballad tradition this poem
draws on. Most ballads (traditional folk poems often set to music) use a simple ABAB or
an ABCB rhyme scheme. This poem keeps that scheme particularly straightforward:
nearly all the rhymes here land on blunt, monosyllabic words (the only exceptions
being away, alone, and Lammastide).
These simple rhymes support a mysterious and unsettling story. The reader learns
that the speaker has murdered his brother, but not why he's done it. The straightforward
sounds of the speaker's language make the ambiguity all the more disturbing: he's a
plainspoken person who has done a terrible and inexplicable thing.
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 “Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree” Speaker
o The poem's speaker is a murderer—in fact, a fratricide (a person who kills their
brother). Eerily enough, he also seems like a sentimental and even considerate fellow.
The poem is his farewell speech to his friend Terence, to whom he's stopped to say
goodbye as he prepares to get out of town (whether to go on the lam or to kill himself—
the poem is ambiguous on this point, too).
o *Eerily – In a strange or frightening manner
o Sentimental – Having feelings of tenderness, nostalgia and sadness
Considerate – Thoughtful/සැලකිලිමත්
o
Alongside his description of his brother Maurice lying dead in the sun, the speaker thinks
wistfully/with regretful longing of all the countryside habits and pastimes he's leaving
behind; he even wishes Terence luck with the annual races when "Lammastide" (a late
summer harvest festival) rolls around. He's sorry to be going and sorry to be leaving his
friend and the world he knows.
He seems less concerned, however, with the murdered Maurice, merely reflecting that
"by now the blood is dried" at the scene of the crime. Whether that's down to shock or
cruel indifference is left up to readers to decide. *He is most probably in shock – he
probably didn’t expect Maurice to die because of the stabbing he carried out on Maurice.
In fact, the poem leaves a lot about this speaker for readers to guess or imagine, including
the reasons he might have killed Maurice in the first place. The speaker remains a
resolutely/determined mysterious figure: he could be an envious conniver [jealous
schemer], a panicking man who acted in self-defense, or any number of other flavors of
murderer. All readers can really know about him is that he killed his brother and
destroyed his own life in the same moment.
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“Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree” Setting
o "Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree" is set in the English countryside,
somewhere along the course of the River Severn (one of the longest rivers in the UK).
Readers can guess that the poem's deadly events likely take place somewhere in the
county/province of Shropshire (as most of the poems in Housman's A Shropshire
Lad do).
What really matters in this setting is its sense of ancient countryside tradition. The
speaker and his brother are mowers who harvest hayfields together, following a familiar,
predictable seasonal rhythm: their mother at home knows exactly when they come and
go from their work (though this time, neither of her sons will be coming home when she
expects them). And on his way out of town after committing fratricide, the speaker
wistfully wishes his friend Terence "luck [...] at racing on the green" when "Lammastide"
(a late summer harvest festival) rolls around; he, of course, won't be there to see it this
time.
These allusions to the habits and rituals of country life suggest that the speaker's murder
of his brother has interrupted a steady old rhythm. The hill where he and his brother were
working together will go "half-mown": the killing has disrupted the way of things. –
*Half-mown also indicates the half-lived life of Maurice.
 Literary and Historical Context of “Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree”
Literary Context
The English poet A. E. Housman (1859-1936) first published this poem in his popular
1896 collection A Shropshire Lad. He wrote many of the 63 poems in A Shropshire
Lad after the death of his friend Adalbert Jackson; the collection revolves around themes
of death, time, and fleeting youth.
Though initially rejected by publishers and not an immediate success, the collection's
vision of an idealized Englishness and its valorization of soldiers made it a hit a few years
after its release, when World War I made both of those perspectives fashionable.
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In its praise of the beauty of nature, A Shropshire Lad continues the tradition of the
Romantic poets of the earlier 19th century—like Wordsworth and Coleridge, who
revived and championed the ballad form Housman uses here.
A Shropshire Lad has inspired both praise and condemnation, and Housman's literary
reputation remains a matter for debate. For some readers, he's a sensitive soul whose
poetry captures the dreamy beauty of the English countryside. For others, he's a fusty,
gloomy, one-note sort of writer. (The modernist Ezra Pound, for one, mocked
Housman's poetry in a parody with the refrain, "Woe! woe, etcetera.") Regardless of
this debate, a number of his poems remain among the most beloved in English literature.
Historical Context
Housman was in his thirties when he published A Shropshire Lad and insisted that the
poems were not overtly [openly] biographical. "I was born in Worcestershire, not
Shropshire, where I have never spent much time," he wrote in a later letter. The poems'
outlook, Housman said, simply stemmed from his "observation of the world." Still, this
poem's tale of grief and guilt might derive from Housman's own experiences. When he
wrote this collection, he was mourning his friend and housemate Adalbert Jackson (and
perhaps mourning over the unrequited love he felt for Adalbert's brother Moses, too).
Housman published A Shropshire Lad in 1896, right at the tail end of the Victorian era.
Under the reign of Queen Victoria, Britain had extended the reach of its empire around
the world and made significant developments in technology; factories and railroads
sprung up across the country, changing the texture of rural life (much to many Victorian
writers' alarm). This was also a period of strict morals and religiosity on the one hand
and scientific challenges to the accepted dogma on the other; new geological discoveries
and Darwin's theories of evolution led to a crisis of faith as many questioned the biblical
account of the world's creation.
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Analysis
The first line of the poem gives us a clue about the tone. The speaker is saying goodbye and his
attitude is one of sorrow and regret which is clear when we move along in the poem. Barn and
Stack and Tree are the elements which he lived with his entire life. For many years these are the
spaces that he grew up in. When you grow up in the same place for years, the landscape becomes
a part of you. A part of your identity is formed through the surroundings. Which is why when
you move after living somewhere for so long, it is not easy to adapt to the new setting and
people. For this young man, he regrets what has happened with a deep sense of guilt. He did not
plan this, which is evident as he is devastated that he has to leave the farm – his home and
family. He is not mentally prepared for it. He has not come to terms with it. Terence is a friend
of his (in the poetry collection he makes a few appearances). It is reasonable to assume that the
brothers are friends with this youth. Possibly, he is as shocked about the murder as the brother is.
He wished Terence ‘strength to bring you pride’ and ‘a love to keep you clean’. The speaker,
even though he has committed a murder, is not a murderer. Unlike certain politicians in power.
We can come to this conclusion because he takes the time to wish his friend all the good things
in the world. Strength and pride; prosperity and dignity and good health. He must be a dirty
fellow as he wishes Terrence a love to keep him clean. The youth wishes him partnership and
love. He seems very reluctant to leave, and seems to be pondering about things at home. Where
is the anger or the reason, or justification for what he had done?
Usually when you do something wrong, you would think about the reason you did it and try to
make it seem like you had a good enough reason to do it. That is what you call justifying what
you did. Most of the time, even though we have no valid justification, our minds tend to come up
with a million excuses. We find it extremely difficult to accept what we have done. But the
speaker knows that he has no justification. Why? Because it was not done with resentment or
cumulated anger. It was probably an unexpected reaction and result. He may have killed his own
brother during the heat of the moment/impulsively or maybe Maurice provoked him and he could
not bottle up his anger and exploded.
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But let’s take the second stanza. The hill is half-mown. Once again, signs that they worked
together, lived together and seemed to have a good relationship are evident because they also ate
as a family with the mother.
The blood is dried – he has not fled the scene, obviously. Some time has passed already. This
shows that he is in shock. And it also shows how reluctant and sad he is to leave his home, where
his family and heart will always be. The poet uses visual imagery to create a vivid picture in the
reader’s mind. ‘Maurice amongst the hay lies still’ – as if he has been reduced to just another
part of the environment – inanimate and unmoving. The knife at his side is a close allusion to
Christ at the cross, betrayed by his own disciple (Judas), one of the closest to him – a spiritual
brother. It is also a Biblical allusion to the story of Cain and Abel.
The third stanza talks about the mother. Yesterday was a normal day where thy had dinner
together, and today she will be alone, and both children would be gone. She will be all alone
without any help around the house, or even financially. Who is going to mow the hill? Who is
going to feed the animals? Who is going to protect the lambs from the wolves, or the farm from
thieves? She has no family left. The light of her life, her children, have been taken away from
her. She will see the still body of one of her sons, and possibly never see the other son who
would be alive somewhere far away. The house is disrupted, the family is destroyed,
relationships are broken. The friendships are brought to an end. The mentioning of the mother is
also dramatic irony because the readers know that Maurice is dead but she does not know that.
The poem shows how things such as anger and actions done in an instant/in a reactionary manner
or done in a tiny moment, can have an impact of a lifetime on many people.
In the next stanza, the speaker says ‘here’s a bloody hand to shake,’ which can be read in two
ways, both equally significant. One, literally, meaning that there is actual blood in his hand – it is
the bloody hand that he shakes. This reminds us that whatever he does, wherever he goes,
whoever he meets, the death of the brother will always follow him. He cannot shake hands with
anyone with a clear conscience. This leads us to entertain the other interpretation that he might
not actually have blood in his hands, but it might signify the guilt that will stain his hand forever.
This reminds us of Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s play Macbeth; Macbeth murders the king.
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But it is Lady Macbeth who challenges and persuades him to do so. She goes mad, and wakes up
every night, rubbing her palms and saying, ‘out, out, damned spot.’ She sees the guilt in her
conscience in the form of blood in her hand though there is nothing there. Likewise, the youth in
this poem suffers from the guilt, which will always be etched in his consciousness.
‘And Oh man, here’s goodbye.’
After the handshake, he breaks down – and exclaims – Oh. Then repeats the goodbye. He clearly
is in disbelief of what has happened and does not want to leave. He refuses to leave. The deep
emotional turmoil he feels is evident in the exclamation – “Oh”. He seems to tell his friend that
they will not do the farmwork as they used to do. The daily routines are interrupted. Their lives
as they knew it, are gone. This also shows us that he was a hard worker who enjoyed what he
was doing. The bloodiness of the hands is repeated as it continues to haunt his mind.
Lammastide is a harvest festival – and racing is a community activity where the people get
together – he will never be able to visit his community after this. He will be someone on the run,
someone always escaping the guilt of what he has done. Guilt can make you go mad.
The last few lines are a fitting end to a poem which emphasizes how the connection of this
person to his environment is very strong. This is a pastoral poem which means that the setting
and content has a lot to do with the suburban, idyllic/peaceful landscape of the rural areas. The
violence which has happened in the peaceful setting is highly contrasted and rather ironic. The
rick (stack of hay, corn, etc.) the fold (slight hill) and the empty plate will long wait for him. The
repetition and the wording hints at how he will long for these elements in his life, and how it will
never be the same anywhere else. The use of anaphora is effective here to end the poem as it
ends with his emotions towards the home front. There is no anger or hatred or disagreement
about anything. There’s merely regret and a deep sense of longing and belonging to that space.
He does not want to leave his home and family.
One of the questions that were given for the examination is how this conflict affects the
household – and in general how conflicts can affect homes. How do you answer that?
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Read the following points:
This is a farm, and the people in question are two young, strong sons who maintain the farm.
Their mother is possibly old, and the speaker mentions, will be alone in the evening, with both
children missing. So, in this scene, how has the family been affected?
*This is a macro conflict – a big conflict
1. The mother is left alone to grieve – it affects people who are not involved in the conflict
as well. And the parents will have to suffer the consequences when their children get into
trouble. In this case, she loses both sons, but also has to endure the pain of not really knowing
where they are, or if they would ever return.
2. The brotherhood is broken. The brothers ate together with their mother and they
worked together in the farm as well. After this incident, the speaker is left alone as a fugitive [a
person in hiding] and will miss his friendship/bond with his brother and mother. He will have no
one to call family. Even Terence, his friend will no longer be there for him- this shows how these
conflicts can end good relationships and friends from one’s life.
3. The death of Maurice – the violence and the loss of life is another extreme that could
happen resulting in the loss of life over a moment’s rage. A young man loses his life because of a
conflict – this shows how these conflicts could escalate into violence, and shows the importance
of conflict resolution.
4. Financial issues – the mother depended on these two to maintain the farm and take care
of her. But with the new developments, this will not be possible. The mother will have a tough
time dealing with it mentally, but will also struggle financially as there is no one to labour and
manage the farm.
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Glossary
barn – a large cottage built in the farm for storage purposes.
stack – a heap of something. (probably, in this poem, it would be a heap of hay)
shore – the boundaries of the Severn river
half-mown – grass that has been left half-cut.
scythe – a tool used for cutting crops such as grass or corn, with a long, curved blade at the end
of a long pole attached to one or two short handles.
rake – an implement consisting of a pole with a toothed crossbar or fine tines at the end, used
especially for drawing together cut grass or smoothing loose soil or gravel.
rick – a stack of hay, corn, straw, or similar material, especially one formerly built into a regular
shape and thatched.
fold – a small enclosure for livestock (especially sheep or cattle), which is part of a larger
construction.
Severn Shore – a small village by the side of the River Severn, which is the longest river in the
United Kingdom.
Lammastide – Lammas Day (Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas, “loaf-mass”), is a holiday celebrated in

some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, usually between 1 August and 1
September. It is a festival to mark the annual wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the
year.
41
A.E Housman
Alfred Edward Housman was born in Fockbury, Worcestershire, England, on March 26, 1859,
the eldest of seven children. A year after his birth, Housman’s family moved to nearby
Bromsgrove, where the poet grew up and had his early education. In 1877, he attended St. John’s
College, Oxford and received first class honours in classical moderations.
Housman became distracted, however, when he fell in love with his roommate Moses Jackson.
He had homosexual feelings towards Moses. He unexpectedly failed his final exams, but
managed to pass the final year and later took a position as clerk in the Patent Office in London
for ten years.
During this time, he studied Greek and Roman classics intensively, and in 1892 was appointed
professor of Latin at University College, London. In 1911 he became professor of Latin at
Trinity College, Cambridge, a post he held until his death. As a classicist, Housman gained
recognition for his editions of the Roman poets Juvenal, Lucan, and Manilius, as well as his
meticulous/detailed and intelligent commentaries and his disdain/dislike for the unscholarly – not
studied well in a particular subject.
Housman only published two volumes of poetry during his life: A Shropshire Lad (1896) and
Last Poems (1922). The majority of the poems in A Shropshire Lad, his cycle of 63 poems, were
written after the death of Adalbert Jackson, Housman’s friend and companion, in 1892. These
poems center around themes of pastoral beauty, unrequited love, fleeting youth, grief, death, and
the patriotism of the common soldier. After the manuscript had been turned down by several
42
publishers, Housman decided to publish it at his own expense, much to the surprise of his
colleagues and students.
While A Shropshire Lad was slow to gain popularity, the advent/start of war, first the Boer War
and then in World War I, gave the book widespread appeal due to its nostalgic/longing for the
past depiction of brave English soldiers. Several composers created musical settings for
Housman’s work, deepening his popularity.
Housman continued to focus on his teaching, but in the early 1920s, when his old friend Moses
Jackson was dying, Housman chose to assemble his best unpublished poems so that Jackson
might read them. These later poems, most of them written before 1910, exhibit a range of subject
and form much greater than the talents displayed in A Shropshire Lad. When Last Poems was
published in 1922, it was an immediate success. A third volume, More Poems, was released
posthumously in 1936 by his brother, Laurence, as was an edition of Housman’s Complete
Poems(1939).
Despite acclaim as a scholar and a poet in his lifetime, Housman lived as a recluse, rejecting
honors and avoiding the public eye. He died on April 30, 1936, in Cambridge. *Recluse – a
person who lives a solitary life avoiding other people.
43
A Shropshire Lad
“A Shropshire Lad,” penned by A.E. Housman, stands as a seminal [strongly influencing later
developments] work within the realm/field of Victorian poetry. First published in 1896, this
collection of sixty-three lyric poems encapsulates [expresses the relevant details
succinctly/precisely] the poet’s profound/intense/deep exploration of themes such as fleeting
youth, unrequited love [not returned], and the inexorable [impossible to stop/prevent] nature of
mortality [death]. Housman’s verses are deeply rooted in the rural landscape of Shropshire,
where the poet draws inspiration [gains motivation] from the picturesque [beautiful]
surroundings of the English countryside. This poetic masterpiece not only captivates readers with
its evocative [bringing strong images] imagery and melodic language but also delves into the
complexities of the human experience, weaving together a tapestry [mix] of emotions that
resonates [affects] across generations. As we embark on an exploration of ‘A Shropshire Lad,’
we find ourselves immersed in the poignant [evoking a sense of sadness] reflections of a poet
whose words continue to echo with timeless resonance [a feeling that a piece of writing creates
in you], inviting us to contemplate the transient/changing nature of life and the enduring power
of poetic expression.
44
Victorian Era
In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's
reign, from 20th June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. There was a strong religious
drive for higher moral standards led by the nonconformist churches, such as the Methodists, and
the Evangelical wing of the established Church of England. Britain's relations with the other
Great Powers were driven by the colonial antagonism [active hostility/hate] of the Great Game
with Russia, climaxing during the Crimean War; a Pax Britannica of international free trade was
maintained by the country's naval and industrial supremacy. Britain embarked on global imperial
expansion, particularly in Asia and Africa, which made the British Empire the largest empire in
history.
Victorian Poetry
Poetry written in England during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) may be referred to as
Victorian poetry. Following Romanticism, Victorian poets continued many of the previous era’s
main themes, such as religious skepticism/doubt and valorization/enhancing the value of the
artist as genius; but Victorian poets also developed a distinct sensibility. The most
prolific/productive and well-regarded poets of the age included Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Matthew Arnold, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Oscar
Wilde.
45
Analysis

While bidding farewell to his familiar surroundings, the speaker brings out the feeling of urgency
in him. He bids farewell to his whole village -Severn shore. He requests his friend Terrence to
look at him for the last time. It is obvious that the speaker is bidding adieu/saying goodbye
because he will never return home. The first stanza itself provides this urgency and suspense
which leads the reader to go further and inquire about this incident in the following stanzas.

And my knife is in his side.”
This is the first place where the reader realizes that this urgent bidding of farewell is followed by
a murder. The ‘sun burns’ being mentioned shows that it is probably noon time. While the ‘half-
mown hill’ reminds us of the farming background and the country side. It is followed by an
expression that it there was a bloody murder, and it had happened somewhere early in the day, so
the blood is dried by now. The victim’s name is introduced – Maurice. The name being
mentioned than any other word to refer to the dead person in the midst of this feeling of guilt
shows that they were very close to each other. It brings in that personal attachment the assailant
had with the killed. And he had committed the murder with his knife, which he had left near the
person in a hurry to flee from the place where he had murdered Maurice.

46
This stanza again proves the point that they were brothers; the murderer and the victim. The
speaker remembers his family, his mother, and obviously he would have found it an impossible
thing to face her ever again. He imagines with guilt how their mother would be waiting for her
sons who had set out of home that morning to mow the fields. He goes further in empathizing the
pain that their mother is going to go through. That morning their mother had two sons in her side,
and today when the day ends one of her sons is killed and the other has gone far away, running
away from home in fear and guilt, unable to face the consequences of what he has done. This
stanza evokes in the reader, not just the feelings of the speaker, but also the feelings of their
mother. It creates empathy.
My bloody hands and I.”
Remembering the times, he and his brother have worked together, shared moments of both
accomplishments and failures, as men who live together under the same roof in the same family,
the speaker is even unable to say a proper heart felt goodbye. He would have never expected to
bud such a farewell to his own brother, with such blood-stained hands. He remembers that those
moments are not going to be there again.
47
At racing on the green.”
And long will stand the empty plate, And dinner will be cold.”
The last two stanzas together, provide the great things that this speaker who is bidding farewell is
going to miss in future. Both social and personal. As bids farewell, he remembers the festivals
and the celebrations that he had been celebrating with his family.
Finally, he remembers all that he is leaving behind and also remembers that it going to be a
different life for him from now on. A different profession for survival, somewhere far away from
home. To make it more personal, he also fears that he would even end up somewhere without the
basic necessities for his life. To show that his return is never possible, he mentions the “long
wait.” But the phrase also gives the reader a little bit of hope; a return after the suffering of guilt
is over.
Who is Terrence?
Notice that the whole poem is in quotation marks. Terence is the guy who is repeating to us what
his friend said to him. The friend confesses to have murdered his own brother, Maurice, and now
he’s either going to commit suicide or else turn himself in to the police and be executed; either
way, he’s saying good-bye forever to Terence, and now Terence is telling us what his friend said.
The poem is from a whole book that Housman, the author, originally called “Poems of Terence
Hearsay.” Terence is the fictional speaker of most of the poems. He’s an average guy who lives
on a farm in rural Shropshire and tells us stories (mostly very dark and depressing ones) about
his own life and his neighbors.
48
Structure
‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ by A. E. Housman is a six-stanza poem that is separated
into sets of four, known as quatrains. These quatrains follow a simple, yet impactful pattern of
ABAB CDCD, and so on, changing end sounds as Housman saw fit.
Poetic Techniques
Housman makes use of several other techniques in ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’. These
include anaphora, alliteration, enjambment, and juxtaposition. The latter is when two contrasting
things are placed near one another in order to emphasize that contrast. A poet usually does this in
order to emphasize a larger theme of their text or make an important point about the differences
between these two things. In the case of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’, it can be seen in
the second stanza when the seemingly pastoral landscape is contrasted with the dead man.
Anaphora and Alliteration
There are also examples of anaphora in the text. This is the repetition of a word or phrase at the
beginning of multiple lines, usually in succession. For example, the use of “Farewell” twice in
the first stanza and “And long” in the sixth. Alliteration occurs when words are used in
succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. Examples include
“Severn shore” and “half-mown hill”.
Enjambment
Another important technique that is commonly used in poetry is enjambment. This occurs when
a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. It forces a reader down to the next line, and the
next, quickly. One has to move forward in order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. A
very successful and impactful use of enjambment comes in the transition between the third and
49
fourth lines of the second stanza when the reader finds out that the speaker killed his brother
Maurice.
Analysis, Stanza by Stanza
Stanza One
In the first lines of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ the speaker begins by utilizing the line
that later became the title. He bids farewell to a barn, a “stack,” meaning a conical pile of hay
(aka a haystack), and a tree. These are specific images associated with a specific place, the
“Severn shore”. The Severn is the largest river in the UK along which many of the most
populated cities are situated. This line is also an example of alliteration with the repetition of
words beginning with “s”.
In the third line, the speaker addresses one of his intended listeners, someone named “Terence”.
He asks this person to take a look at him as he’s never going to come home after this moment.
As the first stanza in ‘‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ these lines do their job well. There
is a great deal of mystery imbued in them, simply because a reader has no idea who the
characters are or what is driving the speaker away. Is he leaving willingly? Is someone forcing
him? The way the lines are phrased makes it seem as if he’s sorry to leave, but this is the only
hint Housemen presents the reader with so far.
50
Stanza Two
In the second stanza of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ the speaker goes on. He informs
the reader very quickly and emotionlessly that someone has died. A man named “Maurice” is
amongst the hay. He “lies still”. If this isn’t bad enough, the speaker admits that his “knife is in
his side”.
Without a doubt, this is the reason the speaker is feeling. He’s killed this man, for unknown
reasons, and must, due to the pursuit of the law, leave his home.
The first two lines of this stanza are shocking. They contrast the warmth, heat, and color of the
sun, to that of the “half-mown hill” and the dried blood.
Stanza Three
51
The third stanza of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ continues the speaker’s tale. He
describes his mother and her perception of the day. With these details the speaker’s crime
becomes even more dramatic. It turns out that Maurice was his brother. His mother is going to be
expecting her two sons to come home “To-night” but instead “she’ll be alone”. The speaker
appears to be well aware of the consequences of his actions.
Juxtaposition is used again in these lines as the speaker recalls how the two were meant to mow
the lawn but instead, the day ended in murder and loss.
Stanza Four
The story continues into the fourth stanza. The speaker looks at his hand, holds it out for his
friend, and says “here’s a bloody hand to shake”. Whether it is covered in blood or not, it drew
blood and like Macbeth, is stained by the act.
Finally, in the second line, it appears the speaker is getting emotional, or at least a little
distressed about his situation. He moves through his words unevenly, saying “And oh, man,
here’s good-bye”. It is sinking in that he really has to leave, it’s the end.
52
From a goodbye to his listener, he says goodbye to the life he had before. His “bloody hands” are
no longer going to “sweat…on scythe and rake” together. His life is about to change
dramatically.
Stanza Five
At racing on the green.
In the fifth stanza of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree,’ he speaks to the listener, Terence,
telling them that he wishes him well. He hopes this other man will find “a love to keep you
clean”. This is likely a reference to romantic love, or perhaps a passion in life, to keep him out of
trouble. Obviously, the speaker did not have this feature in his life to keep him clean. The use of
the word “clean” in this line should be noted. He would like his hands to be clean, but they’re
bloody. There’s nothing he can do to wipe away his deed now.
It’s clear the speaker wants nothing but a positive future for his friend. But in wishing him so, he
is contrasting his own painful future with a happy and prosperous one. In the third line he
references “Lammastide”. Lammastide is a holiday celebrated on August 1st to mark the wheat
harvest.
Stanza Six
53
In the last four lines of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree,’ the speaker tells the listener that
the “rick” or stack of hay is going to wait for him. It will be there in the field forever now, as his
hands will never touch it again. The same can be said for the “fold,” the “empty plate” at his
mother’s kitchen table, and the food on that plate. It will soon “be cold”. A “fold” is a reference
to a pen or enclosure in which animals are kept.
Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree by A.E. Housman - Analysis

‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ by A.E. Housman is a narrative poem that tells the story
of a man who killed his brother in a wheat field.
In the first lines, the speaker tells his listener, Terence, that he has to leave. He’s going away
because, as the second stanza drastically reveals, he killed his brother Maurice. The next stanzas
don’t provide a reason for this action, but do mediate on the present and future. Housman’s
speaker is leaving behind his mother, the farm and everything on it. He knows his life is never
going to be the same again.
BALLAD?
Considering the poem to be a ballad, it indeed carries few characteristics that are clearly making
this poem to fall into this genre.
- The whole background of the poem arises from the country side, which also carries a story in it.
- Ballads are usually presented in dialogues to attain the conversational effect.
- We could also call ballads to be short stories in verse, which is obvious in the poem.
- The extensive use of colloquial language could be counted as another point that, the reason
being that ballads have been passed down through the generations orally.
- Each stanza is set in the four-lines arrangement with a regular rhyming scheme throughout -
abab, cdcd, efef...
54
BACKGROUND
A farewell. A painful farewell that someone is giving to his familiar surroundings. The sense of
pain that "no more" creates clearly shows that this person is with the decision that he is not going
to return. The reason for this sudden decision to leave his surrounding is a crime; a murder this
person has committed without premeditation.
Probably an argument has erupted within siblings while they were at work, which has resulted in
this murder; the reason being doubted as a triangular love affair. The brothers have fought for the
same young mistress. It is also clear that the brothers have been together until this noon in which
the fight had broken between them.
Thus, this person who is bidding farewell is in a shock not able to accept that he had done such a
gruesome act. He addresses this ballad to the barn and stack and tree, his familiar surrounding,
realizing the fact that he had just now killed the only companion who was there for him in this
place.
Analysis of Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree

Stanza One
In the first lines of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ the speaker begins by utilizing the line
that later became the title. He bids farewell to a barn, a “stack,” meaning a conical pile of hay
(aka a haystack), and a tree. These are specific images associated with a specific place, the
“Severn shore”. The Severn is the largest river in the UK along which many of the most
populated cities are situated. This line is also an example of alliteration with the repetition of
words beginning with “s”.
In the third line, the speaker addresses one of his intended listeners, someone named “Terence”.
He asks this person to take a look at him as he’s never going to come home after this moment.
As the first stanza in ‘‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ these lines do their job well. There
is a great deal of mystery imbued in them, simply because a reader has no idea who the
characters are or what is driving the speaker away. Is he leaving willingly? Is someone forcing
55
him? The way the lines are phrased makes it seem as if he’s sorry to leave, but this is the only
hint Housemen presents the reader with so far.
Stanza Two
In the second stanza of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ the speaker goes on. He informs
the reader very quickly and emotionlessly that someone has died. A man named “Maurice” is
amongst the hay. He “lies still”. If this isn’t bad enough, the speaker admits that his “knife is in
his side”.
Without a doubt, this is the reason the speaker is feeling. He’s killed this man, for unknown
reasons, and must, due to the pursuit of the law, leave his home.
The first two lines of this stanza are shocking. They contrast the warmth, heat and colour of the
sun, to that of the “half-mown hill” and the dried blood.
Stanza Three
The third stanza of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ continues the speaker’s tale. He
describes his mother and her perception of the day. With these details the speaker’s crime
becomes even more dramatic. It turns out that Maurice was his brother. His mother is going to be
expecting her two sons to come home “To-night” but instead “she’ll be alone”. The speaker
appears to be well aware of the consequences of his actions.
Juxtaposition is used again in these lines as the speaker recalls how the two were meant to mow
the lawn but instead, the day ended in murder and loss.
Stanza Four
56
The story continues into the fourth stanza. The speaker looks at his hand, holds it out for his
friend, and says “here’s a bloody hand to shake”. Whether it is covered in blood or not, it drew
blood and like Macbeth, is stained with the act.
Finally, in the second line, it appears the speaker is getting emotional, or at least a little
distressed about his situation. He moves through his words unevenly, saying “And oh, man,
here’s good-bye”. It is sinking in that he really has to leave, it’s the end.
From a goodbye to his listener, he says goodbye to the life he had before. His “bloody hands” are
no longer going to “sweat…on scythe and rake” together. His life is about to change
dramatically.
Stanza Five
In the fifth stanza of Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree,’ he speaks to the listener, Terence,
telling them that he wishes him well. He hopes this other man will find “a love to keep you
clean”. This is likely a reference to romantic love, or perhaps a passion in life, to keep him out of
trouble. Obviously, the speaker did not have this feature in his life to keep him clean. The use of
the word “clean” in this line should be noted. He would like his hands to be clean, but they’re
bloody. There’s nothing he can do to wipe away his deed now.
It’s clear the speaker wants nothing but a positive future for his friend. But in wishing him so, he
is contrasting his own painful future with a happy and prosperous one. In the third line he
references “Lammastide”. Lammastide is a holiday celebrated on August 1st to mark the wheat
harvest.
Stanza Six
Dinner will be cold.”
57
In the last four lines of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree,’ the speaker tells the listener that
the “rick” or stack of hay is going to wait for him. It will be there in the field forever now, as his
hands will never touch it again. The same can be said for the “fold,” the “empty plate” at his
mother’s kitchen table and the food on that plate. It will soon “be cold”. A “fold” is a reference
to a pen or enclosure in which animals are kept.
Poetic Techniques in Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree
‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’ by A.E. Housman is a six stanza poem that is separated
into sets of four-line, known as quatrains. These quatrains follow a simple, yet impactful pattern
of ABAB CDCD, and so on, changing end sounds as Housman saw fit.
Housman makes use of several other techniques in ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’. These
include anaphora, alliteration, enjambment, and juxtaposition. The latter is when two contrasting
things are placed near one another in order to emphasize that contrast. A poet usually does this in
order to emphasize a larger theme of their text or make an important point about the differences
between these two things. In the case of ‘Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree’, it can be seen in
the second stanza when the seemingly pastoral landscape is contrasted with the dead man.
Anaphora, Alliteration and Enjambment in Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree
There are also examples of anaphora in the text. This is the repetition of a word or phrase at the
beginning of multiple lines, usually in succession. For example, the use of “Farewell” twice in
the first stanza and “And long” in the sixth. Alliteration occurs when words are used in
succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. Examples include
“Severn shore” and “half-mown hill”.
Another important technique that is commonly used in poetry is enjambment. This occurs when
a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. It forces a reader down to the next line, and the
next, quickly. One has to move forward in order to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. A
very successful and impactful use of enjambment comes in the transition between the third and
fourth lines of the second stanza when the reader finds out that the speaker killed his brother
Maurice.
58

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Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree

“Farewell to barn and stack and tree,

“The sun burns on the half-mown hill,

“My mother thinks us long away;

“And here’s a bloody hand to shake,

“I wish you strength to bring you pride,

 “Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree” Paraphrase

 A ballad is a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas in a simple, rhythmic

 Ballad is a short story in a verse.

 Dialogue is an important element of a ballad.

2. Traditional or folk ballad

 Literary ballad is an imitation of folk ballad.

2.Traditional or folk ballad

 It has no written form.

 A broadside is a large sheet of paper printed on one side only.

How to Recognize a Ballad:

 A ballad must be a narrative.

 ABCB or ABAB rhyme scheme is maintained

Narrator – Terrance (in reported speech)

structure – ballad form

Rhyme scheme – ABAB

Tone – nostalgic, remorseful

Theme – sudden impulse brings grief and regret

Deep-end analysis of the poem

“Farewell to barn and stack and tree,

Farewell to Severn shore.

Terence, look your last at me,

For I come home no more.

assonance – for I come home no more (emphasizes about his departure)

alliteration – seven shore

Severn – is the largest river in UK

“The sun burns on the half-mown hill,

By now the blood is dried;

And Maurice amongst the hay lies still

And my knife is in his side.

anaphora – and (shows urgency)

alliteration – half mown hill

possessive pronoun – my (shows that he admits his crime)

“My mother thinks us long away;

She had two sons at rising day,

To-night she’ll be alone.

symbol – night (night is a symbol for hardships or danger)

subjunctive – were (shows the inability or improbability of something to happen)

metaphor – rising day (refers to the morning)

“And here’s a bloody hand to shake,

And oh, man, here’s good-bye;

My bloody hands and I.

imagery – bloody hand

commas and pauses – shows that he is getting emotional.

“I wish you strength to bring you pride,

And love to keep you clean,

And I wish you luck, come Lammastide,

At racing on the green.

symbol – green (green symbolizes better life)

Lammastide – a holiday celebrated on August 1st to mark the wheat harvest

“Long for me the rick will wait,

And long will wait the fold,

And long will stand the empty plate,

And dinner will be cold.”