Preview

The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner Randall Jarrell Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
447 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner Randall Jarrell Analysis
Poetry Response 3
In “The Death of the ball Turret Gunner”, Randall Jarrell briefly describes a young man’s journey from the womb of his mother to the metaphorical womb of the ball turret that he dies in. The main message of the poems that war is a cold and horrible thing that makes waste of human life. The poem is written directly after World War two and illustrates its message through the use of an extended metaphor.
The time period is essential to the piece because of how it provides the main setting and conflict of the story. The main setting of the story is the inside of bomber flying over some hostile region of probably Europe. If it weren’t for this poem being written during a time of war then the gunner would never had been there in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    For example, the lines “there are zepplins helicopters, rockets, bombs bettering rams armies with trumpets whose all at once blast shatters the foundations” give strong mental images of war, destruction and death. This also is another large detail that may signal the reader to realize that this poem is taking place during a war. Internment and concentration camps occurred historically during major wars. Also, “wailing prayers to utter special codes to tap birds to carry messages taped to their feet” gives images of people praying and of a bird with a paper message tied to its feet. This is another historical clue as during the war as this was a way of communicating. The lines “a voice cries faint as in a dream from the belly of the wall” gives the mental picture of being in a kind of dream-like state where you can hear a faint voice but can’t see anything…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Poetry Analysis Essay

    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages

    He uses similes to portray the negative affect war had on this soldier’s life and how his life was wasted “like bright oil down a gutter.” Horn also uses a clever play on words when he conveys how the soldier was a “puny chap” but through war “he’s broadened out.” The soldier broadened out not in terms of muscles or character but because he died in the field of combat and was laying there long enough for his body to swell. The theme which is prominent throughout the entire poem is that of death. The poet arouses different emotions in the reader which include anguish and…

    • 1149 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Brian Turner’s poem, “Perimeter Watch”, a cautious solider returns to the comforts of their civilian home and community after serving in combat. Though their establishment is precisely the same as it was when they left; their own selves and inner thoughts are forever engraved with the routine(s), order(s) and repression of war. Therefore, making it difficult for the solider to grasp true reality.…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The First World War lasted between 1914 and 1918 and saw the death of nearly twenty million people (including civilians) and the casualties were even higher. Many were left wounded for life as they lost their limbs, sight or mind and they would never recover. Some soldiers couldn’t cope with life out of the trenches and were later confined to mental wards where some, if not, most committed suicide due to the horrors they had seen and committed. Pat Barkers “Regeneration” focuses on life for the soldiers during the war who were committed to Craiglockhart War Hospital in 1917. It features the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon who were both admitted for shell shock and were under the care of the novels protagonist (and army psychiatrist) William Rivers. In this study I will be looking at the poetic works of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen along from an anthology of Poems of the Great War. I will also be looking at Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” as it features the German perspective as typically we would only think of our own countries point of view so it would be a great contrast to see the war from a different perspective style.…

    • 2527 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the other hand, the poem ‘The Send- Off’ written by Wilfred Owen was set in World War I and is about the departure of soldiers to war. This poem is similar to The Shoe-Horn Sonata as it reflects a shameful image of the operation of war as ‘too few’ will return. Through the use of visual and aural imagery, Owen is able to depict the excited and anxious anticipation of the soldiers at the beginning of the poem through the use of the oxymoron ‘faces grimly gay’. Through the use of juxtaposition, Owen portrays society’s disapproval of sending men off to war to their pointless death; “so secretly, like wrongs hushed up”…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" gives a small insight to such chaos. It is a poem written by Randall Jarrel while he served in the Army Air Force during World War II. It is a poem about the thoughts the gunner might have felt as he carried out his mission, and is probably based on firsthand experience with a ball turret or a gunner.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bruce Dawe has used a variety of literary devices to represent specific marginalised groups in ways that challenge their reader’s perceptions. Two of his poems; ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Weapons Training’ are key and transparent examples of literary devices being utilised to represent specific marginalised groups. Both of these poems were set during the 1950’s, with Vietnam being written to represent soldiers pre-war and homecoming to represent soldiers returning to Australia. During this time period, the Australian nation lived via a very patriarchal manner, and had the utmost respect and admiration of their soldiers that fought during the world wars. However, it has been noted in Australian history that there was very little to no compassion given towards the returning soldiers from Vietnam; Homecoming is an attack at society for their reverence and respect-or lack of. This represents the marginalised soldiers from the Vietnam War, for the War Veterans from WW1 and WW2 had always traditionally returned home to a hero’s welcome, greeted at the airway and society’s full support to the brave soldiers who had risked and possibly given their lives for the country. Weapons Training is another war poem, but this time targets young soldiers pre-war on what can be assumed as a final addressing before taking into the ranks, this poem however various from the previous, the soldiers would have gone into the War with the expectation of being given thanks and praise for their bravery, instead they were barked at, abused and insulted. Dawe has represented both of the marginalised soldiers in both of the respective poems through his use of literary devices which can all fall under the brackets of a) Imagery and b) language, integrating into some finer details.…

    • 2124 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    War is a battle of not only the physical but also the psychological. In the text, All quiet on the western front, by Enrich Maria Remarque, and the poem Homecoming, by Bruce Dawe, our understanding is challenged through various representations of war such as innocence, srvivl and grief.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many of the great poems we read today were written in times of great distress. One of these writers was Randall Jarrell. After being born on May 6, 1914, in Nashville Tennessee, Jarrell and his parents moved to Los Angeles where his dad worked as a photographer. When Mr. and Mrs. Jarrell divorced, Randall and his younger brother returned to Nashville to live with their mother. While in Nashville, Randall attended Hume-Frogg high school. Randall showed his love for the arts while in high school by participating in dramatics and journalism. Jarrell continued his career in the arts when he wrote and edited for Vanderbilt's humor magazine, The Vanderbilt Masquerader. After earning his graduate degree at Vanderbilt, Jarrell accepted a teaching job at the University of Texas. While teaching at Texas, Jarrell met his future wife, Mackie Langham, a fellow English teacher. In 1942, Jarrell left home to join the Army Air Corps as a flying cadet. At about this same time, Randall's first book of poetry was being published. When Jarrell wrote home, his family often said his letters were, "confined and dreary." When Jarrell could not quite cut it as a cadet, he switched to being a navigation control tower operator. As a control tower operator, Randall began to write about the pilots, navigators and gunners of the war. This is probably when Jarrell wrote one of his most famous poems, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner." After being discharged from the army, Randall went back to teaching. Randall's love for teaching showed by his famous quote, "if I were a rich man, I would pay money to teach." Randall did have some psychiatric problems though. Many people thought Jarrell committed suicide when he was hit by a car on a dark road in 1965. People assumed suicide because at the time of his death Randall was in treatment for slitting his wrists in an attempt to kill himself. Most of Randall's poetry reflects what he saw and experienced during the war.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A soldier’s suffering holds no refrain from anyone, no matter what title or identity they have. In both the worlds of soldiers in those in the poem entitled “losses” by Randall Jarrell and at Devon school in “A Separate Peace” by John Knowles, there are several relationships that they share. Both center around the lives of soldiers and soon to be soldiers during the cruel time of the second World War which was happening in Europe. Jarrell experiments with multiple identity in the combination of several speakers united in one, all wasted even before they could be conceded into the real experience of war. In the book World War II symbolizes many themes related to each other in the novel, from the arrival of adulthood to the triumph of the Evil…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Examine how writers present the reality of war and the impact on characters in Birdsong, Regeneration and selected WWI poetry.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Here Dead We Lie Essay

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages

    While reading “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae and “Here Dead We Lie” by A.E. Housman, I made sure to decode every word that the poems contained in order to self-interpret the pieces of literature. These World War I based poems carry significant stories of our once war torn planet. For example, “Here Dead We Lie” is a short, yet meaningful, poem about nationalism and pride towards ones country. In this poem, the author discusses the fact that soldiers often chose to die for their country instead of “to live and shame the land” (Housman 3). Later, he suggests that, since young men believe that life is of great significance, their sacrifices were of great value to the war effort. On the other hand, “In Flanders Fields” expressed the idea that,…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ‘Owens poems reveal tenderness and compassion towards those whose lives have been destroyed by the war’…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Captain Top of Form

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Firstly time is explored in detail by the structure of the poem. The title of the poem gives us the insight that the poem is stuck in time, due to the date. Shows it must be about past tense or reminiscing. This maybe makes the poem more meaningful and personal. The poem is written in the first person as it is the "Captain that is speaking to someone. The 4 stanzas in the poem all of various lengths show the structure of the poem is disjointed suggesting that this is his trail of thought and his mind all over the place, maybe trying to understand and relive the past. This is done using pauses and short sentences, the short sentences may also show that the narrator is becoming very excited and erratic, almost childlike that he remembers so much and is excited to tell his story. There is no rhythm to the poem again showing that he hasn’t had time to collect his ideas together, almost in a rush trying to reveal all the information and just blabbing it all out without thinking, the use of no rhythm affects the poem as it makes it seem more playful, if a rhythm had been used it may seem more formal.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bertrand Russell once said, “War does not determine who is right- only who is left”. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, war has ravaged the world’s lands, often solving nothing. But one decent outcome is its creation of numerous noteworthy poets of its time. Poetry has been an outlet for countless stricken heroes of war and witnesses of the brutality of the American Civil War, the First and Second World Wars and the War in Vietnam. Stephen Crane, a late 19th century, short-lived writer of Naturalism and Impressionism, shoots images of weeping families in his poem “War Is Kind” (Literature and its Writers, 1063). Randall Jarrell, a poet of the early 19th Century, displays his experiences of life and death in the Air Forces in his poem “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” (L&W, 1065). In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” (L&W, 1064-1065), he paints a grisly…

    • 391 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays