J's Musings

 By Robert Southey

The poem is about the first victory that the English gained against the French. It was a great war that resulted in great damage to both countries and their people. Something the proud winners never did accept or understand, even the victims sing of the glory brought to them by something that destroyed their lives completely.

The poem has a sarcastic take towards the situation and has an anti-war agenda. I absolutely loved the poem and the way it not so subtly hints at the stupidity of war as a concept. My thoughts are that I quite agree with this and how respectfully it has been put. Let us now proceed…

 Character Contrast…

Old Kasper and his grandchildren are like the two sides to a coin. It’s the same world but there are so many ways to view it. First, there is patriotism. For Kasper, any hurt his country causes him is fine so long as the hurt brings them glory. He shall forever be grateful for whatever his land gives him. On the other hand, the kids have a more logical view. They believe the country did them harm too and there was no forgiving that. All the destruction the war caused made the war bad even if their side won. Another difference is how accepting the kids are and how rigid Kasper is. When altered with the view that the war was terrible, he could not digest it; how could the win of his country be meaningless. Even though it killed some, it was a great achievement. Yet the kids were okay with the victory being ‘great’ although the point that it was useless did not budge. Maybe their grandfather was correct, yet that did not make them wrong. Lastly Kasper was more aware of the world yet not very wise, and vice-versa. The kids knew little of war and how the world worked, yet they knew wrong when they saw wrong. Never really hesitating to speak up. While Kasper knew all about what war did and how it tortured the survivors. Yet he never saw the flaw in the plan, nor did he bother to call them out even if he did.

 Themes

The most obvious one would be ‘anti-war’ which we see throughout. I support this but I believe some wars do good. Some rebellions are needed, but other than that ‘why the war’? Another theme I noticed was how beautifully the pov of both generations have been included and put on a scale for you to judge. We know what kids think and what the elders think, what you support is up to you. It shows how difference of opinion can cause people to immediately try and prove the person wrong even when it comes to family. Lastly, there is pride, be it your country or family or yourself, we also have a certain pride about our achievements; and we do not care if they caused some havoc, an achievement is an achievement. Be it war or an exam if we win, who cares about how much it hurt?

By,

Janhavi B.