"Casey at the Bat" a poetry by Earnest Lawrence Thayer

 

Casey at the Bat

 

In the first stanzas of ‘Casey at the Bat,’ the speaker begins introducing the current state of a baseball game. It is being played by the team from Mudville, a fictional town that Thayer invented for this poem. The game wasn’t going well. They are down “four to two” and there was only one more inning left to play. Thayer says it’s a Pall-like silence which means it’s like the complete silence which we witness at cremation place /smoke like silence in the audience.   

The next lines describe how team members were striking out and the crowd’s desire to see Casey, the main subject of this poem, get up and take his turn “at the bat”. This sets up the title sequence of this particular text. A reader will be immediately aware that Casey’s turn at the bat will be an important event.   

In this case, it appears as the general thoughts of the crowd, at least those rooting for Mudville. It is not one person speaking, but a whole group thinking. 

Some of the supporters got up and left in despair. But there are some who still have faith. So, they stuck to the hope that if Casey comes (whack at = get chance to blow),they can still win.

In the next stanzas of ‘Casey at Bat,’ two more men come up to bat. The first is Flynn - a “hoodoo,” a player whose presence is considered bad luck. As even non-fans of baseball know, luck and superstition often play a part in the game. The later was Jimmy Blake - “a cake,” - a player who is useless or having uncertain skills.  By using these slang words, which would only be recognizable by those who know the game well, Thayer is making it clear that he has a specific audience in mind: baseball lovers and/or players. 

The language in the second half of this stanza is dramatic. He says that upon the “stricken (troubled) multitude (gathering) ” “grim” (sadness) and “melancholy” (down heartedness) sat. The audience is depressed because they see very little chance that Casey could bat in the game.

Despite the bad sign that came with these two aforementioned players, they did well. Flynn drives a single and the Blake who was despised (hated) by all, also blows the ball. They got to second and third bases which means that Casey was going to get a chance at the bat. 

The poet than creates a specific dramatic atmosphere as Casey walks up to take his turn. More than five thousand people rose with a lusty (vigorous) yell (roar).

(The roar rumbled (rolled) through valley, rattled (excited) in dell (dip) pounded (crushed) on mountain and recoiled (sounds back) upon flat.)

Casey’s name is used six times in five lines as if his very presence is good luck. It’s his turn at the bat and the mood of everyone watching the game is lifted. Casey appears to be in good spirits as he “lightly doffed (lifted) his hat”. This is another example of the elevated diction. The word “doffed” means to remove. In this case, to acknowledge the crowd and say thank you for the cheers and encouragement. 

Casey rubs his hands in the dirt and then wipes them on his shirt, a clear example of the repetitive actions some baseball players take in order to make sure that luck is on their side. Rather than call the baseball a baseball, Thayer refers to it as “leather-covered sphere”. This is a funny example of poetic language. The same can be said of Casey’s pose of “haughty (proud) grandeur (splendid big)”. 

There is more dialogue in the eighth stanza as Casey decides not to hit the ball. It’s not his “style” he says. 

A “muffled (quiet) roar” erupted from the crowd after this, emphasized by a simile comparing their movements and sounds to “the beating of the storm-waves on a stern (harsh hard) and distant shore”. This drama is matched by their demands to “Kill the umpire”. The speaker humorously adds that this action was in fact quite likely if Casey had not “raised his hand”. 

Casey does not hit the ball for a second time and the umpire calls strike two. 

Now the crowd directs its anger at Casey rather than the umpire. They call him “Fraud” but he silences them with a look. He appears determined and ready to hit the ball no matter what on the next pitch. 

The “air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow” the fourth line reads. But, unfortunately, the game doesn’t end as the crowd wanted. Casey strikes out and the crowd goes home unhappy. 

This is a surprising and interesting ending to a poem that felt set up for victory from the first lines. Casey’s overconfidence and decision not to swing at the first two pitches was his downfall.