“If on a sudden they should speak again…
We would not listen; we would not let it bring that old bad world”
Here the poet is referring to the radios and is pointing out that the people do not want to hear the radios again because their sound brings back too many painful memories of death. Also, the people feel that they don’t need or want to be in connection with the outside world as they only feel comfortable being alone after the disaster of the war. The people additionally feel that the sound of silence is comforting to them as it helps remind them of peace and calmness, which are factors they feel they need at this point of time in their lives.
It is generally considered that good writing avoids repetition. Though because of the poetic license given to the poet, he is allowed to repeatedly emphasize the silence in order to create an effect. The poet also plays around with the language used in order to achieve effects. For example, the poet uses alliteration when he says “great gulp” and he also uses onomatopoeia in order to affect the rhythm, which creates a jagged rhythm. These literary techniques used by the poet are effective as the receive attention by the readers.
“Sometimes we think of the nations lying asleep,
Curled blindly in impenetrable sorrow”
The use of the phrase “curled blindly” makes us think about the fetal position, as all humans start their lives ‘curled blindly’, in the fetal position. This creates the image of a human embryo and the poet is using this phrase to suggest we are waiting for the nations to be born, as they are currently ‘lying asleep’ grieving over past events.
“The tractors lie about our fields… like dank sea-monsters couched and waiting. We leave them where they are and let them rust… We make our oxen drag our rusty ploughs”
The fact that the tractors are no longer used and oxen’s are used to do farming instead possibly suggests that the war was a nuclear disaster, where technologically everything was wiped out. Thus their lifestyle now is more ancient or primitive, which shows the progress of regression in the war affected economy. The people are now starting over again, thus forced to use more primitive ways of living in order to survive. The poet uses a simile when he compares the tractors to ‘dank sea-monsters couched and waiting’.
“We heard a distant tapping on the road, a deepening drumming; it stopped, went on again and at the corner changed to hollow thunder”
Here the poet is describing the approaching sounds of the horses by using the phrases ‘distant tapping’, ‘deepening drumming’ and ‘hollow thunder’, he is able to show that the horses are getting nearer and nearer. As the horses get closer, the poet makes the language get thicker as well to create a stronger effect. The poet also cleverly uses onomatopoeia by making stronger sounds as the horses get closer.
When the horses arrive, we realize that the bond between the horses and men is being reestablished, as the horses are now “strange to us”, as the people sold the horses for new tractors in the past. This again emphasizes the regression of the people after the disaster. There has always been an affinity between the horses and men, which is now being recreated. We also now realize the special quality that ‘the’ horses have; they use their own instincts to come back to the people when they are in time of great need. The bond between the horses and men is highlighted when the poet says, “that long-lost archaic companionship”.
The horses represent a new beginning for the people, as it says “As if they had come from their own Eden”. The Garden of Eden represents the beginning of a new world and thus the horses represent the starting over of civilization after the devastating war. The horses help in this ‘rebuilding process’ by helping man with farming, “Since then they have pulled our ploughs and borne our loads”.
“But that free servitude still can pierce our hearts.
Our life is changed; their coming our beginning”
The men are using the horses for their work, yet there is still a feeling of sorrow and respect towards the horses. The horses have ‘touched’ the people with their tenderness and their willingness to help the people. When the world was destroyed, the horses came to help the surviving people. The horses act as saviors and thus the horses which came to help are of a ‘special’ breed.
The poem is an allegory about the aftermath of a nuclear disaster in which the world was destroyed. The poet presents an apocalyptic vision with negative images of destruction but also shows the bond between the horses and men, when the horses act as saviors to the men.
