Assignment 1: A Starting Point(10 points)
In 1942 Randall Jarrell entered the Army Air Force, but failed to qualify as a flyer. He became a celestial training navigator in Tucson, Arizona. During his nearly four years of service, he wrote many poems about the army and the war. Jarrell's "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" serves as an introduction to the poetry unit of Literature of War. Consider your response to the following questions:
- What is your reaction to this poem?
- What do you know about the gunner?
- How would you describe the content of the poem?
- What visual images does Jarrell present?
- Who is the speaker in the poem?
- What is the author's attitude toward war as presented in the poem?
- What information/words must the reader know in order to understand the poem?
Charles Bernstein
Poem Profiler: Check Levels
This is a list of rhetorical features of individual poems. Pick one poem and rate it for each of these characteristics. Rate the levels of these features on a one to ten scale with one the lowest level and ten the highest level. Be specific: give examples to support assessment. Compare two poems based on these features. Also: compare any group of poems based on their likeness/difference from one another. (NOTE: please provide additional parameters for the Profiler, which is in development.)
For definitions of many key poetics terms, go to and
Name of Poem:
Author:
Today’s Date:
Your name:
ratings 1 (low) to 10 (high)
Stylistic Textures and Poetic Diction
Coefficient of weirdness (wackiness quotient)___
Ambiguity____
Ambivolence____
Irreverence____
Sobriety____
Humor____
Eloquence____
Plainness____
Sincerity____
Smoothness (vs roughness, bumpiness, striation)____
Neat (vs messy)____
Pretentiousness____
Subtlety (vs bluntness)____
Indirect (vs straightforward)____
Intelligence____
Visual imagery____
Dreaminess____
Particularity (vs generality) of details____
Stylistic consistency____
Innovation____
Originality____
Ornamental/decorative____
Relevance____
Tastefulness____
Speech-like____
Dialect___
Sampling (use of found or quoted material)____
Comprehensibility____
Coherence____
Spontaneity____
Exploratory____
Density____
Predictability____
Abstractness____
Sensuousness____
Weariness____
Sophistication ____
Timidity____
Bravado____
Courage___
Unusual vocabulary____
Complexity____
Repetitiveness____
Self-consciousness____
Artifice (vs “natural”)____
Difficulty____
Modern/contemporary (vs old fashioned)____
Transparency Ratio (outward vs inward pointing)____
Content
Political____
Liberal/conservative/radical____
Urban____
Pastoral____
Moral____
Sexual____
Religious____
Spiritual____
Mystical____
Philosophical____
Love____
Family____
Ethnic/racial____
Nationalistic/patriotic____
Gender____
Mortality (death)____
Illness____
Conflict (war)____
Discontent____
Developmental / Temporal / Compositional Structures
(What holds the poem together?)
Check or circle as relevant
Fragmentary / disjunctive / nonlinear / discontinuity [parataxis]
Logical/expository continuity (linear / hypotaxis)
Narrative continuity (beginning, middle, and end) (linear 2 / hypotaxis)
Journey
Journal/diary
Stream of consciousness/thought process
Dream-like/surreal
Closure
Symmetrical
Fast paced
Jerky
Kinetic (moves from one thing to another) vs. static (continuous present)
Programmatic or procedural
Received form (sonnet, ballad, etc.)
Devices
Irony____
Paradox____
Exaggeration____
Understatement____
Simile____
Metaphor____
Personification____
Symbolism____
Allegory____
Enjambment____
Metonymy____
Literary or historical allusion____
Persona ____
Mood/Tone
[rate the first term only]
Scary/reassuring____
Dark/light____
Impersonal/emotional____
Engaged /disaffected (alienated) ____
Affirmative/skeptical/ hostile____
Elegiac (mournful) / celebratory (panegyric) ____
Hot/cold____
Angry/friendly____
Cool/uncool____
Turbulent/calm____
Disturbed/content____
Reckless/cautious____
Happy/sad____
Depressed/elated____
Bright/dull____
Meditative/unreflective ____
Bubbly/sober____
Elusive/explicit____
Erotic/dispassionate____
Mysterious/apparent____
Counting:
Syllables per line____
Lines per stanza or for poem____
Stanzas____
Words per line____
Programmatic or procedural structure____
Visual Shape/Form:
Flush left, justified/ragged prose, overall “field” design, etc.______
Sound
Dissonance/cacophony (noisy, harsh)____
Melodious/harmonious/ mellifluous (“pleasing”)____
Assonance____
Alliteration____
Rhyme____
Off-rhyme____
Metrical patterns____
Obtrusive (vs not noticeable)____
for performances (describe):
accent
tempo
voice timbre
tone
intonation
rhythm
amplitude/dynamic range
Point of View (circle as relevant)
Direct POV of author as speaker (monologic / lyric)
Persona
Narrator (epic)
Multiple POVs (dialogic or polyvocal)
Textual Subjectivity
n/a
Contexts
Author’s date of birth/death____
Date of poem’s composition____
Place of composition____
Relevant socio-historical facts:
Relevant biographical facts:
Relevant ethnic, gender, national, sexual orientation:
Place/context of original publication and significant subsequent publication:
Variant versions, including performances:
Title: yes/no; if yes: use/connection to poem
©Charles Bernstein 2009; may be reproduced for noncommericial use only.
The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner
by Randall Jarrell
From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
Assignment 2: The Soldier(15 points)
The role of the individual soldier has been diminished by the "push-button" capabilities that technology has produced. Previous wars/conflicts did, however, focus on the individual soldier, and certain phases of modern warfare also emphasize the capabilities of the individual.
- Prepare a list of 7-10 character traits that you would deem essential for someone to be considered a good soldier.
- Read the following three poems: "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death" by William Butler Yeats, "The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy, and "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke.
- Consider these questions about each of the speakers in the three poems: Why has the speaker gone to war? What is the speaker's attitude toward his own country? What is the speaker's attitude toward his enemy?
- Look at each poem with regard toward your 7-10 character traits and the answers to the questions above. Selecting from the speakers in these three poems, pick the one you believe is the best soldier. Your assignment is to write a statement in which you defend your choice. Use quotes (or line numbers) to illustrate your contention.
by W. B. Yeats
I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
The Man He Killed
by Thomas Hardy
"Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!
"But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.
"I shot him dead because--
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although
"He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like--just as I--
Was out of work--had sold his traps--
No other reason why.
"Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown."
The Soldier
by Rupert Brooke
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Assignment 3: At Home(20 points)
The general focus of war is on the battle itself and the people who are involved in the actual fighting. Casualties occur at the front, but the victims of any war would also include the loved ones left behind. Read these three poems for a look at this perspective:
"War Is Kind" by Stephen Crane
"Come Up From the Fields, Father" by Walt Whitman
"My Father Leaves for Vietnam" by Lenard D. Moore
Discuss the following:
- Who is the speaker in each poem? (There may be more than one.)
- What is the time frame for what is being described in "My Father Leaves for Vietnam"? For "Come Up From the Fields, Father"?
- Explain the irony of Crane's "War Is Kind"
- What is the tone of each poem?
- How do lines 3-10 of "Come Up From the Fields, Father"contribute to the overall effect?
- Use the Poetry Profiler
by Stephen Crane
Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind.
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die
The unexplained glory flies above them
Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom--
A field where a thousand corpses lie.
Do not weep, babe, for war is kind.
Because your father tumbled in the yellow trenches,
Raged at his breast, gulped and died,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Swift, blazing flag of the regiment
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die
Point for them the virtue of slaughter
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.
Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.
Come Up From the Fields Father
by Walt Whitman
Come up from the fields father, here's a letter from our Pete,
And come to the front door mother, here's a letter from thy
dear son.
Lo, 'tis autumn,
Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder,
Cool and sweeten Ohio's villages with leaves fluttering in the
moderate wind,
Where apples ripe in the orchards hang and grapes on the
trellis'd vines,
(Smell you the smell of the grapes on the vines?
Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately
buzzing?)
Above all, lo, the sky so calm, so transparent after the rain,
and with wondrous clouds,
Below too, all calm, all vital and beautiful, and the farm
prospers well.
Down in the fields all prospers well,
But now from the fields come father, come at the daughter's
call,
And come to the entry mother, to the front door come right
away.
Fast as she can she hurries, something ominous, her steps
trembling,
She does not tarry to smooth her hair nor adjust her cap.
Open the envelope quickly,
O this is not our son's writing, yet his name is sign'd,
O a strange hand writes for our dear son, 0 stricken
mother's soul!
All swims before her eyes, flashes with black, she catches the
main words only,
Sentences broken, gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry
skirmish, taken to hospital,
At present low, but will soon be better.
Ah now the single figure to me,
Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and
farms,
Sickly white in the face and dull in the head, very faint,
By the jamb of a door leans.
Grieve not so, dear mother, (the just-grown daughter speaks
through her sobs,
The little sisters huddle around speechless and dismay'd,)
See, dearest mother, the letter says Pete will soon be better.
Alas poor boy, he will never be better, (nor may-be needs to
be better, that brave and simple soul,)
While they stand at home at the door he is dead already,
The only son is dead.
But the mother needs to be better,
She with thin form presently drest in black,
By day her meals untouch'd, then at night fitfully sleeping,
often waking,
In the midnight waking, weeping, longing with one deep
longing,
O that she might withdraw unnoticed, silent from life escape
and withdraw,
To follow, to seek, to be with her dear dead son.
My Father Leaves for Vietnam
by Leonard Moore
When my father let loose my mother
from his outstretched arms,
he stared into her eyes,
as if wanting to see his pain.
I had never seen him cry.
His eyes dammed the water.
I felt my mother's heart drumming in me.
He looked down and
whispered in my ear, "I'll be back,
don't be afraid,"
then he turned away.
He boarded the Greyhound.
I held my mother's hand and looked
at him climbing the steps.
He sat and hung his hand out the window,
I watched the bus fade.
I have never understood why he had to go,
although my mother cupped me in her arms,
as if she still could reach my father.
Assignment 4: Contemporary Issues(20 points)
It is an understatement to say that the tragedies of September 11th have changed us. It has also heightened our awareness and sensitized us to other conflicts around the globe. These events have prompted outpourings that have expressed grief, outrage, comfort, patriotism, compassion, restraint, and observations. The following three poems are among those that have appeared.
"Palestine" by Lorna Dee Cervantes
"The Daisy Cutter" by Louise Rill
Read these poems and respond to the items listed below.
- "Palestine": What images speak to the events of September 11th?
- "The Daisy Cutter": Describe the content of this poem. Explain the allusion to John the Baptist.
- All poems: Discuss the mood and tone of each of these poems. Feel free to use the Poetry Profiler (terms) in your discussion
by Lorna Dee Cervantes
9.12.2001
Looking for some comfort in a poem. This is to PLO poet, Mahmoud Darwish:
“We travel like other people, but we return to nowhere.../ .../ We have a country of words. Speak. Speak so we may know the end of this travel.”
(from We Travel like Other People,
the lines quoted are from his poem “Psalm 2”)
a country you carry in your pocket
airport to airport, a country
that exists for you in a remembered
fragrance, an expired stamp, now the seal
of blood embossed upon someone's
sunstruck pavement. Who owns
this property? Who owns the right
to no way out but a busted window
a hundred flights up? Who owns the key
to Heaven's Gate? Did it open?
I open the newspaper, my computer,
an account, and need to account for all
the terror in the world, in crossing
the street with my child this morning,
our Indian heads and Palestinian shrouds.
With what do we pay? For what
attention? I want to draw its shape
“scattered in files and surprises....
flying on shrapnel and bird's wings....
trapped between the dagger and the wind.
I want to draw your shape
to find my shape in yours....”
And what
if the source of death
is not the dagger
or the lie?
But both. Buried deep
in the human rubble.
Closer to God
than thee.
"Daisy Cutter" is the name of a 15,000lb bomb used in Afghanistan, which explodes at head height.
The Daisy Cutter
By Louise Rill
Daisy, Daisy
give me the head of John the Baptist
or another bearded fanatic
The Taliban favor the hirsute
but we are good Christian folk
and our chosen are smooth-chinned
Daisy, Daisy
immolate the hairy ones
cleanse their ethnic dust of
hens, children, terrorists and unseen wives
vaporize their souls, their
spleens, eyeballs, tongues and
tender parts
collect the charred bone fragments
for the charity of the Red Cross
for the Cross is our symbol
We may not get our man,
but by God,
Daisy,
we’ll get someone
Assignment 5: Poetry Final(35 points)
Visit these sites for homework (Be sure to clear questionable content with the teacher):
Or my two war poetry books, other war poetry books from library.
Then randomly select a war poem based on an assigned topic (the soldier/hero, impact at home, contemporary wars/issues, impact on natives experiencing war on their home soil).
- Decide on the view of war you wish to convey
- You are to find relevant images/pictures to accompany your poem. (Possible sources for images may be found in magazines, personal photos, online pictures)
- Find an existing poem and imitate it, retaining the same style but having it reflect your viewpoint on war.
- Using Microsoft Word, copy the images on to a blank page, or you may save the pictures in a file and then access them by going to the main toolbar and pulling down the Insert menu to the Picture option. Once you have the picture on your page, go to View on the main toolbar and go to the Toolbars option and make sure that both the Picture and Drawing options are checked. Use the Picture toolbar to modify your pictures.
- Once you have the picture(s) the way you want, go to the Text Box on the Drawing toolbar and enter your poem. Be sure to include your name, the title of your poem, and the name, author and copy of the original poem.*
- Finally, select a war song to bring in and share with the class – be prepared to explain the message, background and themes in the song.
War Poem
CATEGORY / 25points / 15points / 10points
Form / Line length and stanzas enhances the rhythm, feeling, or thought expressed in poem/s / Line length and stanzas fit the rhythm, feeling, or thought expressed in the poem/s / Line length anf stanzas does not fit the rhythm, feeling, or thought expressed in the poem/s
Imagery/Figurative Language / Words appeal to all five senses, creates a vivid picture in the reader's mind,and/or uses figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification) to enhance the meaning of the poem/s / Words appeal to most five senses, creates a vivid picture in the reader's mind,and/or uses figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification) to enhance the meaning of the poem/s / Words appeal to one of the five senses, and/or uses figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification) to enhance the meaning of the poem/s
Grammar & Spelling
Instructions / Writer makes no errors in grammar or spelling, picture include that captures the essence of poem / Writer makes 1-4 errors in grammar and/or spelling, picture included / Writer makes more than 4 errors in grammar and/or spelling, no picture
/ / /
/
Shop & Support Poets.org
Modern American Poetry
Edited by seasoned high school teachers and published poets, this anthology is an ideal way to introduce yourself or a loved one to some of the best American poets.
$26.00 | More Info
View All Store Items /
/ /
ShareDiggStumbleUpon Facebook E-mail to Friend
I adapted and borrowed ideas and materials from this Lesson found on Poets.org @