Vergissmeinnicht Flashcards
Meaning
Realisation of the personhood of the enemy. Interpersonal and war conflict midst WW2. Douglas cynical of warfare and how it destroys humanity, reflected by callous tone.
Vergissmeinnicht
Forget-me-not, a flower that symbolises remembrance.
Love idiom reflects humanity lost to war
over the nightmare ground
Metaphor, “nightmare”, hell imagery.
Voice is haunted - so terrifying and confusing, it hardly seems like it could have been real
the soldier sprawling in the sun
Sibilance ‘soldier sprawling in the sun’
narrator’s hatred for his dead enemy. Shows the harsh image of the decaying corpse
The frowning barrel of his gun/ overshadowing.
Emotions of inanimate object JUXTAPOSE lifelessness of body.
“Frowning” expresses distaste and moral condemnation at horror of actions compared to the inhumane reactions of the soldiers - heightens how humanity is lost during warfare.
like the entry of a demon.
simile ‘like the entry of a demon’. When the enemy fired at the
narrator’s tank, he felt like he was battling an evil supernatural force. Perceives enemy as hellish and fierce.
Look…the dishonoured picture of his girl
Caesura, “look”, highlights volta. Imperative, draws attention by disrupting flow of narrative.
Picture has seen bloodshed. The picture’s meaning and message is lost as the solidier is dead.
We see him almost with content
Pain and fear they suffered at his hands during the
Battle has transformed into triumphant gloating. This is an inhumane and strange reaction, unsettling the reader.
mocked at by his own equipment/
that’s hard and good when he’s decayed
Solider DEHUMANISED, machinery PERSONIFIED. Equipment unaffected by bloodshed, whereas soldier, who put his life in its hands, is dead.
JUXTAPOSES the image of the ‘decayed’ body with the
weapons lying nearby which are still ‘hard and good’. Guns are durable, “d” sound shows strength and menace of machinery and how war has outlasted him.
This contrast highlights the fragility of the body.
paper eye/(…) burst stomach like a cave
METAPHOR _ “paper” reflects dilated, soulless eyes
SIMILE - ‘burst stomach like a cave’, Something has eaten his internal organs.
The narrator seems to relish this horrific sight, inhuman response that depicts the level of hatred he feels for the enemy
death who had the soldier singled/ has done the lover mortal hurt
Death is personified here, heightens tension and idea of hellish nature of war.
“Mortal”, permanence of pain. War destroys the lover, corrupting goodness and humanity
Structure 1
‘EXTROPERSPECTIVE’ poet, doesn’t deal with the personal emotions of a scene.
Reader feels the distant coldness with which soldiers can look upon death after long exposure to destruction.
The only pity from the point of view of the girlfriend who ‘would weep’.
Structure 2
Regular Stanza structure, 6X quatrains
Juxtapose
half rhymes such as ‘spoil/girl’
para-rhymes such as ‘heart/hurt’
bring a sense of discomfort that augments the disquieting content of the poem
