Poetry: Vergismeinicht

Question 1

Opening stanza describing the battle field
Themes:
horror of war

Answer 1

“Returning over the nightmare ground”
L/S:
- metaphor instantly sets the scene about how the battle was terrifying
- nightmare implies they can’t forget about it

Question 2

Describing the solider they found

Answer 2

“The soldier sprawling in the sun”
L/S:
- definite article tells the reader that the narrator was looking for a specific person
- sibilance emphasises the narrators hatred for his dead enemy, by hissing sound
- sprawling, shows helplessness

Question 3

Describes the soldiers guns

Answer 3

“The frowning barrel of his gun
Overshadowing”
L/S:
- personification of the soldiers gun, shows how insignificant he is to the narrator
- shows the disapproval of the narrator

Question 4

Describes why the narrator hates the soldier so much

Answer 4

“He hit my tank with one like the entry of a demon”
L/S:
- simile to show why he hates the solider
- ‘demon’ shows it was like fighting a supernatural force, due to the amount of suffering it caused

Question 5

Narrator further showing his hatred for the soldier in 4th stanza when looking at the corpse of the solider

Answer 5

“We see him almost with content, abased”
L/S:
- content, shows the extent of pain they suffered at the hand of the solider, turning into triumphant gloating
- abased has connotations of belittling someone further adding to this

Question 6

Personification of his equipments again in stanza 4

Answer 6

“Mocked at by own equipment”
L/S:
- personification
- ‘mocked’ echoes the narrators, triumphant feeling

Question 7

Contrast between the solider and his weapons in the 4th stanza

Answer 7

“That’s hard and good when he’s decayed”
L/S:
- the soldiers body being so fragile that is decayed shows the narrators hatred
- the gun’s still being ‘hard and good’ shows the guns are what gave the soldier his power and without them he is useless

Question 8

The narrator presents gruesome image in stanza 5

Answer 8

“The dust upon the paper eye and the stomach burst like a cave”
L/S:
- Horrifying imagery, the narrator seems to become excited by the horrific sight, an unnatural response to emphasise his hate towards the soldier