On Calvary Street analysis

The analysis below comes from Englishification

Baxter’s fallout with Westernised Christian society is apparent throughout The Ballad of Calvary Street. His critical stance tolls throughout the poem: middle class Kiwi life is a sterile, empty shell.  He demonstrates this attitude by using the technique of figurative language. Calvary Street is not conveyed as a place of joy. It is a place where its inhabitants “kill” love, while the street itself is branded an “empty tomb”. This figurative language creates morbid imagery, using harsh metaphors to suggest Calvary Street is a place of death and monotony, void of love and life, and a place that Baxter, or anyone, should despise.

Baxter further uses figurative language to emphasize his critical attitude towards the inhabitants of Calvary Street. He appeals to the reader’s empathy, using figurative language to show how middle class life has leeched the life out of its inhabitants. When describing the nameless wife of Calvary Street in her youth, he uses a clever metaphor which plays with our pre-conceived ideas, describing her as a “goddess in her tartan skirt” in her youth. This metaphor evokes the imagery of a mythical deity, an image we associate with the positive forces of feminity, sexuality, freedom and nature. It strikes an ironic and tragic chord for the reader: the same woman has now been caged by sterile suburbia and its expectations of conformity. Now, her “polished oven spits with rage”, a far cry from the free goddess she formerly was. Baxter’s clever use of figurative language emulates a sour tone, one that mirrors his disgust for NZ middle class society.

Baxter further highlights the poem’s critical attitude through his use of religious symbolism.  Used in an ironic manner, he uses this technique to highlight the hypocrisy of Christian values in our modern world and to show the emptiness of society. Firstly, Baxter cleverly uses religious symbolism in his choice of setting. Called Calvary Street, this ironic name mirrors that of Calvary Hill, the site where Jesus was crucified. On the surface, it could appear as a normal street name fit for pious inhabitants of suburbia. However, it slyly suggests that this street is synonymous with suffering, and is place where all true Christian values being slowly put to death. As Baxter’s poem is a generalisation for Kiwi society as a whole, we can assume that he means any street, in any suburb is a place of empty sterility. Secondly, Calvary Street is lined with “gnomes like pagan fetishes”. These garden gnomes represent a badge of middle class conformity, with no reason of existing other than to live up to a stereotype. These gnomes also contradict biblical teachings by embodying the idea of false idols. Though defined as a sin by the Bible, these pagan-esque gnomes have now become an everyday norm for these people. By using a simple phrase, the reader can gauge Baxter’s cynical attitude towards the hypocritcal modern day Christian values. Thirdly, the bitter wife of Calvary Street yearns for “a golden crown beyond the tomb”. This refers to her desire for the golden gates of Heaven. She lives her life hoping for a heavenly reward for her sufferings on Earth, or bearing “the cross of woe”. Baxter demonstrates how tragic the wife’s life has become, dedicating her life to a post-mortem Christian dream.Therefore, the wry use of religious symbolism highlights the absurdity of Westernised Christian life, developing the poem’s critical attitude.