Adding a UIBarButtonItem programmatically to UINavigationBar

I dropped in a UINavigationBar in UIInterfaceBuilder. I present this view modally and just want a UIBackBarButton to return to my last view. I have an outlet and property to this UINavigationBar declared. I thought in my viewDidLoad method, I could create a UIBackButton like this:

UIBarButtonItem *backButton = 
[[UIBarButtonItem alloc] initWithBarButtonSystemItem:UIBarButtonItemStyleBordered 
                                              target:self 
                                              action:@selector(goBack)];
self.navigationItem.backBarButtonItem = backButton;
[backButton release];

But I do not see my UIBackBarButtonItem on the UINavigationBar. I think I am doing something wrong here since I don't think my UINavigationBar knows I'm trying to add this UIBackBarButtonItem to it in this way. Would I have to do create an NSArray, put the button in it, and setItems for the NavigationBar instead?

I'm confused on how the navigationItem property works vs the setItems of the UINavigationBar as well. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!