we're 113'08 213'09.

take me to the sky;
welcome to 213'09's class blog♥

class mission:
to build a community of learners who have strong class spirit and develop ourselves to the fullest potential.

9:06 PM I have a request to post sam's fa on the blog. (I tried publishing sam's post but there's some html tag they don't allow and I'm too lazy to go search for it. Usually when I find it and delete it, some other tag is not allowed. It's because sam copied straight from her word doc with the annotations and commenting tool so it's not supported by blogger.) Therefore, Tiffany I'm too lazy to send it to you. GO CHECK IT HERE. And all thank me for editing all this.

The poet’s diction is very masterful as it effectively makes the reader put themselves in the shoes of the soldiers. The first stanza already gives a sense of staleness in the atmosphere, and time seems to be dragging on. The words “glares”, “giddy” and “buzz” already makes the reader feel nauseous, in the sultry midday air. The repeated use of ellipses shows the length of time, and makes the reader feel that the sweltering noontime would never come to an end. There seems to be no indication of chaotic warfare, as if it is a snapshot of the trenches, frozen in time. (To what effect?) (Yes, the sense of stifling heat)
The poet might have wanted to depict the non-violent, yet equally cruel side of war. The “stagnant trench” seemed abnormally silent and deserted. The soldiers “endure the sweat, grit and stench” of the baking hot trench, when the blazing Sun hung overhead and they were clearly suffering in the harsh and enclosed trench. The metaphor “cattle in the pen” resonates with me, the reader, as the reader can imagine the men being inhumanely cooped up in the “deep trench”, making it seem like a hole in hell. The men seemed to be doing nothing constructive, simply enduring the bleak conditions in the confined trench, with no way of escape – just like animals being imprisoned in the pen. (Like animals waiting for the slaughter) Death seemed to hang in the air, making one feel nauseous. The poet could therefore be trying to show how nature (conspiring to “torture”) with its harsh side, could drain a man in the cruel conditions he was forced to live in.
In the third stanza the melancholy tone of the situation is broken with “a sniper’s bullet”. However the soldiers were too enervated to even attempt to defend themselves or hide from any attacks from the enemy. The soldier simply “sighs and stirs” from his semi-conscious slumber in the heat of the day. (Yes – a sense of resigned acceptance. Inability to react, inactive.) From “hell’s frying fire”, the trench seemed to be a frying pan, where the hellish Sun would beat down mercilessly on the soldiers. The poet might be trying to convey a message that man is susceptible to the will of nature, and war, a conquest for greater power, comes secondary to that of other forces, such as the blazing heat, in which man cannot control. (Good.)
Similar to the third stanza, a “high cool cloud descends” upon the trench. It also brings about change to the sticky, sultry atmosphere, bringing in the first sign of relief (But it is a false relief) from the weather. The “aeroplane” (Also emphasises their loneliness) is a sign that someone is awake and energetic, unlike the demoralised dying soldiers in the trench. However, again the ellipse shows that the aeroplane eventually also trails away. The war scene is back to its original state, with the “sun striking down” as the “Black spot” of the plane just flies by the trench, showing its insignificance.
Finally in the last stanza, the poet spells out his description of the trenches – people “sweating, dizzied” and the trench “isolate”. He plays on our conceptions of hell, calling the place “the hot trench beneath”, possibly implying that the environment of war was akin to the underworld. (Yes – a burning inferno.) The last two lines of the poem is trenchant, especially the words “life or death”. To me, it means that the soldiers have been sapped of their will to live, though the poor and sweltering conditions they had cope with in war. They are leaving it up to fate to decide what would happen of their lives. It did not matter to them whether they lived or died – for death did not seem like such a painful option given the conditions that they were living in could not have been much better than death itself.
A common perspective to war is that it is action-packed, gory and with bloodshed. The poet could be giving an alternate perspective towards war, that men can survive direct combat with the enemy, but the environment that war is fought in is enough to deprive a man of his willpower to live, the soldiers could still be physically alive, but mentally and spiritually, he is dead.
“Fantastic! A++” – Mrs Leslie