The persona talks about his father showing him 'his war medals, / Their pretty coloured ribbons'. This creates an image of pride; the medals are symbols of achievement and possibly victory, and it becomes clear that the war still very much haunts the father and remains a large part of his life (he is still re-telling the stories and showing off his medals when some time has probably passed - he has a child now). The persona's father mentions 'the angels of Mons, / that elite and puissant expedition from God'. Abse's reference to 'Mons' refers to the Battle of Mons, which was the first major battle of the BEF in World War One. The reader is not aware of which side the persona's father fought for in the war, but from this information we can become aware that the war he took part in was World War One. The 'puissant expedition from God' suggests that religion has a large influence over the soliders whilst they were fighting; it was perhaps a comfort in the dark situation of the time, and this links in nicely to 'Faith Healing' by Philip Larkin. The 'angels' are described as causing 'horses / to bolt and flocks of meat-snatching birds to rise'. 'At this point in the poem, the reader is prompted to question what exactly the angels symbolise; is the 'invisible presence' symbolic of war itself, the nature of war, or religion and how it brought a strong comfort to the soliders to believe that there was something above them which was willing them on, protecting them and aiding them in destroying the enemy. The latter interpretation is ironic as the soliders are looking for protection against death by wishing death upon the enemy. This could be why the angels are described as 'Terrible' - they are symbolic of the wish that you will survive whilst at the same time obtaining the power to defeat (kill) the opposition.
'But war coarsens (he said) even genteel angels.' - I found this sentence confusing, but it could be interpreted as depicitng the nature of warfare and how it turned even angels into objects of vulgar unpleasantness. Even the place in which the soldiers seeked comfort (religion, God) became an output for their violent wishes and pleads. 'When they spoke it was the silence of gas, amen; / when they sang it was shrapnel striking helmets'; again, this presents the way in which the participants of war had become wishful for evil things, that their protection and hope relied on the enemy's destruction and death. The horrendous elements of war appeared to bring joy to the soliders, and a sense of complete desperation and madness is created.
The angels are described as 'cold', 'bold and bloodthirsty' and 'thrilled' by the haunting 'screams' coming from the soldiers on the battlefield. This presents the angles as extremeley ironic; they appear as evil elements of perception and imagination, yet are described as 'angels' which opposes this. This could portray the way in which the destruction and death of the enemy, which in any other situation would be horrific and shocking, became a comfort throughout war because it was needed to maintain, or atleast pro-long, a soldier's own life. The angels are seen by the persona's father as 'true facsimilies of men', suggesting a sense of madness and also depicting how much the soldiers relied on their faith and God to get them through the war.
The final stanza, although only two lines long and appearing as an after-thought almost due to the brackets which Abse uses to encase it, is extremely powerful. '(My father, invalided home, was told / he knew more about angels than was healthy.)' These final lines could be interpreted in many different ways, but in my opinion they suggest the haunting nature of war; shell-shock and memories of friends being blown up in front of their eyes is something which scarred many soldiers for life after the First World War. The event became an obsession for those who partook in it and those who observed it at home through the media, and for the persona's father it seems that he is too aware of the war, too affected by it, to ever 'let it go'. Abse appears to be presenting the harsh affect of war; it is an extremely powerful and destructive event, and Abse's opinion on it does not seem to be very positive. This could be linked to Larkin's 'MCMXIV', who also appeared to have a negative view of war.
There is no rhyme scheme to this poem, and the structure varies from two stanzas of seven lines each to a final stanza of just two lines. This irregularity slightly echos the form of a conversation, which effectively presents the scene of the persona's father telling him stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment