Ms. Amber Huntington
Adapted from Introduction to the Poem,
Revised Second Edition
Robert W. Boynton and Maynard Mack
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The most important single factor in a poem considered as a
dramatic situation is its speaker
A poem is always spoken by someone—most obviously, by
the poet
But when we start looking closely at the dramatic character
of poetry, we find that we have to allow for a more
immediate speaker than the poet him/herself, one whom
the poet has imagined speaking the poem, as an actor
speaks a part written for him by a playwright
In some instances, this imagined speaker is in no way
definite or distinctive; he/she is simply a voice
But often the speaker is much more than a voice, and then
he/she becomes a contributor to the whole meaning of the
poem
The personal situation in any poem is whatever the speaker
of the poem is reacting to
The following poem has a speaker with a
definite personality, which, as you’ll see,
contributes to the poem’s overall tone and
message.
"Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin*!
5
10
15
20
"But ranged* as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him and he at me,
And killed him in his place.
*half-pint glass
*set in place
"I shot him dead because –
Because he was my foe,
Just so – my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although
"He thought he'd 'list* perhaps,
Off-hand like – just as I –
Was out of work – had sold his traps* –
No other reason why.
"Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown*.“
*enlist
*belongings
Getting to know the speaker:
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Why has the speaker enlisted?
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What shows the speaker to be a
friendly, companionable sort?
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What kind of language does he
use (formal, informal, regional,
etc.)
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What two words in line 2 show
that he is not a very precise user
of language?
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What question is he trying to
answer in stanza three? What
answer does he give? Is it an
adequate answer? What in
stanzas three and four show that
the speaker is not fully satisfied
with it?
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What words in line 17 suggest
there are limitations in the
speaker’s ability to think and feel
deeply about what he has done?
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How does his way of dismissing
the problem throw light on why
decent and sensible men keep on
going to war?
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*British coin
Note: The speaker and the
author are very different people
The following poem has a speaker
whose personality is by no means as
simple as that of the speaker in “The
Man He Killed,” but there is no doubt
about the strongly personal view.
There died a myriad*
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth*
For a botched* civilization.
5
Charm, smiling at the good mouth,*
Quick eyes gone under earth’s lid,
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For two gross of broken statues,
For a few thousand battered books.
* myriad: a vast number
* For…teeth: the connotations of “bitch” and old age,
and decayed teeth are all suggestive of corruption and
degradation
*botched: messed up, bungled
*Charm…mouth: The dead soldiers were young and
pleasant, and smiled at pretty girls
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What words show the speaker’s attitude
toward the dead men here?
How far does the attitude resemble or
differ from the attitude taken by the
speaker of the preceding poem toward
the man he killed?
What kind of person in the speaker?
In lines 7-8, the speaker implies that the
civilization he is speaking of has little
genuine respect for art or learning. What
words in these lines especially carry this
implication?
What interests does the speaker of this
poem show that would not be apt to
concern the speaker in the preceding
poem?
Would the poem be strengthened or
weakened by the omission of line 3?
Why? (Consider whether line 4 says the
same thing or not.)
What would be lost by omitting the word
“good” in line 5? (Consider line 3.)
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The speaker of a poem is rarely the author
The speaker takes on a persona the author has
created
The speaker contributes to the meaning of the
poem as whole