The Barn and Stack and Tree - by A E Houseman

In “The barn and stack and tree”, the poet underscores the repercussions of giving into emotions and its impact on an entire community. Discuss.    

“The Barn and Stack and Tree” was a pastoral lyric composed by the English poet A E Houseman. The poem contains one painful experience of a young unnamed farmer who happens to be the poetic persona of the poem, too. Through the poem the poet suggests that giving into emotions harms not only the person but also the entire community.

 

In the following section, let us look at various parties who were affected by the hasty action of the young farmer. The first person to suffer due to his action was the farmer himself. The young man loses his brother. Fratricide is a serious sin according to the Bible as illustrated by the Old Testament story of Cain and Able. Not only that, he loses his name. He would not be able to use the name he was given by his parents for the fear of being identified by the law. In addition, he would have to live the life of a fugitive – living from post to pillar.  Being a prosperous farmer, the young man would have enjoyed a fair amount of prestige; however, a man on the run would have none of that. In addition, he would have to keep on looking over his shoulder all the time – he can never let down his guard and be at ease.  Looking at the first line of the poem, “Farewell to Barn and Stack and Tree”, his legacy was important to him; he was its custodian and he was expected to hand it over to another generation. Losing that legacy as well as the pain of letting down his ancestors would torment him for the rest of his life. The pain of letting down his mother in her old age is another tragedy the young man would have to face. The poet illustrates this situation through the line “My mother thinks us long away”. If that was not enough, he would also have to give up his friendship with Terrance, his best friend: “And here’s a bloody hand to shake/ And o man, here’s goodbye”. Moreover, the young farmer would not be able to enjoy what he used to enjoy – such as racing at Lamas tide.   Farmers are people who bound to their land and people in their lives. But looking at what we have discussed so far, it is clear that the young farmer would be suffering from unbearable mental agony for the rest of his life because of his hastiness.

The second person to suffer due to the young farmer’s haste was his own brother Maurice whom he murdered. His life was cut short in its prime due to his brother’s jealous hast over a woman they both seem to have been interested in. The young woman herself would surely become the target of malicious gossip and lose her prestige. She might not be able to have a family of her own and would surely face a bleak future because of that.

Though the impact was not as serious as it was on the farmer, his brother, their mother and the young woman, Terrance, the young  man’s lifelong friend too was a victim of his friend’s haste  – he loses a friend.

The impact of the young farmer’s hast is not limited to people: the farm and the animals too would suffer due to negligence as there would be no one to take care of them or inherit them as one bother was dead and the other would be leaving the area to avoid capture. 

In conclusion,   looking at the discussion so far, there is no doubt/ it is certainly beyond doubt that giving into emotions affects not only the person who had given into it but also all the animate and the inanimate connected with his life.

Narges Mohammadi, a fiery flower or a vengeful goddess?

 

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 #NobelPeacePrize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all," stated the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Narges Safie Mohammadi was born on the 21^st of April 1972 in Zanjan, a central Iranian city 170 miles northwest of Tehran, to a middle class Iranian family. Zanjan has a history of harbouring denizens with leftish leanings. Mohammadi’s birth had taken place just 7 years after the Iranian Revolution and her family has been involved in political protests since the Revolution.   

Ms. Mohammadi had read Physics and received her Bachelor of Science degree from Imam Khomeini University in Qazvin. She was an engineer by profession. She became an activist and an advocate for women’s rights, equality and abolition of the death penalty in her undergraduate years at IKU.

To this day she has been “arrested 13 times, convicted five times and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes,” said the Nobel Prize website. Mohammadi was serving multiple sentences in Tehran's Evin Prison before she was transferred to Zanjan the place of her birth. Reuters reporting from Oslo on the 6^th of October stated that Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday as “a rebuke to Tehran’s theocratic leaders and boost for protesters.” Reuters also added that the award committee stated that “the prize honoured those behind recent unprecedented demonstrations in Iran and call for the release of Mohammadi.” Lauding Mohammadi, Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told Reuters:

We hope to send the message to women all around the world that are living in conditions where they are systematically discriminated have the courage, keep on going…We want to give the prize to encourage Narges Mohammadi and the hundreds of thousands of people who have been crying for exactly 'Woman, Life, Freedom' in Iran.

U.S. President Joe Biden said, "The United States will continue working to support Iranians’ ability to advocate for their own future, for freedom of expression, for gender equality, and to end gender-based violence against women and girls everywhere." In addition, Ms Mohammadi received a steady stream of tributes from key global bodies . U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commenting on Mohammadi’s award said that it was "a tribute to all those women who are fighting for their rights at the risk of their freedom, their health and even their lives." Dan Smith of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on the other hand stated that the prize could help ease Iranian dissidents, it would be unlikely to bring about Mohammadi's release. "Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. In awarding her this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour her courageous fight for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran," said the Nobel Prize website.

Nasser Kanaani, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry, reacting to the announcements of the Nobel Web stated:

The action of the Nobel Peace Committee is a political move in line with the interventionist and anti-Iranian policies of some European governments …The Nobel Peace committee has awarded a prize to a person convicted of repeated law violations and criminal acts, and we condemn this as biased and politically motivated.

The Nobel Peace Prize worth around 1 million dollars will be presented in Oslo on December 10^th on the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will. After the announcement was made Mohammadi had stated to the New York Times that she would "continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women.” The alleged death of Masha Amini while she was in police custody resulted in the latest spate of violence in Iran. The Nobel laureate, herself, has been arrested 13 times, convicted five times and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Commenting on that the Nobel Prize website had added, "Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs."

51-year-old Mohammadi is an Iranian journalist, human rights activist, the deputy director and the spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), a non-governmental organisation led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who lives in exile. "I congratulate Narges Mohammadi and all Iranian women for this prize," Ebadi told Reuters. "This prize will shed light on violation of women's rights in the Islamic Republic ... which unfortunately has proven that it cannot be reformed." told Ebadi to Reuters.

She is married to Taghi Rahmani. Commenting on the decision to the Reuters from his home in Paris, Rahmani stated, "This Nobel Prize will embolden Narges' fight for human rights, but more importantly, this is in fact a prize for the 'woman, life and freedom' movement." Hamidreza Mohammadi, Mohammadi’s brother who was in Oslo said, "She will feel much stronger in her endeavours for human rights in Iran and for everyone who hopes for a better situation in Iran." It is stated that Narges Mohammadi has been separated from her husband for 15 years and her children for 7 years due to her activism. They reside in France while Mohammadi lives in Iran.