James K Baxter
Commentary
One of the most frequent themes in Baxter’s poetry of the 1950’s and 60’s was the ugliness and sterility which he saw as being present behind the ‘respectable’ and ‘decent’ façade of middle-class New Zealand life.
As Baxter himself has said in his poetry: “Love is not valued much in Pig Island (New Zealand)”. He expands this to a summary of NZers’ attitude to sex and self-knowledge: “Work is good; sex is evil; do what you’re told and you’ll be alright; don’t dig too deeply into yourself”.
Furthermore, he claimed “A writer cannot avoid the task of exploring and understanding the private hell which lies just below the threshold of his own mind”.
The Ballad of Calvary Street
Written at a time when Baxter was a recently converted and very intense Catholic, the poem makes extensive use of religious symbolism to emphasise the ugly, barren lives of the old couple. The references begin with the title: Calvary was where Christ suffered and was put to death; Calvary Street is a place where the Christian virtues of love and charity are being ignored or put to death (note the extensive use of death-related imagery – tombs, blood, souls…)
The ‘trellises’ and ‘roses’ ‘bright as blood’ in the first stanza bring to mind the cross on which Christ was crucified; likewise the house is compared to an ‘empty tomb’ – in the Bible an empty tomb signified hope and rebirth, whereas here it is used ironically.
The ‘Tree of Life’ in line 20, previously a potent symbol of vitality and resilience, is debased (mocked/undermined) by the old man to a crude sexual symbol; an opportunity to make a vulgar joke.
The wife dreams of ‘a golden crown beyond the tomb’, which suggests that a cliché, sentimental picture of spiritual life after her present (dead) life is all that remains for her – she is just waiting for death. She feels she bears ‘the cross of woe’, and perhaps she does, but she is such an unpleasant person that we can’t help feeling that she brought this on herself.
The ‘lovefeast’ of line 48 is an ironic comparison with the Last Supper and/or Catholic Mass.
Their world seems to have shrunk to the woman’s grim kitchen (lines 13-14), the man’s weary reading and gardening (15-18), and the boring, dutiful weekly visit of their ‘fat and loud’ children with all the unloving perusal of the ‘family files’ (photo albums) and the growls at a grandchild’s harmless misbehaviour (7-12, 37-48).
The couple is certainly ugly – in the dad’s physical movements (15-18), the sexual coarseness of his speech (23-24), his bad temper (44, 52) and the unpleasant associations of the metaphor in line 54 he is far from the traditional silvery-haired and benevolent Grandpa. His wife shares the ugliness of lines 52 and 54, and in lines 27-36 she is presented as a cold and unforgiving figure, who would rather harbour resentment and engage in petty acts of meanness than address the cracks in her marriage.
They and their children lead lives dominated by materialism and isolation, rather than love and compassion – the ‘virtues of insurance’ is a main topic of conversation (note the ironic use of ‘virtues’) and their photo albums are treated as business ledgers rather than records of shared experience and love.
In spite of the lively and sometimes funny manner in which his points are made, ‘Calvary Street’ very clearly expresses Baxter’s belief that lovelessness leads to loneliness. This is summarized in the final stanza with its insistence that ‘Yin and Yang’ (male & female) can never be united in a place where love and kindness has died.
Style
The language and syntax used in the poem are mainly simple, almost colloquial, easy to read loud and memorise. It has been suggested that Baxter uses similar language to that of the people he is attacking (often plain and ‘flat’) – you can decide whether this is a fair judgment.
As a ballad, the poem has a regular rhyme scheme (ABABCC in each stanza) and an iambic rhythm (a weak beat followed by a strong beat) of mainly eight syllables per line (Shakesperean iambic pentameter has TEN syllables). These features could make the poem monotonous, but Baxter’s occasional variation of syllable number, the frequent enjambement (running one line into the next), the emphatic repetition, and the sheer, angry energy of the poet’s feelings keep ‘Calvary Street’ brisk and alive.
Criticism
There are some casual lines (perhaps 17-18 and 43-44) and Baxter has been accused of not knowing when to stop his attacks. He batters his victims (and readers?) with a sledgehammer, where often satirists are more subtle.