We came upon him sitting in the sun
Blinded by war, and left. And past the fence
There came young soldiers from the Hand and Flower,
Asking advice of his experience.
And he said this, and that, and told them tales,
And all the nightmares of each empty head
Blew into air; then, hearing us beside,
"Poor chaps, how'd they know what it's like?" he said.
And we stood there, and watched him as he sat,
Turning his sockets where they went away,
Until it came to one of us to ask "And you're-how old?"
"Nineteen, the third of May."
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From guest Helena of Troy (contact)
i hated reading this poem. i found it difficult to keep a rythmn due to the utilisation of caesura, yet it emphasises chaos and pain that the young boy had suffered. Our own perceptions of a soldier being old and weary then gives great contrast to the revelation of his young age. This is extremely affective in evoking a sense of sympathy as well as outlining the loss of youth during war and its sacrifices. Again, as used so frequently in war poetry the supremacy and affirmation of life and nature is present however an undercurrent of futile attempts to stop others from entering the horrors of war is evident. Along with the effectiveness of propaganda this poem is simple and carries a simple message. It also conveys the point that gender does not create a vaste difference in war poetry. It is the social disparity that exists which makes such a change between other poems of this genre. having an english exam soon i used this solely as help for analysing war poety. -
i found the last line extremely moving, how the veteran could think of those boys having no experience of what war, and yet he has obviously encountered horrendous things and is not yet 19!
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It was really good
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