Randall Jarrell’s Poetry

Warfare, battle, combats. These are just some of the terms that pertain to war. Man versus man, they are fighting against each other.

One side considers the other as the bad side, the killers, those who does not have conscience. On the other hand, that one side considers themselves as the hero, the defender of the good side. Some of the true stories about war were also being concealed in order for the true colors of wars, the harsh side of war. Those who are involved in the battle wanted to give explanation regarding their killings of other people.This is done, perhaps, in order for those who are involved to cover up the remorse that they have inside them. These are the side of war that is exposed to the poems of Randall Jarrell, specifically from the poems Losses, Eight Air Force, and The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.

The speakers of the poems are somewhat telling their story, their personal experiences regarding the war. The speakers also wanted to convey some lessons about the war, wanted to educate the people on the true things that might be happening in war.The speakers of the poems are usually from the point of view of a soldier that is being involved in a war. However, the speakers of the poems also gives the point of view of those who are not directly involved in war, those can be considered as the victims of the war.

The speakers give the possible point of view of the victims by describing the things and people around them. Many analyses have written about the poems that stated above. Every writer have different point of view, and this paper is another point of view about theses poems. Some of the ideas listed here have similarity to other analyses.Randall Jarrell’s ‘Losses’ shows what really happens in war. It reveals the true side of war, from the soldiers from both parties to the innocent people who became victims of war.

This poem may perhaps contrast the news that the military are revealing to the public. According to Hill, “Losses is a euphemistic military term denoting the amount of men and machinery destroyed in any given engagement (154). ” The speaker seems to be a soldier, according to Hill the speaker is a bomber. What more obvious is that the speaker came from the military.He has an active participation on the war.

The speaker wanted to give the readers the overview on war, what are the things happening there and what they are doing during war. The speaker describes on the poems the different things that he has done during the war. The speaker even describes how he destroys the cities that he only has known from the books during his high school days. In bombers named for girls, we burned The cities we had learned about in school – Till our lives wore out, our bodies lay among The people we had killed and never seen.He even reveal that they are given full responsibility on the activities on the war that if they died on the war, it is considers as a mistake.

It wasn’t different but if we died It was not an accident but a mistake (But an easy one for anyone to make. ) ‘Losses’ is link to ‘Eight Air Force’ since the both the poems pertains to the bombing that happened on Europe. Both of the speakers expressed their guilt regarding the situation on bombings. For ‘Losses’ guilt is expresses by the speaker’s thinking that he is being asked by the cities that he have destroyed about his reason for his death.

At the end of the poem the speaker even asks himself, trying to remember all his reasons for the war. The speaker considers himself as dead but he is still searching for answers regarding the issues of his death. On the other hand, Jarrell’s Eight Air Force deals more on the validity of war, the innocence of the soldiers from killing other people. The speaker tried to justify the soldier from killing other people. But the speaker cannot lie about the meaning of war, cannot hide the guilt of the soldiers from killing innocent lives.

At t fist stanza, the speaker tried to show to the reader what the innocence of the other creatures who are happened to be involved in war. The purity of the creatures that happened to be involved in the war is described from the lines A puppy laps the water from a can Of flowers, and the drunk sergeant shaving. The second stanza, this is where the speaker labeled those who are involved to the war as murders. However, he somewhat justified the soldiers by saying that the soldiers have no choice; this is how war is done. At the third stanza, the speaker offers more justifications about his actions towards war.This is how war has is to be done, the speaker tried to justify that he is just doing his job (Hill 31).

“They are murderers who are likely themselves to be murdered, yet also passive, helpless and innocent. ” this is according to Perkins (393). This is war … But since theses play, before they die, Like puppies with their puppy; since, a man, I did as these have done, but did not die The speaker trying to convince the readers that what he has done is a must. Perhaps, the speaker has said such words for him to be able to conceal the guilt that he is feeling from his mind and heart.At the last stanza and Eight Air Force, this is where the speaker reveals all his guilt.

He even considers the speaker himself as a liar because of trying to give good reason for killing in the war, giving reason in order not to be named as a murderer. The speaker even compares the soldiers, including him, Pontius Pilate who also tried to saying that he has not any thing to do with Jesus’ death. ‘The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner’, the shortest among the three poems of Jarrell that is being talked on this paper. It may perhaps short, but the message in the poems is very rich.This poem shows how young men are being picked in order for them to give more numbers on the troops.

It shows what the young men’s usual reaction when they are being caught to go to the war. Actually, the speaker may me young enough h in order to still live by his mother’s side. It is as if the speaker is being kidnapped from his mother without the mother noticing in order to add number to the troop and go to war. Even the speaker does not have any idea where he will be going to.Pericles also has almost same idea about this issue. Pericles says that The first line, "From my mother's sleep I fell into the State," can be interpreted as a young teenager who is drafted to go to war by the United States of America.

It appears as if he does not want to go, for the threat of being killed in action is possible. The first line also shows a consolatory moment where he is under the belly of his mother, awaiting the inevitable moment to be called for war duties. The second line puts the young soldier in a position where he is inside a fighter jet in combat and becomes paranoid, supported by the statement in line two: "And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.His entire body is basically in shock when he realizes that he is in war, operating a fighter jet aircraft. ” The speaker is surprised when he realized that he is in the war and with gunpowder on his body.

And then when he died, his torn body has been washed by a hose, literally because usually a gunner’s body is being torn inside the turret. His body being washed by a hose shows the drastic situation of those who have not much luck on life and is being killed. This part of the poem is where the speaker reveals the bad side of the war.According to Workstations at Maryland The speaker’s point of view and his tone create a violent, horrible contrast with the events of his life which illustrates the moral as well as the physical horror of his situation.

Jarrell uses the point of view of a dead man and grotesque understatement to emphasize the nightmarish horror of the man’s life. In five short line, with no emotion, the dead man sums up his life as a mindless hunching in the State’s belly and a ghastly, violent death fighting for the State. ” ‘The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner’ is a short but meaningful poem from Randall.Every line from this poem can be interpreted. This poem is about the point of view of young men who are being involved to the war not because of choice but due to State’s will. Unlike with the two poems, this poem does not express any guilt feelings about killing others.

This poem reveals the feelings of a young men being caught of the obligation given by the State, which is to go to war. Basically, the focus of the three poems is about the war. Those poems are about the things that the soldiers may have been experiencing from being involved to the war.The first two poems have a similarity regarding the bombings and the guilt that the speakers have expressed regarding the poem through the war. The last poem mainly focuses on the things that the young men may have felt for being involved in war in a very young age.

This paper is just another interpretation. This may have some conflicting ideas with the other works, while some ideas are similar with others. This is not an absolute interpretation regarding Randall Jarrell’s works. But this paper is another point of view regarding war, regarding killing other people and involving other innocent lives.