Poetry Across Time
Conflict
Introduce
'Come On, Come Back'
By Stevie Smith
Establish
Incident in a future war?
Establish/Discuss
Background: 'Life' article - Nov 1949 -Extracts
The Cold War
A nuclear arms race began after WW2 as
superpowers in the East and West began
testing powerful new weapons. The rising of
the Iron Curtain intensified the threat of
mass destruction and led to the Nuclear
Fear of the 1950s and 1960s
Background and Context: Nuclear War
Chemical Warfare...
At the 1925 Geneva Conference the French suggested a protocol for
the non-use of poisonous gases: "The use in war of asphyxiating,
poisonous or other gases, and all of the analogous liquids, materials
or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of
the civilised world." It was signed on 17th June, 1925.
22nd April, 1915:
German army release
168 tons of chlorine
gas over a 4 mile area
of the front line.
9th August, 1961: US aircraft sprayed dioxinlaced Agent Orange over Kon Tum, Vietnam
16th March, 1988: Sadam Hussein orders
multiple chemical agents (inc. mustard gas,
hydrogen cyanide and nerve agents sarin,
tabun and VX) to be dropped over the
Kurdish town of Halabja, Iraqi Kurdistan
Background and Context: Chemical Warfare
'Come On, Come Back'
By Stevie Smith
The poet known as Stevie Smith was born in Yorkshire in 1902 and
died of cancer in 1971. Her real name was Florence Margaret
Smith and she was brought up by her feminist aunt after her
mother became ill and her father deserted his family to go off to
sea. Deceptively simple, her poems penetrate straight to the heart
of life's greatest fears and anxieties. They are persistently dark
and filled with 'death-wishfulness'. Stevie Smith was subject to
periods of depression during her life and was preoccupied with
death, seeing it as a release or consolation. Her poetry has strong
underlying themes of love and death, it is whimsical but fiercely
honest and direct.
"I want to get something out that is working away at me. I think
pressure is the operative word... The pressure of despair."
"Being alive is like being in enemy territory."
Stevie Smith
It is not possible to read her work without consciousness of the
strength a nd persistence of its death-wishfulness. The poet's
convictions about the "friend- liness" of death, the sweet
gentleness of oblivion, as compared to the painful consciousness
of the "enemy territory" where she must live. It is life that
Stevie Smith laments, not death. Her poems persistently use
metaphors that record that struggle, showing the way the tug of
death."
Elizabeth Lawson, Stevie Smith and the Metaphors of
Disengagement
Author's Ideas and Background
‘Come On, Come Back’
Incident in a future war
Left by the ebbing tide of battle
On the field of Austerlitz
The girl soldier Vaudevue sits
Her fingers tap the ground, she is alone
At midnight in the moonlight she is sitting alone on a
round flat stone.
Graded by the Memel Conference first
Of all human exterminators
M.L.5.
Has left her just alive
Only her memory is dead for evermore.
She fears and cries, Ah me why am I here?
Sitting alone on a round flat stone on a hummock there.
Rising, staggering, over the ground she goes
Over the seeming miles of rutted meadow
To the margin of a lake
The sand beneath her feet
Is cold and damp and firm to the waves’ beat.
Quickly - as a child, an idiot, as one without memory She strips her uniform off, strips, stands and plunges
Into the icy waters of the adorable lake.
On the surface of the water lies
A ribbon of white moonlight
The waters on either side of the moony track
Are black as her mind,
Her mind is as secret from her
As the water on which she swims,
As secret as profound as ominous.
Weeping bitterly for her ominous mind, her plight,
Up the river of white moonlight she swims
Until a treacherous undercurrent
Seizing her in an icy-amorous embrace
Dives with her, swiftly severing
The waters which close above her head.
An enemy sentinel
Finding the abandoned clothes
Waits for the swimmer’s return
(‘Come on, come back’)
Waiting, whiling away the hour
Whittling a shepherd’s pipe from the hollow reeds.
In the chill light of dawn
Ring out the pipe’s wild notes
‘Come on, come back.’
Vaudevue
In the swift and subtle current’s close embrace
Sleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tune
Favourite of all the troops of all the armies
Favourite of Vaudevue
For she had sung it too
Marching to Austerlitz,
‘Come on, come back.’
STEVIE SMITH
Poem
The Girl Soldier...
What strikes you about that particular combination of words?
Skill
Women and War:
'War is mad, crazy; and it makes you crazy as well. All you can
think about is whether in a minute it will be your turn to die.'
(A survivor of the Rwanda massacre in 1994, when she was only
18)
'With tears in her eyes, she told me she had already died four
times: that's the number of times the guards had simulated
her execution. On one occasion they had stood her against a
wall, told her she was going to be shot, and fired blanks at
her... As we talked, it was clear that something had indeed
died in her. She was only 15, and I was filled with silent rage
about her torments.'
(Iranian women accused of political offences)
'They threatened me with a knife, then held me down and
raped me. I said to one of them, "How would you feel if
someone treated your mother, sister or daughter like this?"
He hesitated, as if he no longer wanted to go on. Then he went
to the door and asked if anyone else wanted to rape me. There
was nobody, so they left.'
(A Croatian woman during the Bosnian war)
'I can't work, and I keep forgetting things. The doctor said it
was traumatic epilepsy and explained that it was caused by the
war. He told me that I had experienced many terrible things,
that I should try to regain control of my life, but that it would
be very difficult.'
(A woman who as a teenager in the 1980s had fought in the
civil war in El Salvador)
Discussion Points
CAN women fight on the front line?
A former SAS officer and professional soldier:
"A fact of life for a soldier is the necessity to kill at close
range. This can require a degree of savagery far beyond most
people's imagining, and it's uncivilised to expect young women to
sink to such emotional depths....This state of mind - going
berserk in the old Viking sense - is not uncommon among fighting
men in extreme circumstances (I've been overcome by it several
times). Under its influence one loses all fear of death, becoming
in the process a completely barbaric and utterly merciless,
atavistic killing machine."
SHOULD they?
Additional
Napoleon's Proclamation to his Soldiers,
1805:
"In the battle of Austerlitz...you have covered
yourselves with eternal glory. An army of one hundred
thousand men which was commanded by the emperors of
Russia and Austria had been, in less than four hours,
either cut off or dispersed. Those that escaped your
swords have thrown themselves into the lakes."
Establish/Discuss
Technique ?
What is it describing?
‘Come On, Come Back’
Incident in a future war
Suggests?
Left by the ebbing tide of battle
On the field of Austerlitz
Repetition for
The girl soldier Vaudevue sits
emphasis.
Her fingers tap the ground, she is alone
At midnight in the moonlight she is sitting alone on a round flat
stone.
Alliteration emphasises the moonlight and the eerie setting.
Battle ground in
the Napoleonic
wars.
Graded by the Memel Conference first
Chilling, impersonal word.
Of all human exterminators
M.L.5.
Has left her just alive
Only her memory is dead for evermore.
Description of?
She fears and cries, Ah me why am I here?
Sitting alone on a round flat stone on a hummock there.
A town in Nazi
Germany now
in Lithuania.
}
Imaginary
poisonous gas.
Rising, staggering, over the ground she goes
Over the seeming miles of rutted meadow
To the margin of a lake
The sand beneath her feet
Is cold and damp and firm to the waves’ beat.
Emphasises
Vaudevue's
struggle
and confusion.
Quickly - as a child, an idiot, as one without memory She strips her uniform off, strips, stands and plunges
Into the icy waters of the adorable lake.
On the surface of the water lies
This adjective is
A ribbon of white moonlight
unexpected The waters on either side of the moony track suggests?
Are black as her mind,
Her mind is as secret from her
This word hints
As the water on which she swims,
something bad will
As secret as profound as ominous.
happen.
Significance?
Smooth,
peaceful
image.
Why?
What does this
suggest about
Vaudevue's
state of mind?
What is being
described here?
Technique?
Emphasises
time passing
slowly.
Why such a
striking image?
{
Weeping bitterly for her ominous mind, her plight, Repetition
Up the river of white moonlight she swims
Why?
Until a treacherous undercurrent
Seizing her in an icy-amorous embrace Techniques?
Dives with her, swiftly severing
The waters which close above her head. Alliteration to
emphasise...?
An enemy sentinel
Finding the abandoned clothes
Why the brackets?
Waits for the swimmer’s return Significance of the title of song?
(‘Come on, come back’)
Waiting, whiling away the hour
Whittling a shepherd’s pipe from the hollow reeds.
In the chill light of dawn
Ring out the pipe’s wild notes
‘Come on, come back.’
Irony?
What does
this word
suggest?
Why?
Vaudevue
In the swift and subtle current’s close embrace
Sleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tune
Favourite of all the troops of all the armies
Shows that?
Favourite of Vaudevue
For she had sung it too
Marching to Austerlitz,
‘Come on, come back.’
STEVIE SMITH
The poem ends sadly- Vaudevue won't come
back because she's dead.
Framed
Tracking ideas...
What lines seem relevant to this image?
Skill
Endings:
Sleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tune
Favourite of all the troops of all the armies
Favourite of Vaudevue
For she had sung it too
Marching to Austerlitz,
'Come on, come back.'
Reflection...
* What words stand out in
the last stanza? Why?
* What point do you think
the poet is trying to make?
Explain your ideas and try
to link to other poems that
you have looked at so far.
Skill: Symbolism
Interpreting the text:
1
Imagery
What extended metaphor is used
in the poem?
Structure
Think about organisation of the poem.
What do you notice?
Word Choice
Stevie Smith's poems are filled with unexpected
word choices. What examples of this can you find?
Skill: Interpreting the Text
Look at the images below:
Can you find the quotation/idea
that they refer to?
Question Time!
1. How does the poet create a sense of
mystery in the poem?
2. How does the title of the poem
relate to the content?
3. Who finds Vaudevue's clothes?
What impression do you get of this character?
4. Which key words are repeated to give the poem a cold,
deathly feel?
5. What do you think is the significance of the lake?
Quick Questions
Not Waving But Drowning
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
STEVIE SMITH
Additional
Do Not!
Do not despair of man, and do not scold him,
Who are you that you should so lightly hold him?
Are you not also a man, and in your heart
Are there not warlike thoughts and fear and smart?
Are you not also afraid and in fear cruel,
Do you not think of yourself as usual,
Faint for ambition, desire to be loved,
Prick at a virtuous thought by beauty moved?
You love your wife, you hold your children dear,
Then say not that Man is vile, but say they are.
But they are not. So is your judgement shown
Presumptuous, false, quite vain, merely your own
Sadness for failed ambition set outside,
Made a philosophy of, prinked, beautified
In noble dress and into the world sent out
To run with the ill it most pretends to rout.
Oh know your own heart, that heart's not wholly evil,
And from the particular judge the general,
If judge you must, but with compassion see life,
Or else, of yourself despairing, flee strife.
STEVIE SMITH
Additional
After Blenheim
IT was a summer evening,
Old Kaspar's work was done,
And he before his cottage door
Was sitting in the sun;
And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
5
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round,
Which he beside the rivulet
In playing there had found:
10
He came to ask what he had found
That was so large and smooth and round.
Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by;
And then the old man shook his head, 15
And with a natural sigh—
"'Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he,
"Who fell in the great victory.
"I find them in the garden,
For there's many here about;
And often when I go to plough
The ploughshare turns them out.
For many thousand men," said he,
"Were slain in that great victory."
20
"Now tell us what 'twas all about,"
25
Young Peterkin he cries;
And little Wilhelmine looks up
With wonder-waiting eyes;
"Now tell us all about the war,
And what they fought each other for." 30
"It was the English," Kaspar cried,
"Who put the French to rout;
But what they fought each other
I could not well make out.
But everybody said," quoth he,
"That 'twas a famous victory.
"My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little stream hard by;
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly:
So with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.
35
40
"With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a childing mother then
45
And newborn baby died:
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.
"They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won,
50
For many thousand bodies here
Lay rotting in the sun;
But things like that, you know, must be
After a famous victory.
"Great praise the Duke of Marlbro' won, 55
And our good Prince Eugene"—
"Why 'twas a very wicked thing!"
Said little Welhelmine;
"Nay—nay, my little girl," quoth he,
"It was a famous victory.
60
"And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win"—
"But what good came of it at last?"
Quoth little Peterkin.
"Why that I cannot tell," said he,
"But 'twas a famous victory."
ROBERT SOUTHEY (1796)
Additional
65
Links:
Biography of poet:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/
singlePoet.do?poetId=7088
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/stevie-smith
Poet talks about poems:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/
singlePoem.do;jsessionid=FA14D6F9A1A9DC9FE55F811
C7F459C1B?poemId=7089
Analysis of poem:
http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/poetry/
poetry_women1.html
Women soldiers on front line debate:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/769612.stm
Frankie Goes to Hollywood video - Two Tribes (1983)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOQUnvI3CA
Information (and video clips) on the Cold War culture:
http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/cold_war/topics/
274/
Links and References