Dead Boy by John Crowe Ransom
"Dead Boy" by John Crowe Ransom is a poem that explores the theme of death within a rural community, presenting a stark and detached portrayal of grief. The poem is structured in conventional quatrains with a rhyme scheme that lends it a formal tone, aligning with its serious subject matter. Unlike traditional sentimental poetry, Ransom avoids emotional excess; instead, he employs understatement to create distance between the speaker and the emotional weight of the child’s death. The unnamed boy is depicted not as a hero or beloved figure, but rather as a complex character whose death prompts a somber reflection on loss. The speaker highlights the community's discomfort and their attempts to process this "deep dynastic wound," which symbolizes the loss of lineage and vitality. The mother’s grief is portrayed with raw emotion, yet the speaker quickly reverts to irony, illustrating how death alters perceptions of individuals. Ultimately, Ransom’s poem invites readers to contemplate the ramifications of death on identity and community, emphasizing the complexities of familial bonds and societal expectations.
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Dead Boy by John Crowe Ransom
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1924 (collected in Two Gentlemen in Bonds, 1927)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“Dead Boy” deals with the intrusion of death into a rural community. The poem’s form is conventional: quatrains rhyming abab or cdcd. The relatively prosaic title, “Dead Boy,” sets the no-nonsense tone. The speaker breaks with the sentimental tradition, using understatement to distance both speaker and reader from emotional involvement in the death of this unnamed child. No attempt is made to describe the grief of the boy’s extended family (county kin) and neighbors; instead, the reader learns that they “do not like” what has happened. Thus, the reader is led to examine this death with detachment, and the full emotional impact is saved for the final stanza and the speaker’s conclusions about this “deep dynastic wound.”
The speaker ironically undercuts any tendency toward sentimentality, describing a boy not heroic, talented, or beloved by the community; his disposition seems more “stormy” than sunny. At times his mother called him a sword beneath her heart, but her bitter weeping shows deep love for him.
Having approached raw emotion in describing the mother’s grief, however, the speaker immediately retreats to ironic discussion of changed attitudes toward the child; death has transformed a squealing, pasty-faced pig into a “little man,” and in his face, the speaker professes to see family resemblance.
The speaker shifts from this little man to focus on the “elder men” of the community, who represent age and its accompanying loss of vitality. Uncomfortable remaining in the house, these men congregate outside, exchanging rumors in an unsuccessful attempt to deal with their deep dynastic wound, the loss of a male heir to carry on the family name.
Bibliography
Brooks, Cleanth. “John Crowe Ransom: As I Remember Him.” American Scholar 58, no. 2 (Spring, 1989): 211-233.
Cowan, Louise. The Fugitive Group: A Literary History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959.
Howard, Maureen. “There Are Many Wonderful Owls in Gambier.” Yale Review 77 (Summer, 1988): 521-527.
Malvasi, Mark G. The Unregenerate South: The Agrarian Thought of John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Donald Davidson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
Modern American Poetry Web site. “John Crowe Ransom.” http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m‗r/ransom/life.htm.
Quinlan, Kieran. John Crowe Ransom’s Secular Faith. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989.
Rubin, Louis D., Jr. “The Wary Fugitive: John Crowe Ransom.” Sewanee Review 82 (1974): 583-618.
Young, Thomas Daniel. Gentleman in a Dustcoat: A Biography of John Crowe Ransom. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976.