From 'Down to the dressing station' to the end of the play.
Throughout this extract, Raleigh is close to death and from this, we see the effect of friendship between Stanhope and Raleigh becoming strengthened.
Stanhope starts off by telling Raleigh he's got a 'blighty one' meaning he is able to go home from his injuries. The fact 'he smiles' as he says this presents him protecting Raleigh's innocence as he knows he is going to die from his wounds. However, wanting to save his innocence by giving him the image of home as he dies. This is also one of the first times throughout the whole play where Stanhope refers to him as 'Jimmy', again this may be in the sense to give him a feeling of home or maybe to recommence his behavior towards Raleigh so he can die in peace and friendship of Stanhope.
Stanhope takes on a fatherly figure role towards Raleigh throughout this extract by 'It's not your fault, Jimmy' and by acting 'cheerful' as he gives him water. He acts like a father by protecting him from containing any guilt and tries to remain happy to comfort him. From this, Raleigh in turn acts childish, seeming vulnerable. He asks 'can you stay' and asks for a light as 'it's so frightfully dark and cold', being like a child by being afraid of the dark. This is reinforced by stage directions calling him just a 'boy' which emphasises just how young he is and brings into account his naivety and innocence.
The stage directions towards the end of the play portray the loss of innocence in Raleigh as he dies in the setting of war. This is shown through 'the faint rosy glow of dawn is deepening to an angry red'. The change in colour to an 'angry red' may be a representation of hell or it may be foreboding death and blood. This is reinforced later through 'red dawn glows through the jagged holes of the broken doorway'. The disappearance of the 'rosy glow' implies the romantacised scene of Stanhope's and Raleigh's friendship coming to an end. Also the appearance of Raleigh shows his innocence lost from his 'pale drawn face, and the dark shadows under his eyes'. The 'pale' portrays the horror of war taking toll on his youth and the 'dark shadows' presents him being accustomed to war and of his exposure to the reality. Raleigh is shown to 'lie in the shadows' meaning all his innocence has been lost and his youth and personality have died in the setting of war.
Lastly, the sound imagery depicts Raleigh dying to the sound of war. 'The thudding of the shells rises and falls like an angry sea'. The simile which compares the shells to the sea is used for the audience to make something unimaginable, such as the shells, imaginable by comparing it to something everyone has seen, to give a picture of the reality. Also, through 'very faintly there comes the dull rattle of machine guns'. 'Faintly' implies a sense of haunting and as the 'machine guns' are personified gives them the power to haunt Raleigh's soul.
Monday, 2 March 2015
Saturday, 28 February 2015
The Soldier Rupert Brooke analysis
Throughout the poem is a strong sense of patriotism with the first stanza showing sacrifice and personifying England as a motherly figure and the second stanza presenting after war peace will come.
Brooke uses personal pronouns of 'If I should die, think only this of me' to make the whole poem more personal to him. It also shows him worrying about death and the acceptance of it as there is a strong possibility of it being the outcome. Also presenting as if it's his last words, as though it's his will giving people a last impression. 'Some corner of a foreign field' implies he will remain only a small part, but he brings the essence of England as he is buried there as if it's his conquest. Reinforced by 'richer dust concealed' 'dust' presenting religious imagery of the ashes of the men. The repetition of 'rich' implies the earth is wealthy and that he is more important than the earth. It also presents the beauty of the nature. The personification of England is shown as 'England bore, shaped, made aware' of England being a mother having the intimacy in the 'dust'. Religious imagery is also shown through 'washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home' as 'washed by the rivers' portrays a baptism and shows blessing, presenting war as holy. Also, 'suns of home' reinforces the idea of England being its mother.
The second stanza also presents religious imagery of 'all evil sins shed away' as again, war being holy and purifying the soldiers souls. The 'pulse in the eternal mind' could present God's mind pushing the men into war. 'The thoughts by England given' shows England made the soldier, as if he is a product of England. Lastly, 'under an English heaven' presents how peace will come after sacrifice and the superiority of England being 'heaven'.
Brooke uses personal pronouns of 'If I should die, think only this of me' to make the whole poem more personal to him. It also shows him worrying about death and the acceptance of it as there is a strong possibility of it being the outcome. Also presenting as if it's his last words, as though it's his will giving people a last impression. 'Some corner of a foreign field' implies he will remain only a small part, but he brings the essence of England as he is buried there as if it's his conquest. Reinforced by 'richer dust concealed' 'dust' presenting religious imagery of the ashes of the men. The repetition of 'rich' implies the earth is wealthy and that he is more important than the earth. It also presents the beauty of the nature. The personification of England is shown as 'England bore, shaped, made aware' of England being a mother having the intimacy in the 'dust'. Religious imagery is also shown through 'washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home' as 'washed by the rivers' portrays a baptism and shows blessing, presenting war as holy. Also, 'suns of home' reinforces the idea of England being its mother.
The second stanza also presents religious imagery of 'all evil sins shed away' as again, war being holy and purifying the soldiers souls. The 'pulse in the eternal mind' could present God's mind pushing the men into war. 'The thoughts by England given' shows England made the soldier, as if he is a product of England. Lastly, 'under an English heaven' presents how peace will come after sacrifice and the superiority of England being 'heaven'.
Birdsong pg162 analysis
'At first he thought' until 'had not yet dreamed of'.
This extract presents the realty of war and also how warfare has changed in WW1. From Stephen thinking the war 'could be fought and concluded swiftly in a traditional way' shows the difference in the ideology of warfare and the actual reality. Fighting war in a 'traditional way' explores the old fashioned strategies of war, being fair in a sense of organisation and artillery use, compared to this war being the first in which uses new weapons and techniques men have never perceived before. Stephen also presents the cruel reality of war by how he watched men 'pouring bullets' into the enemies. The action of 'pouring' simplifies the action of the shooting by using the metaphor of an easy and simple thing to do. It also takes away the emotion of the machine gunners showing the demoralisation they adopt during war. The contrast of 'traditional' warfare to WW1 is reinforced through 'there was no longer any value accorded to a mere human life' as traditional wars are seen as honourable but by the men being dehumanised into being nothing of 'value' presents the reality of war being deplorable especially to the extent of a 'mere life' portraying them being lower than a poor and hopeless life. The 'mechanical slaughter' represents a metaphor which again, shows the emotionless and continuation of killing, as if the men were like machines in a factory. A 'breach of nature which no one had the power to stop' implies the laws of nature being broken by 'breach' and everyone being powerless to the natural order of war. Stephen describes the 'dazed and uncomprehending faces he saw through the blood and the noise' showing the complete confusion of war 'dazed and uncomprehending' depicts the reality of war exploiting the soldier's minds, creating a whole atmosphere of chaos and confusion, reinforced by the 'blood and noise' of which no one could begin to understand. The triplet of the war being 'permitted, reported, glossed over' presents the war being controlled by the government of who know exactly what is going on and allowing it from being 'permitted' and 'reported' but hides from the public at home what is really happening in war by it being 'glossed over'. The rhetorical question of when 'could they stop?' implants into the readers mind of how far the men are being degraded to. Lastly, Stephen describing the war proceeding into an 'annihilation on a scale the men themselves had not yet dreamed of' portrays this moment as only being the calm before the storm as the events which are about to take place are unimaginable even witnessing what is happening now. 'Annihilation' and 'dreaming' may be seen as juxtaposition as 'dreaming' portrays a fairy tale like vision of an event whereas 'annihilation' portrays complete destruction.
This extract presents the realty of war and also how warfare has changed in WW1. From Stephen thinking the war 'could be fought and concluded swiftly in a traditional way' shows the difference in the ideology of warfare and the actual reality. Fighting war in a 'traditional way' explores the old fashioned strategies of war, being fair in a sense of organisation and artillery use, compared to this war being the first in which uses new weapons and techniques men have never perceived before. Stephen also presents the cruel reality of war by how he watched men 'pouring bullets' into the enemies. The action of 'pouring' simplifies the action of the shooting by using the metaphor of an easy and simple thing to do. It also takes away the emotion of the machine gunners showing the demoralisation they adopt during war. The contrast of 'traditional' warfare to WW1 is reinforced through 'there was no longer any value accorded to a mere human life' as traditional wars are seen as honourable but by the men being dehumanised into being nothing of 'value' presents the reality of war being deplorable especially to the extent of a 'mere life' portraying them being lower than a poor and hopeless life. The 'mechanical slaughter' represents a metaphor which again, shows the emotionless and continuation of killing, as if the men were like machines in a factory. A 'breach of nature which no one had the power to stop' implies the laws of nature being broken by 'breach' and everyone being powerless to the natural order of war. Stephen describes the 'dazed and uncomprehending faces he saw through the blood and the noise' showing the complete confusion of war 'dazed and uncomprehending' depicts the reality of war exploiting the soldier's minds, creating a whole atmosphere of chaos and confusion, reinforced by the 'blood and noise' of which no one could begin to understand. The triplet of the war being 'permitted, reported, glossed over' presents the war being controlled by the government of who know exactly what is going on and allowing it from being 'permitted' and 'reported' but hides from the public at home what is really happening in war by it being 'glossed over'. The rhetorical question of when 'could they stop?' implants into the readers mind of how far the men are being degraded to. Lastly, Stephen describing the war proceeding into an 'annihilation on a scale the men themselves had not yet dreamed of' portrays this moment as only being the calm before the storm as the events which are about to take place are unimaginable even witnessing what is happening now. 'Annihilation' and 'dreaming' may be seen as juxtaposition as 'dreaming' portrays a fairy tale like vision of an event whereas 'annihilation' portrays complete destruction.
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