War Poetry

What with all the political unrest around the world at the moment, I decided I should try to connect more with the fighters and sufferers themselves by reading some war poetry. They are all inspiring and I appreciate the controversial portrayals of Christianity, which convey the disillusionment of the time.

Here dead we lie, by A. E. Housman

Here dead we lie
Because we did not choose
To live and shame the land
From which we sprung.

Life, to be sure,
Is nothing much to lose,
But young men think it is,
And we were young.

I chose this poem firstly because it is short and barely descriptive, which mimics the numberless deaths of people who were amalgamated into the general 'soldier'. Housman also cleverly uses the deictic 'here' to denote the fact that soldiers can die anywhere; the reader will question 'where is 'here'' and the ambiguity means that the poem can be applied to any fighter of any war.

The simplicity of the phrase 'to live and shame' acknowledges the heavy guilt that returning soldiers felt or were made to feel by those who had lost family and friends. The choice of the verb 'choose' can come across as sarcastic as it implies that those who lived had a choice, which they mostly did not and a war poet would be sensitive to this. Therefore 'choose' implies a sacrifice whilst shaming those who pour guilt onto those who 'chose' to come home and live.

The most solemn and disillusioned tone comes through when the poet claims that 'life.../Is nothing much to lose'. This again casts aside the losses of war, as it is impossible to feel grateful enough for the lives the fighters and helpers sacrificed. It sounds colloquial, meaning it also comes across as careless and unimportant, mimicking the message.

The final two lines begin with the discourse marker 'but', which gives a contradictory tone to denote the simple fact that the previous thought is hard to be fully understood and appreciated. The part that makes the heart turn is the repetition of the adjective 'young', which also ends the poem to leave the reader with the feeling of loss and wasted life and youth. The pathos is aided by the switch of tense from 'is' to 'were'.

I could go on further into this poem and its actual context but I rather like looking at it from afar as it can be applied to so many moments in time. Short poems always do get me going on far longer!

If anyone likes war poetry, I would recommend the song 'This song for you' by Chris du Burgh. Makes me cry every time.