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 the 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.
I find poetry difficult to grasp sometimes. Reading an analysis really helps me appreciate the art more. I read a similar analysis to this one when I first read the poem. The poem speaks of the ill fate of a ball turret gunner on a WWII bomber. The men were stuffed into a plexiglass dome that was basically a big pimple-target on the belly of a huge plane. When I read this poem initially, I understood all the base-level imagery: frozen fur coats, waking up to a firefight, and a corpse so mutilated that the only thing that could be done was to spray it out. However, the analysis pointed out the birth related words: mother, belly, wet, dream of life. Randall Jarrell compares this horror of war to an abortion. Immediately after I realized that, the poem had so much more impact.
That analysis was beautiful. It really broke down the poem word for word and line by line, and then showing how everything works together.
ReplyDeleteThe wonderful thing about poetry is that there is often many meanings to it, and then also meanings within meanings. This poem is a great example of that.
Wow. I have read that poem several different times, and for several different classes but never saw it in that way. That really adds a different character to it. That's one of the interesting things to me about poetry; each person can gain their own insight to it and come away with a personal meaning.
ReplyDeleteI've never read this poem, but it reminds me of Ray Bradbury; some writers can make you taste the words as you read them.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really interesting poem. I have never read it and when I did I must admit I was very confused. Good job on your analysis though and for the information you shared about the words related to birth. That is cool this poem applies to two things that seem very different.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a startling poem, but you you don't know how startling it is until you know exactly why.
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