The Big Match 1983 - Saumya Aloysius

 Structure and Poetic Techniques in Big Match 1983

‘Big Match 1983’ by Yasmin Goonaratne is a fifty-nine line poem that is contained within one block of text. The poem does not contain a specific rhyme scheme, but Goonaratne does make use of several poetic techniques. These include alliteration, enjambment and caesura.

The first, alliteration, occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. For example, “cower, cancel” in the second line. 

Caesura occurs when a line is split in half, sometimes with punctuation, sometimes not. For example, line twenty-eight: “not a dull moment. No one can complain”.

Another important technique commonly used in poetry is enjambment. It occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. Enjambment 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. There are a number of instances in which this technique influences a reader’s understanding of the text. They include the transitions between lines fifteen and sixteen, as well as lines thirty-one and thirty-two. 

Analysis of Big Match 1983

Lines 1-9

In the first lines of ‘Big Match 1983,’ the speaker begins by bringing the reader into a world of headlines and tourists. These tourists take a glance at the “headlines in the newspapers” and move quickly, like bugs, “scuttling for cover”. These headlines appear in the fourth line of the poem, they read “‘Flash point in Paradise.’ ‘Racial pot boils over.’” 

These quick bursts of information describe an area that’s not quite as safe as these tourists might like. They “cancel” the time they intended to spend in rooms with “views of temple and holy mountain”. “Paradise” is quickly becoming untenable. The conflict is between the government and the Tamil Tigers, as outlined in the introduction to this article. 

In the next lines, the poem moves to speak on a boy who had “gone away”. He was seeking out his own history in Toronto, Canada. It appears as though this boy returned to Sri Lanka, deciding that Toronto was “quite romantic enough for his purposes”. 

Lines 10-20 

In the next lines, the poet adds that “we,” presumably the people of Sri Lanka, were unable to “share” or “shelter”. Together, they are seeking to find the “match that lit this sacrificial fire”. This alludes to a quest to the deeper origins of the conflict and a cultural desire to understand the match that lit this fire. It was a “big” one, as the title suggests. 

When looking back on their history, this collective “we” remembers “‘Forty Eight ‘and ‘Fifty Six’”. These dates mark important pivot points in Sri Lanka history that led up to 1983. The first references the independence of the British Colony of Ceylon, which decades later came to be known as Sri Lanka. These second, 1956, is in reference to the Ceylonese riots, the first outbreak of Vince between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. 

The new lines refer to other moments of “treachery” on the part of the government and political figures. The “first sparks,” the poet says, were fanned into the enormous flame in “Nineteen Fifty Eight”. This is in regards to the 1985 anti-Tamil pogrom and further riots in Ceylon. The pogrom, or a violent riot aimed at the massacre/prosecution of an ethnic or religious group, was targeted at the Tamils. 

Despite coming to an understanding of the origins of the Civil War, the speaker and her collective “we” “find no comfort in [their] neat solution, / no calm abstraction, and no absolution”. On top of that, there is no way for them to change what’s going on anyway. 

Lines 21-33

The speaker explores in the next lines of ‘Big Match 1983’ the larger implications of violence. There is a “fever” that gripped both sides. The match that sparked the fire is burning “high and fast,” as if on headed straight for complete destruction. 

Moving into a new scene, the speaker describes a “tall house dim with old books and pictures”. This is juxtaposed with the imagery in the previous lines of fire and death. There are “calm hands” handling a “clamouring telephone”. The next lines of ‘Big Match 1983’ contain the words of one person on the phone. They speak lightheartedly and optimistically about the conflict going on around them. There is nothing “boring” about it they say. Then, they go into detail about how they are “Up all night keeping watch”. 

The speaker on this end of the phone is revealed to be a man in line thirty-five. He sends a woman, who is presumably his wife, along with his children “to a neighbours house”. 

Lines 34-42

Describing his own life in more detail, the new male speaker says that he’s always been a drinker, but now that the conflict is raging, his intake has been stepped up. He speaks in clear, seemingly unworried language about the “torches” and what happens when they get within “fifty feet of this house”. His statements are off the cuff, and appear to be making light of the situation. He muses that he’ll be the first to go up in flames, rather than his books because of how much he drinks. 

The narrator of ’Big Match 1983’ describes a pause on the phone line, and then the male speaker resumes talking. Thanking the narrator for calling and expressing the opinion that this call was similar to those they might’ve shared when they were neighbours in 1958. 

Lines 43-49 

The male speaker concludes the call by thanking the narrator again and stating that he’s glad that some “lines haven’t yet been cut”. This is a reference to both the phone lines and the larger relationship between the areas rife with conflict, and those outside the most dangerous areas. 

Goonaratne’s speaker goes on, describing how there are “a hundred guns” outside the fences of Jaffna, the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. They are ready for action, “bristl[ing]”. The imagery grows darker, with the speaker depicting childhood haunts melting in the flames of the riots. There are dead children, blood stains and crowds that are unable to help, looking the other way. The streets are desolate. 

Lines 50-59 

In the last lines of ‘Big Match 1983,’ the speaker adds that “Near the wheels” of one dead boy’s bicycle there are “two policemen” who avoid looking at the child’s corpse. In contrast to this attitude, is another man who falls in anguish to his knees as sticks and stones pelt him. His neighbour is responsible.

Within the conclusion, the speaker says that the “joys” of youth, friendship and childhood are being ravaged by politics, policies and ideologies. Sri Lanka as a country is personified in the last lines. She’s a screaming woman, burning alive as her people murder one another. 

 Structure of 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 the impactful pattern of ABAB CDCD, and so on, changing end sounds as Housman saw fit.

Poetic Techniques in Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree

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. 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. 

Analysis of Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree

Stanza One

“Farewell to barn and stack  and tree,

Farewell to Severn shore.

Terence, look your last at me,

For I come home no more.

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. 

Stanza Two 

“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.

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 

“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.

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 

“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.

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 

“Long for me the rick will wait,

And long will wait the fold,

And long will stand the empty plate,

Dinner will be cold.”

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.