Comparison of Pre 20th Century Poetry.

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Comparison of Pre 20th Century Poetry

The Boer War took place between 1899-1902.  In this period around 28,000 British soldiers lost their lives in the South of Africa.  This horrific war was the consequence of British miners lured to Africa after the discovery of gold deposits.  The inhabitants loathed the new settlers, and to show their appreciation they taxed them heavily and denied them voting writes.  Eventually the friction between both sides built until the settlers lead a revolt in Johannesburg against the Government.  This essay focuses on the anti-war poetry written as a result of the Boer War, which portrays the true colours of war.

The first poem, which I will be analysing, was written by the world famous poet Thomas Hardy.  This Poem reflects the anxiety and sleepless nights, which thousands of wives and families, would have had to endure, over the three years in which the war took place. The poem is named “A Wife in London”

“She sits in the tawny vapour” The wife is possibly sitting in the early-morning mist or fog, after a restless night thinking of her husband, she may also be outside, as she feels that she can become closer to her distant husband this way, as she stares out into the horizon.  Also her husband would not have the luxury of such a shelter as a home, in the war, he would be in the “tawny vapour” where he is vulnerable.  This may also indicate the mystery of her husband’s whereabouts, which surrounds her.  She is blinded by the fog, as she is uninformed of the situation in South Africa, which she so desperately wants to know.  

“Behind whose webby fold on fold” My best interpretation of this, is that the “Webby fold on fold” is a web which hides the truth of her husbands well being, similar to the “Tawny vapour” which surrounds her.

“Like a waning taper. The street lamp glimmers cold” The street lamp may be interpreted as a representation of the soldier’s life in South Africa, and the “Waning taper” a desolate cry as the soldier’s chance of returning home to his wife in London grows smaller as does the flame of the gas lamp.  

“A messenger’s knock cracks smartly, flashed news is in her head”.  The wife is totally taken by surprise by the messenger’s knock and she is unprepared for the news to come.  “Crack” may be describing the sound of gunfire in the battlefield, which may have torn her husband from her, or the breaking of bones, as the cavalry charged forward across the scattered soldiers, who had been reduced to unstable wrecks, overcome with fatigue. ‘Flashed’ may also describe the cannon fire, which the soldiers would have had to endure.

“Of meaning it dazes to understand” The wife is overcome with shock, her whole life has just been turned upside-down in a flash.  The message was so short, yet it meant so much, how could something so important be written so briefly?  To the military the soldier is just another statistic to carry out their dirty deeds, but to a loved one, he is their life.  “He has fallen-in the far south Land…”

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A new day comes, however the fog hangs even thicker than the previous morning.  “Tis the morrow; the fog hangs thicker,” Although she is now aware of her husband’s death, she still ponders about where her husband lies, in a grave with full military honours, in a mass grave, faceless and unidentified, or laying where he fell?  A letter is received from the soldier who is now dead, a day after the message telling of his death.  The poem suggests that the letter was written in high zest, when the soldier was well and full of spirit, the hot flames ...

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