'Harmonium' - Simon Armitage

This is a poem about a man who is apparently buying an old harmonium (a type of old organ) from his local church because it isn't used anymore. The speaker in the poem is sad, in a way, because he thinks about how important this organ probably was back in the days, when families went to church together. Now, the church is empty, and the church are letting him buy it 'for a song'. Not much money.

Context

Simon Armitage is famous for his use of colloquial (every day, informal) language and the inclusion of autobiographical material in his poems. Family is an important topic for Armitage, as is music. This poem combines the two subjects.

Subject

The harmonium is a musical organ (usually found in a church) that is played using keys and foot pedals. The poem tells the story of someone rescuing a harmonium from being "bundled off to the skip". The narrator needs the help of his father to carry the instrument away from the church.

Structure and language

Structure

The poem has four stanzas of varying lengths. The first stanza describes the harmonium as it stands, ready to be discarded. The next is a closer investigation of the instrument, with detailed descriptions of its parts. The third stanza considers the history of the instrument. The final stanza, which describes carrying the harmonium from the church, is concerned with the relationship between the speaker and his father.

Language

Armitage uses brand names and place names frequently in his poetry, rooting it in the modern world and bringing an element of reality and honesty to his work. In this poem the brand of the organ is mentioned - a Farrand Chapelette - as well as the place it's from, Marsden Church (Marsden is a large village in West Yorkshire).
Colloquial language is used to create an informal, friendly and conversational tone. In the first stanza the harmonium is "gathering dust", about to be "bundled off to the skip" or sold "for a song" (cheaply). This technique creates a sense of honesty and deceptive simplicity.
The colloquial language is also combined with puns associated with music. As well as the example above, the sound of the harmonium "still struck a chord" - both literally as the instrument still plays, but also because it triggers thoughts of the past, specifically of fathers and sons singing in the church choir.

Imagery

The third stanza uses an interesting metaphor to describe the choir. The singers "opened their throats/and gilded finches - like high notes - had streamed out". The metaphor of the voices sounding like golden birds is combined with a simile of the "high notes" to create a very positive and joyful image of the past.
The harmonium is given human qualities throughout the poem: the keys are "fingernails"; "one of its notes has lost its tongue"; and it is carried out "laid on its back". The position of the instrument in the church, like an important member of the congregation or community, was once significant.
There is careful observation of the instrument, the organist and the speaker's father to create atmosphere and associations with the past. The holes in the "treadles" (foot pedals) prompt an image of the organist's feet, socks and shoes. These have "pedalled and pedalled", a repetition bringing to mind both the playing of the instrument and time passing. Line 19 has a similarly close observation of the father's "smoker's fingers and dottled thumbs".
Although the poem is literally about a musical instrument, it is also about ageing and how a son takes the place of his father as time passes. The speaker uses parallelism, a form of repetition in which syntax (structure of words in a sentence) is repeated: "And he, being him, ... And I, being me,". This use of a repetition intensifies the relationship between father and son.
The personality of the speaker is reflected in the final three lines. The narrator's father suggests that the next thing carried from the church will be his own coffin; the speaker responds:

And I, being me, then mouth in replySome shallow or sorry phrase or wordToo starved of breath to make itself heard.

The two pairs of indefinite descriptions "shallow or sorry" and "phrase or word" are vague and imprecise, and the narrator's lack of breath means whatever he has said is not heard. This suggests a sense of the speaker's feelings of inadequacy. Is he up to the job of "replacing" his father? Or perhaps the speaker is upset and tongue-tied at the thought of his father's death. He could also, of course, be breathless from the exertion of lifting the heavy organ!

Attitudes, themes and ideas

The poem is a celebration of a musical instrument and its role for generations in the local church and wider community. The poem is mostly about the relationship between father and son, however, and the way in which life is cyclical - a son becomes a father and he in turn becomes a father, "each in their time".
The poem is possibly about regret too. The harmonium is "gathering dust/in the shadowy porch", and by saving the instrument there is an attempt to preserve the memories it provokes in the speaker. The final lines have a sense of failure about them, as if the speaker feels something has been lost which he is unable to recapture.
The writing of the poem might redress (set right) this sense of failure, however, by aiming to recreate the beautiful music and community spirit associated with the harmonium.