Why Men Go To War
"An Irish Airman Foresees his Death" by W. B. Yeats will start off the unit. In addition to the quality of the poem as a poem, embedded within it there is much to offer the student regarding the political climate in Ireland as it was in the period and continues to be today. A line such as "Those that I guard I do not love" requires a lengthy enough explanation, socially and historically, not only to necessitate a long look at participation with the English in World War I from the Irish point of view but also to illuminate current Irish/English political, social, and religious differences.
The poem was written for a patron of Yeats, Lady Gregory, in honor of her son who fought and died in World War I. We will look at the poem itself, free write about whether we think it was what Lady Gregory might have had in mind, and learn background information on Yeats. The poem provides examples of several poetic devices. We will examine rhyme scheme, alliteration, speaker, and tone and theme, among others. Yeats's use of iambic tetrameter will introduce students to this type of rhyme scheme along with the alliteration in "country", "Kiltartan", and "Cross". Could the poet be the speaker? Why or why not? We will answer the question why the Irish Airman goes to war, obeying "A lonely impulse of delight," and this will lead us back to O'Brien's line, "War is thrill." A passage from The Red Badge of Courage expresses a similar attitude towards war.
Siegfried Sassoon's "Base Details" and Carl Sandburg's "And They Obey" will examine the political aspect of war and the contrast between those who actually fight and those who command. This will give the students an opportunity to discuss not only the poems but the political ramifications of war. Sassoon's earlier work embraces the nobility of war, and looking at his biography will allow us to examine his changing attitude. After the death of his brother he immersed himself in the war, and was called "Mad Jack" for his heroic, almost suicidal bravery. In 1916 he won the Military Cross for carrying a wounded lance-corporal who was lying close to German lines to safety (Bean). He also became good friends with Wilfred Owen, a poet the students might research.
Sassoon's "Base Details" will be a poem the students should find they relate to because they are so firmly controlled by authority in almost every aspect of their life. Many students love to talk about the older generation as out of touch or uncaring about their plight. We will also have an opportunity to examine the use of pun, alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme, tone, irony and dialogue. The title requires close examination. The word base has several meanings. Base could just refer to a military area. Base can also mean vulgar, or, yet again, it can mean something that is foundational. The visual description of the Major is particularly vivid. The students may have to be prodded but they should be able to understand the irony. He is out of shape and his redness could be from drinking or fury. His total lack of concern for the young soldiers and his repugnant self righteous attitude will be clear to the students. The poem contrasts the older, self-indulgent, safe members of the military with the young men they send to war (Perrine & Arp 94). The entire poem is four sentences long but says quite a bit. Part of the strength of the poem is that it is presented as hypothetical. The emphasis on words like "If", "I'd" and "you'd" assists in creating the irony. The war protest element will become part of our discussion too.
The speaker expresses his bitterness through irony. He would actually hate having anything to do with such a man. Most likely the speaker is an officer who is criticizing a system that preserves the "fierce, and bald, and short of breath" but sends young men off to be killed. During World War I "company commanders (captains) and platoon leaders (lieutenants) suffered the highest fatality rates because they had to lead their men 'over the top' on charges across 'No Man's Land' against withering enemy fire" (Perrine & Arp 97). In contrast some had it relatively easy working on a base far from danger. Showing students a picture of the British uniform with the "red lapel tabs and cap bands" (Perrine & Arp 98) worn by "scarlet Majors" will assist students in understanding the various ways the color can have meaning. This will help when the line "youth stone dead" appears. Most students will view it as the men that have died. Suggest that it could also be the lost youthfulness of the men who return. Look closely also at the word "scrap". The speaker reduces the horrific situation almost to a scuffle between youths. The word "toddle" does the same thing by suggesting second childhood and senility (Perrine & Arp 98). Isolating the first and last lines: "If I were fierce, and bald, and short or breath"/ "I'd toddle home and die in bed," leaves the reader with the 'matter of factness,' the 'coming home from a day at the office' attitude of commanding, i.e., death is the destiny of someone else.
The web site www.teachit.co.uk/ has a great approach to the poem. With very accurate war pictures as a backdrop, the poem appears slowly to the students. After each line or two, questions appear concerning those lines. After answering the questions you click on the last visual line and the next line appears along with questions relating to that section of the poem. Students are then shown the entire poem except for the last line and asked to write the last line themselves. Because of the clear rhyme scheme, students can usually see for themselves that the last word of the poem is bed. The fun is seeing how close their line is to the poet's, which is exposed when you click on the preceding line.
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