A Small Needful Fact

“A Small Needful Fact” is in conversation with the English elegiac tradition, but it is also in conversation with the odic tradition. However, there is one way in which the poem deviates radically from both a traditional elegy and a traditional ode—while elegies and odes tend to be long, “A Small Needful Fact” is comparatively brief.

The title’s words “a” and “small” suggest brevity. “A” suggests the poem explores a single fact, not a litany of them; “small” suggests the “fact” will not require lengthy explication; and, indeed, the rest of the poem accords with title’s suggestions. “A Small Needful Fact” explores a single fact about Garner’s life briefly and is a single sentence, only 15 lines long, and most of those lines are very short.

Brief does not, however, mean shallow or inconsequential. Gay packs a great deal of resonance and meaning into this short poem. The compression of the poem is in keeping with the poem’s subject: the life of Eric Garner. Garner’s life mattered greatly, thus, “A Small Needful Fact” has many layers of meaning. Garner’s life was cut short, and the poem reflects that brevity.