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. 

 

 

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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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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon