Last Post

Question 1

Last Post — Context:

Answer 1

• Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and was the first woman to be appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009.
• The poem was commissioned by the BBC to mark the deaths of Henry Allingham (aged 113) and Harry Patch (aged 111); two of the last surviving British veterans of WWI.
• Title is taken from the bugle call used at British ceremonies remembering those killed in war.

Question 2

Last Post — Rhyme:

Answer 2

No fixed rhyme scheme; only two couplets and some half-rhymes.

• Poem cannot fully rhyme, just as Duffy cannot fully change what happened to the soldiers of WWI. She can only change the way that we think about war.

Question 3

Last Post — Structure:

Answer 3

After the intertextual reference at the beginning, the speaker reverses time and tells the story of the war backwards:

• Stanza 1: The men return from No-Man’s Land to the trenches.
• Stanza 2: The men move from the war front and start to return home.
• Stanza 3: The men enjoy and contemplate a life free from war.