Right many a nipperkin!’ These lines support what I said previously about circumstances. ‘But ranged as infantry,’ this shows that the circumstances meant that they could never be friends as one of them had to die. ‘I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place.’ This means that he was either to kill or be killed. This is a good contrast to THE FIELD MOUSE. Here Hardy uses casual words and tone whereas Clarke uses a serious tone with concerning words. There is a deep emotional element to THE FIELD MOUSE but in the MAN HE KILLED there is a sense that the persona is thinking about the situation as a small matter and it has been dealt with.
‘The long grass is a snare drum’ and ‘the air hums with jets’ are seen as the start of war. The sibilance creates an atmospheric affect suggestive of the sound of impending battle that is heard but not seen.
‘Far from the radios terrible news,’ this has a double meaning. It means that although she is far away and not involved in war, she has a view on the situation. She believes that it is ‘terrible’.
In stanza two, Clarke enforces her feelings about the war. ‘It curls in agony as big as itself huge.’ THE FIELD MOUSE suggests that the war is big and has an impact on lots of people. ‘Before days done the field is bleeding’, this suggests how gruesome the war is and the true velocity of the war.
In stanza three, Hardy gives reasons as to why he has done what he has done. ‘I shot him dead because – because he was my foe.’ The dash suggests that he has difficulty to find the reasons for his actions but has trouble finding the true reason. He then uses tautology to convince himself that this is the reason and he was right to do it, ‘just as my foe, of course he was.’
Hardy’s phrase ‘quaint and curious war is’ contrasts with the view of war that Clarke has. ‘Their bones brittle as mouse ribs,’ shows how innocent and defenceless some of the victims can be. This contrasts with Hardy’s poem once again because he believes that the man who he killed was not defenceless because he too had a gun and would have used to kill.
The next two poems deal with personal experiences of death. They both deal with the death of young people. Both of the young boys were related to the poet. It is Heaney’s younger brother and Jonson’s son. Heaney writes about the death of his young brother in the time of his own youth.
Jonson’s poem begins with the line ‘Farewell thy child of my right hand and joy’ this suggests that his child brought him great joy and had depended on him to keep him happy. Jonson shows his sadness when he expresses that he loved his son so much that he expected too much of him, ‘my sinne was too much hope of thee.’ The word which Heaney uses to describe the way the bell rings, is suggestive of the ‘knelling’ at a funeral.
Jonson seems annoyed by the amount of love he had for his son. He may mean that he would not have been in so much pain if he had been less dependent. He feels it is his own fault he is in so much emotional pain. This love is expressed again in the first rhyming couplet of ‘joy’ and ‘boy.’
‘Seven years though wert lent to me,’ this line in Jonson’s poem is very crucial as it shows he does not feel that life is special. He sees life as a borrowed item, which has to be returned in an arranged death.
‘O, could I lose all father now.’ This line describes Jonson’s feelings. He is in deep pain and wants to lose this but it would be easier to lose any feeling of fatherhood. This is different to MIDTERM BREAK because Heaney has shown that his father was a strong man but not even he could hide his true emotions. His father does not want to lose the feeling because it is a reminder of his son and the love they shared. This is shown in the phrase ‘in the porch I met my father crying.’
In both poems a sense of innocence and vulnerability is portrayed in the dead children and their families, ‘rest in soft peace.’ The word ‘soft’ is the emphasis of the age and type of child. This is enforced again when Heaney makes reference to the ‘snowballs.’
Heaney is in a sense of denial at the death whereas Jonson accepts it and tries to move on. You can tell Heaney’s thoughts because he refers to his brother’s coffin as a ‘cot.’ When Heaney states that his brother is ‘wearing a poppy bruise’ he is hopeful that his brother is only hurt slightly and will recover.
Both poems have similar nature and express different views on the matter of death.
