ρoᥱtrყ - vᥱrgιssmᥱιᥒᥒιᥴht Flashcards
Who was Douglas and when was this poem written?
Douglas was a tank commander in World War Two who was noted for his war poetry and wry memoir of a Western Desert campaign in 1943 Tunisia
What is Douglas’ poetry style?
His poetry style is ‘extrospective’ and focuses on external impressions rather than inner emotions
What is the purpose of the poem?
It glorifies the more taboo aspects of warfare, such as the enjoyment of killing
What is the 1st point on form?
Quatrains reflect the highly organised and strategic military formation
What is the 2nd point on form?
The rhythm is disjointed and irregular, illustrating how war descends into unpredictability and chaos, reinforced by the irregular rhyme
What is the 3rd point on form?
The caesura and enjambment echo the movement of a tank and the lack of structure within the setting of war
What is the 1st point of analysis?
🆃🅸🆃🅻🅴
“Vergissmeinnicht” -> translating to forget-me-not, the flower represents the ironic concept of peace and love to depict a poem about war and loss
What is the 2nd point of analysis?
“Soldier sprawling in the sun” - the verb suggests an air of laziness and satisfied content which is oxymoronic to the sinister truth of the soldier who is dead and decaying, reinforced through sibilance
What is the 3rd point of analysis?
The personification of the gun (“the frowning barrel of his gun”) adds to its menace and is emphasised as intimidating through word ‘overshadowing’ at the start of the next line
What is the 4th point of analysis?
“He hit my tank with one” -> childish justification of conflict highlighted by the monosyllabic structure
What is the 5th point of analysis?
The girlfriend’s name ‘Steffi’, emphasised with the colon, is arguably voyeuristic as they witness something so personal
What is the 6th point of analysis?
“Almost with content” -> reluctantly honest to have enjoyed the killing, mocking the dead soldier through the use of sexual pun “mocked at by his own equipment that’s hard and good when he’s decayed” but can be interpreted as a comparison between machinery and the fragility of human life
What is the 7th point of analysis?
“Death who had the soldier singled has done the lover mortal hurt” -> Douglas could be arguing that the main destruction of war is to the living. This is emphasised through the personification of death as a merciless force and the sibilance to argue the indiscriminate nature of warfare
