Elegy for My Father’s Father

THE POEM

ELEGY FOR MY FATHER’S FATHER

The Poem
He knew in the hour he died
That his heart has never spoken
In eighty years of days.
O for the tall tower broken 5
Memorial is denied:
And the unchanging cairn
The pipes could set ablaze
An aaronsrod and blossom.
They stood by the graveside 10
From his bitter veins born
And mourned him in their fashion.
A chain of sods in a day
He could slice and build
High as the head of a man 15
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 20
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 25
Boughs of heaven folding
The winter world in their hand.
The pride of his heart was dumb.
Elegy for My Father’s Father

He knew in the hour he died

That his heart had never spoken 30
In song or bridal bed.
And the naked thought fell back
To a house by the waterside
and leaves the wind had shaken
Then for a child’s sake: 35
To waves all night awake
With the dark mouths of the dead.
The tongues of water spoke
And his heart was unafraid. 39

Mini-Glossary_____________
cairn – a pile of stones used as a monument;
aaronsrod – plants with a tall stem leading to a flower, typically weeds;
chain of sods – a pile of turf.

James Keir Baxter Background

Baxter is a New Zealand poet who became famous for his anti-establishment views and alternative
lifestyle. His parents came from widely differing backgrounds which created some conflict in the poet’s
mind. He did not favor institutional education, an attitude which caused frequent disruptions in his
academic life. Baxter lived often among the Maoris which helped him to understand nature intimately.
This poem is about his grandfather who he refers to as his “Father’s father”. He clinically examines the
life his grandfather lived: he was not a warm person, he seldom spoke his heart. But he was a skilled
farmer who could coax the land to produce its best.

James Keir Baxter was born in 1926 and died in 1972. He was a New Zealand poet and he is a celebrated
figure from his country and most commonly referred as one of their best-known poetic figures. James K.
Baxter started writing at a very young age and by the time he was eighteen he published his first poetry
collection. He was strongly influenced by classical mythology and the Romantic Movement. Moreover,
James K. Baxter was a controversial figure because of his criticism towards social inequality and poverty.
Nevertheless, he wrote a great number of poems, plays, literary criticism, and more.

Metaphorical Inference
Baxter’s poetry was deeply influenced by Maori lore and also by the works of British poets like W H
Auden, T S Eliot, Yeats and Hart Crane. There were conflicting influences in Baxter’s life. While his
parents were left leaning people with his mother a daughter of a well known academic, his father’s
people were small farmers who lived in the cold Scottish Highlands. A reading of the poem reveals the
Elegy for My Father’s Father

taciturn nature of the grandfather. He never spoke much and rarely opened his heart to anyone. While
he was young, he had legendary strength being able to cut hard soil and build structures as tall as a man
all in the course of a day. Even after he became old and lost sight, he was able to see in his mind’s eye
the glowing stars of the night. The poet seems to have respect and admiration for his grandfather but he
disapproves for his reserved nature.

Summary
At the moment of his death, the poet’s “Father’s father” realizes that in his eighty year long life, not
even once did he speak his heart out. There is no memorial for him, this stern, taciturn man. As he lay
dying, his family who were born of his “bitter veins” stands by his graveside and mourns him in their
different ways. He was a man of legendary strength who could cut and build at an astonishing speed. He
could carry on his shoulder full grown flowering trees braving the hot blazing sun. When he grew old, he
lost the sight in his eyes but still could see in his mind’s eye the stars burning in the night sky. Even
though he could not see, he was alert to the changes in nature. His last days on earth brings back to him
memories of a house beside the water. He realizes that his end is near but he has no fear of death.

Overall Impression
As the reader goes through the poem, the impression gained is of man who in his youth had almost
superhuman strength. The man barely spoke; he was an enigma. His family who hover at his graveside
barely knew him; they mourn his loss in different ways. In his old age he cannot see. Naturally he would
have become dependent. His last memories are of a house by the water. The waves seem to speak to
him. Death holds no terrors for him.

Analysis
Elegy For My Father’s Father was written by James K. Baxter. The poem has only a single stanza with 38
lines, which develop a set of responses to death. The idea of death becomes universal, as it is the main
theme of the poem. The tone of the poem is celebratory but also expresses sorrow and regret. The pace
of the poem is slow and dull. Moreover, Elegy For My Father’s Father is written in past tense and has
free verse.

The title of the poem (Elegy For My Father’s Father) is crucial. First of all, the title is very direct: the
poem is about sorrow and praise for the death of a loved one. An Elegy is a sad and mournful poem,
which laments the death of a person. Therefore, the content of the poem can be easily read in the title.
Secondly, the poem is targeted to a very specific figure “My Father’s Father”. Notice how the term “My
Father’s Father” creates a certain distance from the bond that the lyrical voice possessed with this
family member that died.

As already mentioned, the main theme of Elegy For My Father’s Father is death. Death is described as a
natural process and the lyrical voice makes a remembrance of the past. The poem also explores the
phases of life and relates them to the change from one season to another. The lyrical voice expresses
grief constantly and explores the motifs of aging and time through natural imagery. The single stanza
structure allows the poem to represent life as a continuous and long process, as it starts and finishes
with no pauses in the middle. Moreover, the unstructured lines and the lack of rhyme scheme represent
the absence of any kind of pattern in life.
Elegy for My Father’s Father

The beginning of the poem is very straightforward. From the first line, the lyrical voice refers to a “he”
(His “Father’s Father) and how at the moment he died he realized that “his heart had never spoken”
throughout all his life (“In eighty years of days”). This man, apparently, had never expressed his feelings
and, consequently, the lyrical voice describes the man as cryptic as the language that is used in the
poem. The “tall tower broken” is used as a metaphor for life. Then, the lyrical voice depicts the moment
of the burial and how he was treated after his death (“Memorial is denied”). The theme of death is very
present; as the lyrical voice explains that “They stood by the graveside […] And mourned him in their
fashion”.

Furthermore, the way “he” lived is described: “He could slice and build/High as the head of a man”. The
lyrical voice depicts a moment in his grandfather’s life when he worked all day every day. He appears to
be an adult at the peak of his productivity. This moment in life is associated with spring (“a flowering
cherry tree”) and with summer (“Under the lion sun”); these were happy and cheerful moments.
However, there is a great contrast with how the lyrical voice describes him as an old man: “When he was
old and blind/ He sat in a curved chair/ All day by the kitchen fire”. Notice the dissimilarity in both
descriptions and the difference between his young age and his old age. The lyrical voice’s grandfather is
described as incapable of doing most things (“old and blind”) and as a fixed figure that doesn’t move
(“All day by the kitchen fire”). His mood shifts and he starts being more introspective, as he sees life but
he can’t enjoy it (“Many hours he had seen/ The stars in their drunken dancing”). This moment is
associated with autumn (“Boughs of heaven folding”) and winter (“The winter world in their hand”).

The first two lines of the poems are repeated (“He knew in the hour he died/ That his heart had never
spoken”) in order to emphasize the realization that the man had when he was about to die. However
the third line changes and refers to the moments when this man didn’t talk: “In song or bridal bed”. The
lyrical voice furthers on the epiphany (“And the naked thought fell back”) and how his grandfather
becomes aware of the circle of life (“And the leaves the wind has shaken”). He has a moment of
happiness (“Then for a child’s sake) and finally responds to all that his “heart had never spoken” (“ To
the waves all night awake/With the dark mouths of the dead/ The tongues of water spoke/ And his
heart was unafraid”). The final two lines are crucial to the poem, as they give a dramatic closure to the
narration. There is a personification of the water (“The tongues of water spoke”) and the man is aware
that a voice is talking to him in his dreams. Both the “heart” and the “water” are natural elements of life
and they also introduce death as a natural element. The man shows himself sensitive to the natural
world around him and ends up opening himself, as “his heart was unafraid”.

Commentary
ELEGY FOR MY FATHER’S FATHER – Critical Commentary

James Baxter was a New Zealand poet (born 1928) from Dunedin. Much of his writing was focussed on
the people and countryside of his native land. I spent one of the happiest months of my life travelling
around the South Island of this incredible country, many years ago. If I can offer you one piece of advice
that you take to your heart today, let it be this: visit this country at some point in your life. You owe it to
yourself.
Elegy for My Father’s Father

Baxter led a very interesting, if somewhat unconventional life. He dropped out of university, suffered
from alcoholism, travelled through rural India and lived for the last few years of his life in a remote
Maori settlement called Jerusalem, before dying relatively young (aged 44). Not much of this is
particularly relevant to this specific poem. However, a brief mention of his early life might shed a little
light on the writing to follow. He grew up on what the CIE Notes for Teachers on the Poems refers to as
a ‘quiet and bleak, south-east corner of New Zealand on a farm.’ Baxter himself admitted that his
adolescence was a tense and fraught period of his life. His parents were from markedly different social
and educational backgrounds (father a conscientious objector during World War One, mother from a
wealthier and more educated background).

I have stated on many occasions in my previous guide that the title of any poem should be the student’s
first port of call. They always give the would-be analyst something to sink their teeth into. This particular
one allows you to jump in with both feet and display your analytical chops, so to speak.

That the poet does not choose the word grandfather/grandpa/grandad to describe their dead relative is
extremely telling. This use of the phrase ‘Father’s Father,’ creates a curious sense of distance and
dislocation. When we come to learn a little about the old man, through reading the poem, we will
discover why Baxter utilised this titular choice. Grandparents and grandchildren are often extremely
close, the bonds between them forged by mutual love and affection. The protagonist of this poem (we
will discover) was a closed, guarded and somewhat emotionally repressed individual, thus the title
choice is appropriate, if a little jarring. By choosing to refer to him in this way, the poet hammers home
the emotional distance between them and also highlights that this is going to be a peculiar sort of
‘elegy.’

So, we are getting off to a good start by making the above observations. Baxter wants the reader to
understand, right from the very start, that the relationship between this man and his family was
somewhat strained. The old man’s emotional guardedness is presented (subtly to be sure, but firmly)
straight away.It is not possible to say right away what exact level of love exists between the poet and his
grandfather, yet their relationship clearly does not conform to the accepted societal norms.

Alternative – It has been argued that the title affords us a little glimpse into a very different, much more
patriarchal era. The poem’s protagonist is very much a man’s man, in the traditional sense (strong,
hardy, individualistic, emotionally closed, in tune with nature). A figure from a different age, living what
amounts to a backwoodsman’s lifestyle, in a wild and untamed country. He would have been a figure
that bridged the old world and the emerging modern age of the poet. The title highlights this sense of
patriarchy (Father’s Father). It is interesting that there is very little sense of the impact the females in his
life had on the grandfather. I will say more about this in relation to the single time his wife is alluded to
later on in the poem.

The fact the poem is an ‘elegy’ is also very interesting. An elegy is a traditional lament for the departed
(look at Cold in the Earth for an idea of how these poems generally play out). It is assumed that the
recipient of such a poem was a respected and well-loved figure. This poem is certainly going to play with
our expectations. Baxter will subtly invert what we expect from this type of poem. As we will come to
discover, the tone of the piece is mixed, combining regret and sadness with an unusual sense of
celebration for the grandfather’s life. But more on that later.
Elegy for My Father’s Father

It’s worth reminding ourselves what CIE require of their students (from their own Learner Guide). You
are asked by the Exam Board to ‘explore different layers of meaning [and] appreciate ambiguity and
ambivalence in poetry.’ Engage with the subtleties and the authorial intention(s) inherent in Baxter’s
unusual title and you will be doing exactly what is required of you. As you are going to quickly discover,
this is a very ambiguous poem. CIE also point out that the pupils who do best have the confidence to put
forward ‘individual views of their reading.’ This should not come as a surprise at this stage of the game.
You shouldn’t simply be parroting phrases you noted down in class. Hopefully, this analysis will provide
enough alternatives to help you forge your own route.

In terms of structure this poem features one stanza of 38 lines. It utilises no clear rhyming scheme and is
written in free verse. I will allude to several structural points as we work through the piece, yet for now
it is enough to consider one over-arching issue and in doing so we will be linking structure and form to
the intentions of the poet. Baxter’s chosen structure, it can be argued, symbolically reflects the progress
of a human life, which is one long, continuous progression through time. The fact there is no obvious
rhyming pattern could also be said to be indicative of the chaotic and free form nature of existence. It is
in our nature as humans to look for meaning and patterns in existence, yet nature takes no such
regimented view. The first line of the poem is interesting. ‘He knew in the hour he died/That his heart
had never spoken.’ This is a striking start, focussing as it does on the very moments of a man’s death.
The fact ‘the hour he died’ is stressed suggests the old man knew his end was at hand, which possibly
rendered him more likely to pause and reflect (which as we will come to learn is not typical considering
his nature). Moments like this are raw and visceral. Notice that the poet simply writes ‘he died.’ Not for
Baxter the sort of euphemisms that are often employed when people discuss the death of a loved one
(he’s passed away/she’s gone).

It is also interesting that this matter of fact presentation makes no mention of anyone else being present
as he passed away. The poet, though he leaves this ambiguous, seems to be suggesting that the old man
died alone, rather than surrounded by his family. This is somewhat unusual, indeed today it would be
regarded as horribly tragic. We will most assuredly learn more about the relationship between the
protagonist and his family as we work our way through the poem.

Can we look a little deeper into what this tells us about the relationship between the poet and the
grandfather? Yes – the blunt, raw statement speaks to the distance that clearly existed between the two
(family relationships – theme). Baxter feels no need to dress up the man’s death or to sugar-coat the pill
for the reader.

So, what did the old man know as he felt death’s clammy breath on his neck? Well he knew ‘his heart
had never spoken.’ The alliteration jumps from the page here, creating an almost sing-song melody, as
well as emphasising the tragic truth of the old man’s life. This is also poignant personification. I
mentioned in Part One of this guide that an image that can do double duty is a friend to the clever
student. You get to reference two poetic techniques and make two points, all for the price of one, saving
time and space, allowing you to move on to the next pertinent image or issue.

Basically, we are being told that throughout the grandfather’s life he never opened up emotionally. His
heart, the emotional centre of his being, was never given a voice. What he felt, experienced, loved and
hated remained forever a mystery to his family. There is even the subtler implication that these feelings
remained something of a mystery to the man himself.
Elegy for My Father’s Father

Repressed is the word that comes to mind. Though we must consider context (AO1) at this point. He
would have been in his prime in the later part of the 19th Century. A man – and what was commonly
expected of a man – was a little different to that expected today. Men have often been accused of
bottling up emotions, soldiering on without opening up, stunting their emotional well-being. The
grandfather is a worker in the great New Zealand outdoors. He emigrated from Scotland in the 1860’s. It
could be argued that such emotional closedness was much more common in the time and surroundings
he inhabited. He was a person who had to travel half way across the world to make a life for himself.
Hard lands breed hard men.

However, all things being equal, we can infer that he was a closed, cold and distant person, who never
allowed the true feelings in his heart to be revealed. A person who never allowed their heart to speak
doesn’t sound like a particularly fun individual. On the surface of things this seems a rather tragic state
of affairs. We know right from the start that this is going to be a very unusual elegy. The tone here is
wistful and made more so by the troubling implication that the old man truly realised he had lived his
life like this, right at the very end (‘He knew.’) So, what we seem to have here is Baxter providing the
grandfather with an implied sense of regret (theme). The old man had never opened up or allowed his
feelings to show.

Yet, let us pause for a second. It is worth noting that this is the poet talking/writing. They are the one
providing us with a peek into the old man’s life. As such I think it is worth considering that these
observations need to be taken with a pinch of salt (considered for the second-hand information they are
and appreciated in this light). This does not lessen their weight or impact (they speak of the poet’s heart,
feelings and experiences after all), yet it is worth keeping the issue in mind. In many ways this is a poem
of assertions. Baxter is presenting a series of forceful statements of belief.

There are numerous issues worth considering from pondering this fact.

• Is the poet being somewhat presumptuous in attempting to step into the shoes of his grandfather?
Surely such a guarded old man would have kept his own counsel (the poem states as much).

• It is somewhat ironic, the grandfather being a very distant and cold creature, that the poet presumes
to imagine what might have been going through his head. Yet remember what I said earlier regarding
‘the hour he died.’ If the old man knew that the end was imminent it is reasonable to assume his mind
might have been awash with reflections/questions regarding the life he had led. Alternative – Many
more students have argued that the intellectual poet is attributing reflective depth the grandfather (a
simple man after all) could not have possessed. Whatever side of the argument you fall on, fear not. You
can never have too many alternatives. If you have time and the subject of the exam question demands
it, present both sides of this issue.

• Considering what we come to learn about the old man, is it reasonable to assume he might have
entertained doubts about the life he led at the very end? We all suffer from doubts after all. It’s not
unreasonable to assume that a man on the precipice of the grave might have ruminated on the life he
had led and the choices he had made. I keep on coming back to the issue of ‘he knew,’ when I reflect on
this issue, even if it is only the poet surmising what the old man might have been thinking.

• What is perhaps most interesting is the way in which the poet, rather than simply stating his opinions,
chooses instead to present the grandfather’s thoughts and feelings as he imagines they might have
Elegy for My Father’s Father

unfolded. He tries to step into his shoes. In a poem dealing with an impersonal and distant man (and
focussing on issues of regret and separation) this is a bizarrely personal way to approach his task as a
poet.

It is also worth noting that a discussion of the title and the first two lines have taken almost 1800 words
to analyse. This is a dense poem, one of the more puzzling pieces in the anthology. As such we must be
prepared to pause, consider and reflect on the many subtleties and inferences.

The grandfather’s long life is described in an interesting way, ‘eighty years of days.’ This is an unusual
way of presenting time. It is epic, almost biblical language. Now we know this is the length of time his
heart remained silent already, which is something of a tragedy. Yet in simple terms this unusual way of
delineating time provides emphasis. Think how many days there are in 80 years – not factoring in leap
years we are in the region of 29,200 days. The grandfather’s long, silent, inward-looking, reserved life
was a long one to be sure. The man’s longevity is emphasised by the poet’s clever use of words, as well
as the fact his life was a struggle. Surely the usage of ‘days,’ was intentional. He could have just used
years after all. Working the land in this harsh environment each day would have taken on a life of its
own, a struggle from dusk to dawn.

Alternative – Time for a little stretch here. We have not read on far enough to gain a full understanding
of the poet’s feelings for the old man, yet. However, I feel there is a sense of grudging respect here
(implied at least). This man, who travelled across land and sea to make a new life for himself and found
a family, has endured, day after day, after day. This alone seems to me to be worthy of remembrance.

It is also worth noting the enjambment in these opening lines. Always an interesting technique, it forces
us as readers to focus on what comes after the end of each line that does not utilise terminal
punctuation. His heart (and its lonely silence) is emphasised on line 2. While the longevity of the man
(and the subtle implication of a lifetime of struggle) is brought more fully to our appreciation in line 3.
These are not earth shattering structural points, yet they go to the heart of what the exam board wants
of you – an awareness of the writer’s intentions and methods (AO3).

Baxter’s love of Classical and Romantic literature is apparent in the flourish of the next line. ‘O for the
tall tower broken.’ There is a certain sense of irony in the use of such an epic style flourish in relation to
the life of such a simple country man. Yet I believe it is indicative of the regard the poet held his
grandfather in, even if the man’s lifestyle and attitudes were perplexing to his relatives. The ‘tall tower,’
can be seen to stand as a symbolic metaphor for the man’s life. In the simplest terms the metaphor of
the ‘tower’ represents strength and virility – we will discover that the old man was certainly a hardy
survivor. Going further, life is a series of building blocks that we raise, the sum and culmination of all our
experiences. That the tower is ‘tall,’ perhaps reflects the grandfather’s venerable age and breadth of life
experience. The alliteration adds weight to the poet’s memories of the old man, emphasising all the
trials and tribulations he endured in his long life. This follows on from ‘eighty years of days,’ re-enforcing
that the man indeed struggled through a plethora of challenging circumstances. While the poet does not
add any corroborating commentary to signal his respect for his grandfather, I think the feeling is subtly
implied.

Alternative – The ‘tall tower broken,’ can also be said to represent a civilization/era of sorts collapsing
and coming to an end. The rugged frontiersman lifestyle that the grandfather represents is receding into
the past. In a sense the old man represents an iconoclastic ideal passing away. ‘Broken’ is a forceful
Elegy for My Father’s Father

word after all, obviously it carries weighty connotations of death (theme). Life ends and death is an
immutable force. All things end, after all. We have discovered that this is a common literary motif that
has arisen in a number of the other poems in this collection.

Alternative – This line can also be linked back to the point made regarding patriarchy and the poem’s
title. The life the old man represents (manly stoicism and emotional coldness) is one that will eventually
be consigned to history. Look at all the websites and advice columns devoted to male parenting in the
21st century. The grandfather would certainly stand out as an oddity, in terms of attitude, in 2018. I am
jumping a little ahead of myself here. We have not got to his emotional coldness yet. However, I am
working on the assumption that you will all have read the poem and studied it in class, so you know
what’s coming.

The next few lines are pretty deep and dense by any standards, so buckle up and take your time reading
over and considering what follows. Several A* points are sure to crop up. I am going to print out this
little section, so you can hold the images in your mind’s eye as I work through them. The words
highlighted and underlined below are particularly worthy of our focus.

‘Memorial is denied:

And the unchanging cairn

That pipes could set ablaze

An aaronsrod and blossom.’

Regarding the grandfather’s death and funeral, we are informed ‘memorial is denied,’ this follows from
a run-on sentence (enjambment), which only serves to emphasise the sad state of affairs more
forcefully.

Quite simply this line shows how his surviving relatives mourn his passing and the message is a sad and
wistful one (tone). The mourning of the family is distinctly unusual. If you have ever been present at a
funeral you will have noted the solemnity and deep respect for the deceased. This is notably absent
here. Here memorial (read: full and open remembrance, where thoughts and pleasant memories of the
deceased were shared by the relatives) is ‘denied.’ This strongly suggests the relatives are actively
choosing to hold their tongues and remain silent. There is absolutely no sense of familial love here – an
inversion of the usual funeral formula. No great words are offered up over the man’s grave, no happy
memories or amusing stories. Compare this to the funeral oration Marc Anthony gives Caesar in
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar Act 3:2 (intertextual link). This is what you normally expect to hear at a
funeral: a panegyric (something written in praise of a person or thing). This conscious denial of
remembrance, this stony silence, is the very opposite of a panegyric.

‘The unchanging cairn’ creates a somewhat sad tone. A cairn is a raised pile of stones that serve as a
memorial or burial mound. The fact this is what is raised suggests that there was not even a proper
funeral (in a churchyard with a priest). So, in a sense the old man is getting a similar send off to the
young men who were killed in Anthem for Doomed Youth. The sad thing here is that he has not fallen in
some foreign field, buried among mounds of machine-gun riddled corpses, he has died (aged 80) in his
own home. A pile of lonely stones out in the wilds is not exactly the greatest monument to anyone’s life.
Elegy for My Father’s Father

I think this speaks volumes of the relationship between the grandfather and his family members. Baxter
goes on to draw out this silent lack of affection and closeness even further by describing the cairn as
‘unchanging.’ Is he suggesting here that the bare stones will be left unadorned over the years and that
no-one will ever turn up to place flowers or gifts by the grave as families do in modern graveyards? It is
very possible.

Alternative – The ‘unchanging cairn,’ could be symbolically standing in for the man himself – someone
who must have appeared incapable of change to those who knew him. A person who never deviated
from the course he had set. Obviously, this is both a positive and a negative image. The old man was
both stoic and implacably resolute (he stuck to his guns), while at the same time being stubborn and
incapable of adapting.

The pseudo-tragic tone is compounded by the fact that ‘pipes could set ablaze’ the funeral mound. I
think we can take this line as meaning some sense of a special occasion could have been created if
voices had been raised in praise of the man’s life. Some worthy remembrance might have been possible.
The choice of the word ‘could’ brings a lump to the throat. Things might have been different, the old
man might have been sent on his way with rousing cheers, raised drinks and songs, had things been
different between him and his family.

In many ways this is a poem that deals with choices and regrets (theme). For all of us the tragedy of life
is what could have been. Here Baxter brings us to this cold, silent graveside and allows us to imagine
what might have been had things been different.

The final line of this section I have highlighted is very interesting and allusive (it references The Bible in
particular). We are given an actual description of the cairn/grave. We have seen what might have been
had the family been on better terms and the man himself somewhat more open and emotional with
those closest to him, now we see what actually is.