Vergissmeinnicht Flashcards
Title analysis
Title means forget me not in German
“returning over the nightmare ground”
As the soldiers return to the scene of a previous battle, the horrific cycle of war seems inescapable. The repetition of ‘found’ reinforces this
The metaphor shows that the carnage and brutality of the previous battle (and war in general) still haunts the speaker
“The frowning barrel of his gun overshadowing.”
Personification highlights the aggressiveness and violence of conflict. The gun could also be seen as ‘frowning’ because the soldier was killed, he failed in his duty or the gun itself failed to protect him
Dark imagery reiterates how violence and death are inescapable
As a verb, this could also suggest how the guns overshadow the minds of the soldiers and their blind fixation on killing the enemy
“Look. Here in the gunpit spoil…”
The imperative here could show how the speaker initially takes pleasure in witnessing what he has done. However, the caesural pause could suggest that he is taking more time to consider who this enemy really was
The victorious soldiers have returned to go through the bodies of their enemies to find loot or the ‘spoils’ of war. This highlights the emotional coldness of the soldiers; hardened by fighting and casually pillaging the dead bodies like scavengers
“We see him almost with content abased,”
This line is quite ambiguous- the speaker could be speaking about the dead soldier and how he is at peace and no longer suffering
However, it could also illustrate how war has de-sensitised the speaker and grisly appearance of this dead enemy soldier has lost its shocking effect
However the adverb ‘almost’ indicates that the speaker isn’t completely battle-hardened and inhumane in his treatment of the soldier- the lingering emotion he felt from seeing Steffi’s picture allows him to view the soldier from the perspective of a loved one
“But she would weep to see today”
The conjunction shows the speaker beginning to balance his own pitiless reaction as a soldier with the imagined reaction of a lover who has been dealt mortal hurt at the death of her loved one
Alliteration emphasises the grief of Steffi
Sibilance throughout this stanza evokes the sound of tears from the soldier’s girlfriend
“For here the lower and killer are mingled”
The verb ‘mingled’ and the juxtaposition between ‘lover’ and ‘killer’ effectively conveys the poet’s message - that there is more to men that fight in war than simply being ‘soldiers’
Due to the nature of war and how soldiers perceived their enemies, it is difficult for the speaker to consider a more human dimension of the enemy soldier
