About The Poem

The poem Balad of Claudy By James Simmons, was written in 1974 and is a tribute to the victims of the “Claudy Boombing”. It is believed that the IRA (Irish Republican Army) was behind the attack although they have always denied any part in the bombing.

The speaker starts with a description of Claudy (which is a small town from Derry Londonderry, Northern Ireland), he describes this place which is surrounded by Sperrin Mountains and Faughan lake. In the last line of the first stanza the speaker says that “a new day begun”. The speaker seems to be “away” from this scene. He is “just” describing the landscape.

In the second stanza, the speakers wants to immortalize/remember the scene that he is about to describe forever, like a picture. He describes what the McIlhenny and his family are doing.

In the third stanza, the speaker describes what McCloskey, McClelland, Miller and a young guy are doing.

In the fourth stanza, the speaker goes on describing the scene, mentioning other names and in the end of the fourth stanza the speaker makes a question “what's strange about that”, once he describes ordinary people and their ordinary lives, there isn’t anything special about that.

The answer for the mentioned question comes with the fifth stanza, it starts with the answer “not much”, but before she comes back to the road the strange car parked outside her house will explode”.Here there is a twist point in the description of the events, the mood is not the same. The speaker goes on “And all of the people I’ve mentioned outside will be waiting to die or already have died”. With this we are totally sure that the description is not about an ordinary day in the city of Claudy.

The speaker first focuses on a description about ordinary events that are taking place in an ordinary town and here he focuses on the interruption to that lifestyle.

With the sixth stanza the speaker says “An explosion too loud for your eardrums to bear” and he starts to talk about a real mass, creating a contrast between the first four stanzas of the poem. He mentions something that we could assume as a war scene.

In the seventh stanza things are going from bad to worse, the speaker talks about the legs of an old lady, which are blown off and a man’s head is hanging open, but he is not dead. It’s a horror scene being described.

The banality of the rhyme draws attention to the inconsequential made consequential because of the actions of the IRA bombers.

In the last stanza, the speaker uses the word “little” to describe Katherine, who is dead, than he says that Mrs. McLaughlin(who was scrubbing the floor) is pierced through the head and meanwhile the killers are running away from this war scene and for any reason people are finding it hard to get on the phone.

There was no time for last moments, final thought or words.

The poem accumulates images of atrocity, the speaker describes the terrible events in the same way he describes the ordinary events in the first stanzas. There is a moment when the speaker comes closer to this scene, when he says “and Christ, little Katherine is dead.” Now, he seems to be touched by the events that are being described here, he is not away from the scene anymore.