Thursday 10 March 2011
Further reading task on 'Scars Upon my Heart'
Please leave your comments here on two poems from pages 65-83. Make sure that you have read previous comments from your peers and try to make comparisons with your own chosen poems. This will help develop the skill of cross-referencing and will be very useful for revision purposes.
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‘At The Movies’ by Florence Ripley Mastin
ReplyDeleteIn this poem Mastin is telling us about what she has seen in a film about war and how it reminds her of people she has lost in war and the realisation that people that have gone to war are probably not coming back, “Then I remember, and my heart grows cold!”
In the first stanza Mastin describes the men as “brave” and how they did not know what was going to happen, yet they were eager to go. However the second stanza implies that the men were naïve about what they thought was going to happen and how things were going to turn out.
Mastin says “ghostly white” in the second stanza to describe how she is seeing things. This suggests that the women on the home front are seeing the men as sad, lonely and not real, they have changed from how they used to be. The word “ghostly” suggests the reality of war and is associated with death therefore reminding them of the loved ones they have lost or could not be coming home. Reminding the women that “Twelve months ago they marched into the grey of battle” and bringing back memories.
When Mastin says “I meet his eyes, eager and young and bold” she is reminded of the youthfulness of the men and how they were so eager and almost excited to fight for their country then “the picture quivers into ghostly white” shows how the men have changed.
On behalf of Fran:
ReplyDeleteNina MacDonald- ‘Sing a Song of War-Time’ Published in 1918 in ‘War-Time Nursery Rhymes’
The lyrical form of this poem, written in a way meant to be sung, creates a light-hearted mood on a serious subject. The rhythm and metre of this poem, which has been written to the rhythm of the nursery rhyme, ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ makes the war seem less horrific as it creates a more upbeat tone. Although by using the rhythm of a children’s nursery rhyme war, which has connotations of death and destruction, could be viewed as horrendous as it has intruded into innocent children’s everyday life.
MacDonald writes this poem from a child’s perspective , a little boy, which creates the sense that war is a nuisance, ‘Bread and margarine to eat’ preventing him from eating what he would like and as if the war’s biggest disaster is he, ‘can’t buy any toys’. This could be suggesting the naivety of the homefront not realising the true horror of war.
However as this poem was published in 1918, the realisation of the horror of war had already been realised, suggesting this poem is representing the futility of prolonging the war and the lives it will continue to wreck. MacDonald shows the affect of war on a little boy, ‘Nurse is always busy/ Never time to play,’ showing how his biggest problem is not being able to play, rather than the harsh reality of the brutal killings of war. This could be seen to be showing the naivety of this young boy, which will turn into the naivety of a young soldier if the war continues, evoking sympathy from the reader to this little boy. This could be compared to ‘Education’ by Barrington where she explains the affects of war on children but in a harsher tone.
Again this child’s perspective shows the big changes which occurred during the war in a simpler way, ‘Girls are doing things they’ve never done before’ implying the changes of the roles of women as something odd as it has never been seen before. While sending off soldiers, ‘Waving them ‘Good-bye’…Home we go to tea,’ is shown as if once they waved the soldiers off they were forgotten and people just got back on with their lives, perhaps not worrying about the loved ones sent of to war.
The ending lines, ‘All the world is topsy-turvy/ Since the war began.’ Seems a childish way to describe the affect of war on the homefront, however the world would of seemed ‘topsy-turvy’ especially to a little boy when all the men had gone and women were doing jobs never done before and many things were rationed or unaffordable. These endings lines could also be interpreted to the world being the wrong way round because of the horror and deaths people were inflicting on each other in a way which seemed inhumane and wrong.
On behalf of Fran:
ReplyDelete‘Convalescence’ Amy Lowell
Amy Lowell was part of the Imagist movement, which was a movement in poetry where poets presented ideas and emotions through clear, precise images.
This poem is written in sonnet form, 14 lines, which is usually associated with love poems, however this poem is the opposite, using imagery and metaphors to portray the horrific ordeal soldiers experienced at war. Although this poem does not contain rhyming couplets, like a sonnet, it has an ABBACDDCEFGEFG rhyming scheme which adds to the depressing, slow pace and tone of the poem.
The title of the poem, ‘Convalescence’ means to recover from an illness, the poem talks about a soldier and how all his horror is slowly returning the world back to normal. However the imagery of this soldier’s experience makes the reader wonder whether he should be sacrificed to let the world go back to normal.
‘Then falls, betrayed by shifting shells,’ suggesting the shock of the soldiers, who signed up thinking war would be over quickly, not realising the horror of war. It could also be interpreted as the betrayal felt by the soldiers towards the Colonels and other people planning the war, who did not of the pain on the Front line and sent soldiers to battle knowing many may not return, but willing to sacrifice their lives in order to win the war.
‘Clutch for support where no support can be.’ Implying the lack of support soldiers faced from people on the Homefront, who did not know of the horror of war and expected soldiers to carry on as normal when they returned. Also ‘where no support can be’ suggests the lack of understanding and help towards soldiers suffering from shell shock. Showing the loneliness and possible anger felt by the returning soldiers.
‘And sandflies dance their little lives away’ Sandflies are insects which transmit disease, which could be a metaphor for the soldiers who are creating the disaster of war, spreading war’s disease. While, ‘dance their little lives away’ is a metaphor for the youth of the soldiers who lost their lives at war.
The ending three lines, see the soldier being released, ‘the sucking waves retard,’ suggesting either the soldier has passed away or that he has managed to survive the war and has returned home. The ending line, ‘And in the sky there blooms the sun of May.’ Shows the returning normal world that this soldier and every other soldier has suffered for.
Throughout the poem, there is a great sense of helplessness felt by the solider, being betrayed, the lack of support and dying so young. Although the poem knows this soldier has gone through this for a greater cause, helping get the world back to normal, it makes the reader wonder whether his sacrifice is worth this, relating back to the title.
"June, 1915" by Charlotte Mew
ReplyDeleteThe poem is organised in one stanza, with a rhyme structure of ABCACDEDE, but this is not obvious at first due to the use of indentation and enjambment.
The poem is about how the world has stopped noticing anything other than the war. It begins with a rhetorical question of "Who thinks of June's first rose today?", then answers it with "Only some child, perhaps...", presenting children as still carefree during the war, which perhaps is a bit fantastical. It also mentions "a green sunny lane, to us almost as far away", present an idyllic nature scene as something alien during the war, and refers to "the fearless stars" similarly. They are compared to the "veiled lamps of town", personifiying the lamps, and with the use of the word "veiled" representing the fear in the city.
It then finishes with two more rhetorical questions, asking how much nature and beauty matter to a "great broken world" and how the amount of "grief" has turned to "dread", and then reverses the quetsion by asking how war can matter to a child with "shining eyes".
"Spring in War-Time" by Edith Nesbit
The poem is organised into 4 stanzas, each one of an ABAB rhyme scheme, giving it a neat, simplistic feel.
The first stanza refers to the "lover's lane" where the narrator and her lover "used to go" which is now covered in "snow", representing a world which can think of nothing of war, with no time for love or beauty. There is also a sense of finality when the stanza ends with "we shall not go again
The second stanza talks of how nature carries on in the grip of war, and "the buds are new" and "the violets peer", but the narrator can no longer appreciate them, and they "have no scent this year".
The third stanza describes her regret of not settling down with her lover - she notices the birds that "sing" in their "nest[s]" and regrets how, last year, they had the "heart to sing" but "never built our nest".
The final stanza reveals that he has died, as she notices how the "roses" will "make all the garden gay" but again cannot appreciate them, as her lover now lies in the same "clay".
‘The Fields of Flanders’ by Edith Nesbit.
ReplyDeleteThis poem talks about how the war has caused so much destruction to the country and mentions how much it has changed as a result. In the first stanza, Edith describes how the environment looked before the war. She uses lots of bright colours to describe the flowers which were growing such as ‘silver daisies’ and ‘kingcups gold’ which makes the scene seem more attractive. By doing this, she has painted an idyllic image for the reader which makes the effects of the war even more shocking.
By starting the first stanza with ‘last year’ and beginning the second with ‘this year’, Nesbit makes the change that has occurred seem to be over a very short time. This shows that the war affected the country suddenly. She states that the fields are now ‘brown’ which contrasts to the many different colours that she mentioned in the first stanza, highlighting the change that the land has gone through. Brown is also a very dull, uninteresting colour which gives the idea that the life has been taken out of the land as well as the soldiers. She talks about the hedges ‘breaking’ and the fields becoming ‘trampled’ which shows that it wasn’t just the soldiers who were destroyed. She says that the primroses ‘used’ to grow, highlighting that they are no longer there, and reinforcing that poppies are now growing on the disrupted ground. The last line of the stanza says ‘little black crosses row set in a row’ which sounds familiar to the line ‘upon the crosses row on row’ in Flanders Fields by John McCrae. This line highlights the number of soldiers who were dead by the repetition of ‘row’.
The third stanza contains a lot of metaphors about the ‘flower of hopes’ and ‘dreams’ and the ‘tree of life’ which links the soldiers to nature. This then links to the fourth stanza which states that ‘the changing seasons will bring again the magic of spring.’ This gives the idea that nature is able to bring back the dead flowers with each season, but the dead can never be brought back, showing that the war has caused damage beyond repair. It then goes on to say that ‘the crosses will still be black in the green’ showing that despite the colour of the flowers returning in the spring, the crosses, and therefore the memory of all the soldiers who have died will remain.
‘In A Restaurant, 1917’ by Eleanour Norton
ReplyDeleteThis poem highlights the effect that the death of a soldier has had on the community. It is from the view of someone in a restaurant who sees a man but then later learns that he has in fact died in the war. The first stanza starts by talking about the ‘music’ that was playing and the ‘blaze of light’ that they were in showing how normal the country was before the war. The third line mentions the ‘battle- jaded khaki knights’ highlighting that people on the homefront commonly thought of the soldiers as hero’s and represents the propaganda that they were experiencing at home. ‘Battle-Jaded’ shows that they have been affected by the war but still emerge as knights and are still perceived as ‘civilised once more’.
The final stanza talks about a certain soldier who lit up the room when they saw him and seemed to give the ‘common air an added grace’. The final line of this stanza then says that the soldier is now ‘far in France in an unmarked grave’ showing the horrors of the war, and reinforcing the way that everyday people could suddenly be killed in the war. It also shows that he is merely an unknown soldier in an ‘unmarked grave’ which is more shocking as it makes it seem that loads of soldiers have died without anyone knowing who they were.
The Fields of Flanders – Edith Nesbit
ReplyDeleteImmediate reaction to this poem is to compare it to ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae. It was written in the same year as ‘In Flanders Fields’ 1915. There are some similarities in the poems for example ‘Are little black crosses set in a row’ although ‘The Fields of Flanders’ is written in 3rd person. Within ‘Scars Upon My Heart’ the poem could be compared with ‘Flanders Fields’ by Elizabeth Dayrush which has a similar context.
The first stanza talks about last year, before the war started, and what the fields used to look like. The description of the fields is very picturesque and idyllic, for example; ‘And primrose stars under every hedge’. The description also makes it sound very ordered, and like everything is in place as it should be.
In the second stanza, it enters the present tense and describes how the description of the fields before has been ruined. I also think the imagery represents the soldiers and the difference before the war and during the war for example ‘The hedges are broken and beaten down’ represents the devastation to nature the war bought, and also the horrific experiences the soldiers went through; ‘beaten down’.
The third stanza reflects the idea of it representing the soldiers, and the idea of how a generation was lost during the war, and that their hopes and dreams were ‘trampled down in the mud and blood’
The fourth stanza describes how life will go on and that as the seasons change, everything will grow again and although everything will be green, the war will always be forgotten because of ‘The crosses will still be black in the green’
The last stanza seems to come from an angry viewpoint, suddenly turning to religion by saying ‘God! Hold our hands on the reckoning day’ – the ‘reckoning day’ are the judgement day in Christianity.
The rhyme of the poem is quite simple with rhyming couplets throughout, these add a rhythm to the poem that makes it at first seem quite light and cheerful, and even when talking about the loss, it still seems quite a bright poem.
'In A Restaurant' by Eleanour Norton (pg. 83)
ReplyDeleteThis poem is especially sad as you get to know and learn about this man and I could almost find myself relating to him and his friends on a level. The poem magnifies the pointlessness of all the lives lost during the war. It leaves the reader sympathising with this man and addressing how unfair it is that he's not out with all his friends and instead he is now 'far in France [in] an unmarked grave.' It does not seem fair at all.
The tone of the poem starts off as seemingly jingoistic. For example; the soldiers are referred to as 'battle jaded khaki knights.' The term 'knight' conjures up images of old fairy tales of knights rescuing princesses making the war seem almost like a fantasy type of affair.The word 'knight' also seems to somewhat glamorise the typical army job. There also seems to be an air of excitement about London's atmosphere and more importantly the soldiers being back also. The tone then nearly abruptly changes to remembering a time when a now lost friend used to join them on days out in London. She speaks of how he also used to dress in 'splendour' and he too enjoyed the 'ebb...and flow' of London life. The friend was spoken of giving 'the common air an added grace.' the word common could refer to the social class or possibly the phrases main purpose was to demonstrated how his presence was a great one and he was a very calming character.
May 1915 – Charlotte Mew
ReplyDeleteAbout her;
‘Overwhelmed by ill health, family deaths and poverty, she had a poor opinion of herself and her writing’
‘Her output was small but extraordinary’
‘She finally committed suicide’
The poem has alternate rhyme scheme and some enjambment which makes the poem read slightly more like prose.
The poem seems to be written at a time when people were beginning to lose hope in the war as they had first believed it would be over by Christmas, as the poem begins ‘Let us remember Spring will come again’.
The poem contains a lot of personification ‘sure of the sea to send its healing breeze’ this makes it appear as if everyone is united in helping to end the war. By personifying the elements like this it as if the war will change when the elements do.
The last line of the poem ‘blind to the scattered things and changing skies’ gives the impression that while at the war, the change in seasons meant nothing to the soldiers, and often it was difficult to tell when the seasons had changed. Similarly the line ‘Will come again like a divine surprise’ reflects this as when the spring does come it will be good for the soldiers as the conditions improved in spring.
Revision by Eileen Newton
ReplyDeleteThis poem expresses the way in which a person is mourning the loss of a loved one. The person, who we assume is a women mourning the death of a soldier close to her, explains how she has chosen to remember him for the good memories rather than the for his horrific death; ' set free/ from gyves of hate, its bitter passion shed'.
The title 'Revision' refers to the way in which the women in this poem will revisit old memories of her loved one, reliving them, as to not become bitter.
'Revision' has a ABCDDCBA rhyme scheme. This reflects the way in which the women in the poem is looking over past events, replaying them.
The first stanza shows the women admitting to the horrors her loved one went through; 'of poppies dipped and dyed in human blood'. Newton uses graphic imagery to reveal the truths of war.
The second stanza has a far happier tone. The women looks back over all her happy memories with her loved one. These are the memories which keep her from 'gyves of hate' and 'bitter passion'.
'Picnic' by Rose Macaulay
ReplyDeleteI believe this poem tells the story of women on the home front sufferening from losing their spouses to the war. the poem begins by saying 'we lay', it seems that the use of the word 'we' represents all women waiting at home, it presents them as a unity and emphasises the fact that they are all going throught the same thing. as the poem continues it talks of the women losing their previous lives full of happiness and love, and then as the war comes about, their future becomes unknown and scary: Behind us climbed the Surrey Hills, Wild, wild in greenery'. i think the 'Wild, wild greenery' represents the life these women before war, showing how they were satisfying and full. it then goes on to say: At our feet the downs of Sussex broke, To an unsees sea'. i think the metaphor of 'an unseen sea' shows how the women were unsure of their futures, and also how they cannot see what is going to happen, and so cannot find peace. as the poem goes on, the first section ends with: If the winds from over there, there'll be rain tonight'. this appears to be a prediction that war is on the horizon and the battle for life is about to begin.
I believe that this first section of the poem is the beginning of the war, when the women were somewhat positive but could feel that the war was going to leave them hurt and lonely in the long run...
the next part of the poem tells of the womens suffering during the height of the war. Macaulay writes: 'As we stared and peered dizzily, Through the gates of hell'. the use of the words stared and dizzily showed how helpless and wasted the women felt as their men fought for their country, and also shows how they felt they could only sit and watch as their spouses died before them. the powerful imagery of the 'gates of hell' shows just how strongly their were against the war, and also suggests that they are not so hopeful as they are already considering the afterlife. this poem aslo highlights the issue of how women wre treated during thisn period. 'We are shut out by the guarding walls' i believe that this 'wall' is infact the men and powers of england that kept women from having anything to do with the war. it shows how frustrated they were that they could have no input into what was happening to their loved ones, and all they could do was sit back and wait.
the last section of this poem is nearing the end of the war, a clue to this is 'oh guns of france, be still' this also shows how restless the women were and how eager they were for the war to end. This poem finishes with 'Lest battered too long, our walls and we, should break... should break...' the imagery of the walls shows how isolated the women were from the war effort and when it states 'battered too long, our walls and we' shows how battered, tormented and just how effected they were by the entire experience. i believe this phrase sums up the poem perfectly reminding evryone that it wasnt immediate casualties of the war that made history but also how hugely effected the people at home were, specifically the women.
this poem was written in 1917, obviously late into the war. this is significant becaise it suports my view that this poem tells a story because the women were well into their suffering by now and had all experienced the war in one way or another. this also shows that the war had a hugely negative effect of the cvountry as a whole.
Eleanour Norton
ReplyDeleteIn a restaurant, 1917
In both the book and on the internet I was unable to research this poet and so when reading this poem considered the fact that maybe this poem was written from her own experience and point of view.
The poem begins in what seems a casual and normal situation where we assume she is sitting at a restaurant and she speaks about the traffic around her and the music she can hear playing. Although I feel in this situation she does not feel completely secure as the phrase “encircled by the traffic’s roar” suggests by the word “encircled” that she maybe feels trapped and slightly claustrophobic.
In the second stanza she goes on to speak about someone who seemed to love the environment and existence of London Ebb (which is believed to be a place). This may be her memory of this certain soldier about what he enjoyed in life. From this conclusion we can assume she is sitting in a restaurant reminiscing about this man’s life, as later on in the third stanza she says “and far in France an unmarked grave.” This may present that this man was a soldier killed in action on a battlefield in France and so his body buried under the dirt represents the unmarked grave. I believed the tone of this final line to be slightly bitter, showing her disgust at the disregard for one man’s life. We can assume that this man meant a lot to her through the phrase “in our hearts an empty place” suggesting that this death and loss has left a space in her heart, and that the grief she is feeling leaves her feeling empty and alone.
When looking at the techniques used in this poem we immediately notice the rhyme scheme of ABBA in each stanza. This allows the poem to flow and be easily and smoothly spoken, which can be assumed to give it a light-hearted feel as it is not spoken in a dull and depressing tone.
Spring in War Time - Edith Nesbit (page 79-80)
ReplyDeleteEdith Nesbit (15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party.
At the bottom of the poem it says 1916, it is this year that we assume the poem was written, therefore being closely related towards the end of the war.
When I read the poem my initial thought was that it is a poem of loss. The narrator in the poem would be of a woman who lost a loved one in the war and is remembering the last spring they had together and now the spring that is occurring in war time. This shows that the poem title supports this view of her thinking about spring during war while her loved one cannot be here anymore. The poem portrays a sense of sympathy for the narrator due to the language used and the fact that she is looking back on what she could’ve had with her loved one. This makes this poem a very mournful one that is quite upsetting and depressing towards her loss.
The poem is made up of four stanzas; each stanza has four lines therefore making each stanza a quatrain. This defiant repeated structure to the poem could suggest her loss is repeated therefore never ending and her pain of her loss will always be there and carry on. Along with the stanza structure, the rhyme pattern is also very defiant too as it goes ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH. This repeated and structured rhyme pattern gives the poem a slow rhythmical pace giving the reader time to think about what the narrator is saying. However, in some cases this is rhyme cannot be noticed due to the clauses and other punctuation present which makes the poem read slightly like a story.
Each line consists of 7 syllables in each stanza therefore all being the same in the structure of each. However the last line of ‘On your clay.’ does not have 7 syllables is has 3. For each line of the poem every other word is emphasised reading in quite a rhythmic consistent way. This rhythm in the poem again makes the reader remember and pay attention to the poem. This could suggest again the constant pain she feels about her loved one and therefore evokes sympathy again for the narrator.
In the first stanza she begins remembering what they both used to do together before the war had begun and where they used to go last year suggesting that he has recently died. The use of the word ‘sprinkled’ suggests a magical/fantasy memory of where they used to go which is exactly how it is now – just a fantasy – as now her loved one is not alive anymore. She ends the stanza saying ‘- where we shall not go.’ This abrupt end to the stanza causes a hurt that the narrator wants us to feel. It is almost as if she is cold to the death of her loved one as it is quite blunt which makes it more upsetting for us to read. By using a caesura before this line makes the line seem much more shocking and therefore emphasised.
In the second stanza she begins to describe things that she sees such as the ‘buds’ which could suggest a new life for her to carry on with without him and she also talks about the ‘violets’ that they both saw last year, the same ones they used to see but now that he isn’t here they do not mean the same to her anymore as she says they ‘have no scent this year’ as he isn’t there with her to experience. This shows she has gone cold with no emotion due to the loss of him. She also says ‘our wood’ as if the place they used to go together was theirs and now that he has gone she cannot go without being reminded of him and being upset about it as he is no longer that to go with her.
Continued...
ReplyDeleteIt is in the third stanza where we feel most sympathy for the narrator as she says that ‘we had heart …. Our nest’ she says that because he was taken from her by the war they never got a chance to build their life together as he was so suddenly taken away from her. She says that they both had hearts which loved but just never got the chance to spend the love together.
In the final stanza she mentions flowers such as ‘roses’ and ‘daisies’ this shows her love for spring flowers that they must have shared together. She beings to write that at the time red roses will make the garden happy, she then pauses for thought which slows the pace of the poem down completely. She then says that daisies haven’t grown on his ‘clay’ showing that he hasn’t come back yet and that he never will. By using the word ‘clay’ could suggest where he was buried and she is talking about his grave meaning that daisies haven’t grown there to make him happy.
THE CENOTAPH by Charlotte Mew
ReplyDeleteCharlotte Mew (1869-1928) was born in Bloomsbury. She was overwhelmed by ill health, family death and poverty. She had a poor opinion of herself and her writing. Her output was small yet extraordinary and she was awarded a civil list pension on the recommendation of Thomas Hardy, John Masefield and Walter de la Mare. She ended her own life.
The Cenotaph is written in September 1919 after the war ended, it is a poem about the loss of war and the memories that remain. The name ‘The Cenotaph’ is an ‘empty tomb’, a monument erected in honour of a dead person whose body lies elsewhere, so in this case to remember those whose countless bodies cannot be found due to the vast number of deaths at war. The poem begins with ‘Not yet will those measureless fields be green again’ showing there is no colour left in life, the painful memories from war are still fresh and plaguing the lives of many and is reiterated in ‘where only yesterday’ which shows it will take a long time to forget and for the wounds to heal. The line ‘there is a grave whose earth must hold too, too deep a stain’ presents the image that the earth is being forced to do this, and holds great regret, that the war was an attack on nature, and now nature has to deal with the consequences. The use of ‘too’ shows the extent of the damage and shows what a burden it is. Furthermore the line ‘an inward sword have more slowly bled’ shows Britain hurting herself from the inside, it presents the image of a painful and slow death, these soldiers are fighting for their country but instead doing the opposite and harming and killing it. Moving onto the line ‘We shall build the Cenotaph’ is inclusive and presents the idea of unity and coming together to help aid the loss. When Mew says ‘Violets, roses and laurel, with the small, sweet, twinkling country things’ it is in stark contrast to the depictions of war and destruction seen before in this poem and presents a picturesque view of beautiful flowers and illustrates nature that has been preserved. Mew then goes on to echo nostalgia with ‘from the little gardens of little places where son or sweetheart was born and bred’, the poetic language shows a positive and romantic view of the past. Mew uses a lot of euphemisms in the poem, ‘in splendid sleep’ and ‘lies he’ and ‘to such a bed’ all help to see the soldiers deaths as less harsh and wasteful and like they are at peace. The poem is indented in a patterned way, I think to echo the pattern seen on a cenotaph and the irregular and meaningless rhyme echoes the sacrificed sense of the poem. The line ‘under the purple, the green, the red, it is all young life: it must break a women’s heart to see’ presents the picture of bold majestic colours symbolising the youths that died, showing their vivacity and energy and heightening the loss. The poem ends with ‘while looking into every busy whore’s and hucker’s face as they drive their bargains, is the Face Of God: and some young piteous, murdered face.’ I believe this line shows that people that are committing sin and doing bad deeds are still living while these innocent men have been slaughtered before their life had begun. Mew places God and the faces of the soldiers on equal terms and the use of capital letters for God shows his importance of the time and how he was the focus of people’s lives. The word ‘piteous’ demands and arouses pity and the word ‘murdered’ is emotive and angry and bitter showing the soldiers hard ordeal. ‘Whores’ and ‘huckers’ and stereotypically disrespectful and cheap and show how they are being watched, accused and judged forever.