Before the Battle.
Music of
whispering trees
Hushed by a broad-winged breeze
Where shaken water gleams;
And evening radiance falling
With reedy bird-notes calling.
O bear me safe through dark, you low-voiced streams.
I have no need to pray
That fear may pass away;
I scorn the growl and rumble of the fight
That summons me from cool
Silence of marsh and pool
And yellow lilies is landed in light
O river of stars and shadows, lead me through the night.
Poem:
Before the Battle
Author: Siegfried Sassoon
Extracted from: http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6672&poem=32677
Before the Battle:
Commentary and Analysis.
Today we are going to analyse Before the Battle,
a poem written by the English writer
Siegfried Sassoon in 1916. The poem is named Before the Battle, since it
reflects the thoughts of the speaker before a batlle, we must remember that it
is written in 1916, when Sassoon was fighting in France in the First World War[1]
The poem has two stanzas. The first stanza has six
verses and the second stanza has seven verses. The rhyme scheme is almost the
same in each stanza, with the difference that the second stanza has one more verse
than the first one: the first stanza has a
AABCCB rhyme scheme, and the second satanza has a DDEFFEE rhyme scheme.
The poem is written in first person, it is the speaker who tells what is
happening to him, and what he is feeling, but we cannot find it until the
second stanza (I have no need to pray, verse 7; I scorn the growl and
rumble of the fight, verse 9).
Now we are going to comment the poem. In the first
stanza the speaker is describing the landscape where he is. It is a beautiful
place, for the description of the author we may think that he is in the
countryside, next to a river or a small lake, because of the trees and the
water named in the poem (Music of whispering trees, verse 1; where
shaken water gleams, verse 3). The
place that Sassoon is describing is a peaceful place at the beginning of
the poem, with the whispering of the trees, the water shining and the birds
singing (With ready bird-notes calling, verse 5), but in the end of the
first stanza we can see that this place is even more peaceful, because it is
getting dark and he can be invisible. Because of this, he feels safe (O bear
me safe through dark, verse 6)
In the second stanza, the author is expressing his
feelings. the author here tells the reader that he is not afraid and he has no
need to pray for his safety (I have no need to pray/Thatfear may pass away,
verses 6 and 7), because he feels safe now and he doesn’t like the fighting
during the day. At night he has not to fight, so he wants to go to the dark, at
night (O rivers of stars and shadows, lead me through the night, verse
13).
This poem is a reflexion of Sassoon about the war. His position was difficult,
because he was against war, but he had to fight bravely in the war against
germans in France[2]. In spite of being a coward deserting, he
made brave actions, such as the capture of a german trench in the Hinderburg
Line, because he knew the horrors of the war, but maybe he thought that it was
necessary to protect his country. Sassoon wrote this poem to show the readers how
the light can made him feel insecure, since it is during the day when both
armies are fighting, when the sun can be seen reflected in the water. And the
battlefield could be in anywhere, even in a beatiful place,which is ironical,
because it is hard to think in a beautiful and terrifying place at the same
time, just as Sassoon is describing. The place that he is describing is
beautiful, but not to him, because is there where Sassoon fights every day,
until the conquest of the land. He prefers not to see that place during the
day, because he will see the beauty of that place, and the horrors, too. He
prefers the night, which is dark, and at night, he cannot see the horrors of
the day and where he has not to pray for his life.
The darkness where the author wants to be could be
death. If he is dead, he would not see the horrors that he has te see every day
in the battlefield, which used to be beautiful in the past, but now has become
in a trench, plenty of bombs and dead people. If the author follows the river
of stars and shadows, he could be in peace. For him, death and night is the
same, no fighting.
Bibliography
Poemhunter.com http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6672&poem=32677
6.05.2006
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon
6.05.2006
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