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READ THIS
The poet asks why it is that soldiers give their lives during war while fighting for some cherished ideal and
yet, once the war is over, the insane continue to rule us and drive us inevitably towards yet another war.
ABOUT THE POET
Cecil Day-Lewis was of Irish descent, having been born in Ballintubbert in County Laois, the son of a
clergyman and his wife.
He was just two years old, however, when his mother died, at which point his father moved to London
where the young child did all his schooling. He eventually graduated from Oxford University in 1927.
Despite this prolonged English education, he always regarded himself as Anglo-Irish although, when
Ireland eventually gained independence from Britain, he chose British citizenship rather than Irish.
He began work as a school teacher, then later became involved in the publishing industry before
eventually taking up a lecturing post at Cambridge University. Later he accepted a Professorship in Poetry
at Oxford before transferring to Harvard University in the United States.
For a while - just before the outbreak of World War II - he joined the communist party, during which time
his poetry took on a distinctly socialist flavour. Disillusion soon set in, however, and he quickly parted
company with the socialists.
Day-Lewis had a troubled marital life, being married first to Mary King and then to Jill Balcon. These two
marriages resulted in five children. He also had several extra-marital affairs during which he probably
fathered a further two children.
He was appointed Poet Laureate of Britain in 1968 but died from pancreatic cancer just four years later.
He was then 68 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
This poem has been described as having a "rather mechanical rhyme". What is its rhyme? Would you
agree that it is "rather mechanical"? (4)
[Need help?]
The rhyming scheme for each verse is "a-b-a-b-a". This is not necessarily mechanical except perhaps
that it sometimes appears to be rather forced.
For example, Stanza 3 has the following rhyme: "again", "gesture", "slain", "imposture", "again". Why
does the poet need to repeat the word "again"? And why "imposture" to rhyme with "gesture" - is this a
real or a forced rhyme?
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"Will it be so again
that the brave, the gifted are lost from view,
and empty, scheming men
are left in peace their lunatic age to renew?
Will it be so again?"
- The poet provides a stereotype for those who have died as opposed to those who have lived. Explain
what this stereotype is. (4)
[Need help?]
Those who have died, the poet says, are "brave" and "gifted". Those who survive, on the other hand, are
"empty", "scheming" and mad ("lunatic").
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- Would you agree with the poet's conclusion? (4)
[Need help?]
You are, of course, free to argue this one any way you wish. But ask yourself: is it only the good who die
in the war? Do only the empty, scheming people live on to rule the world? Surely not?
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- The poet refers to times of peace as a "lunatic age". What does he mean? Would you agree with his
reasoning? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet seems to believe that times of peace proceed irrevocably towards yet another war. In other
words, our politicians are obsessed with war.
To a point, he is right. Much money is made through warfare, which means that commonly given reasons
for war are merely excuses for making more money. How is this so?
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"Must it be always so
that the best are chosen to fall and sleep
like seeds, and we too slow
in claiming the earth they quicken, and the old usurpers reap
what they could not sow?"
- What is a EUPHEMISM? Give an example of a euphemism in these lines. (4)
[Need help?]
A EUPHEMISM is the use of a "soft" expression in place of hard reality. For example, "the late Mr Lewis"
instead of "the deceased Mr Lewis"; and "oh, he is late then?" instead of "oh, is he dead?"
In this verse, "to fall and sleep like seeds" is a euphemism for being killed.
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- Why would the poet use the expression "to fall and sleep like seeds? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is probably referring to St Paul's letter to the Corinthians (New Testament) in which he describes
the resurrection of the dead as being like seeds which grow from something so small into a magnificent
tree.
When we die and are buried, says the poet, we are like seeds buried in the soil. We "sleep" for a time
("sleep like seeds") and await the resurrection from the dead. Then the seeds take root and we grow into
a new eternal life.
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- Comment on the poet's use of the words "slow" and "quicken" in these lines. (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is using an archaic (very old) religious expression. The "quick" refers to the living. The "slow"
would therefore refer to those who are dying.
The poet says that "we too slow in claiming the earth they quicken". In other words, we the survivors of
war are too slow to put into practice all the good things we have won through war. Those who have died,
he says, have given life to the earth - they have "quickened" it.
But, because we are so slow, the earth will once again die - and soldiers will once more have to die in yet
another war.
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- Who are "the old usurpers"? (4)
[Need help?]
A "usurper" is a person who wrongly grabs power. The poet claims that, no sooner is the war over, the
wrong people grab power once more. They seize power from those who should rightly have earned it.
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- What does the poet mean when he says that the usurpers "reap what they could not
sow"? (4)
[Need help?]
The expression is usually "you shall reap what you sow". If you sow weeds, then weeds will grow. If you
sow good seeds, you will reap a bumper crop.
The poet argues that warfare's purpose is to present the opportunity of sowing good seeds afterwards.
But, he says, the "usurpers" have grabbed power from the good people but unfortunately they have no
idea how to govern wisely, they have no idea what constitutes good seeds.
The good seeds of peace which the dead soldiers have planted are therefore being harvested, but the bad
seeds which will now be planted will irrevocably lead to further war.
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