The essay is of a critical appreciation of an unseen poem, taken from The Lorca Variations, entitled "In A Time Of War".
The title of Rothenberg's poem "In a Time of War" seems to encapsulate the poem's subject-matter, written with uncomplicated words of the English vocabulary makes the poem stand out in a stark manner. This method is used by Rothenberg to illustrate to readers exactly how he sees war, as it is.
One outstanding feature of this poem is its structure. Rothenberg appears to want to isolate the first stanza from the rest of the poem. At a closer reading, the first stanza is concerned with the poet's thoughts of war, while it is taking place, whereas the remaining stanzas talk about his feelings on the notion of war, irregardless of whether it is occurring or not.
This distinction is further enhanced by the language and degree of imagery of the stanzas. Note that in stanza one, there is more emphasis on description, with the constant use of pastoral imagery, "daisies wilt" and "the war sucks up the dew." The mood generated from it, is "dark", gloomy and miserable. However, reading on, the mood apparently lightens up, especially from stanza three. The word "love" begins to appear. The pastoral imagery transforms to a more hopeful state, "a love that floats like butterflies" and "flowers in the endless night."
Rothenberg is probably telling the reader that all is not lost, "even a year of war won't hide or tame [moon acacia water lily star]." There is hence, no predominant gloomy mood or atmosphere to this poem as there is a shift from a state of hopelessness to one with some optimism present.
Even so, we cannot overlook the fact that Rothenberg is saying that since we can move on from the aftermath of war, we can then take war lightly. The poet, apart from telling readers not to lose faith when war comes, is also signaling to us that "war [is] waiting in the gateway to the hive." The lesson Rothenberg is conveying to the readers that war may strike us anytime, and so we should prevent it at all costs if not things might return to how he describes it in stanza one.
The
One outstanding feature of this poem is its structure. Rothenberg appears to want to isolate the first stanza from the rest of the poem. At a closer reading, the first stanza is concerned with the poet's thoughts of war, while it is taking place, whereas the remaining stanzas talk about his feelings on the notion of war, irregardless of whether it is occurring or not.
This distinction is further enhanced by the language and degree of imagery of the stanzas. Note that in stanza one, there is more emphasis on description, with the constant use of pastoral imagery, "daisies wilt" and "the war sucks up the dew." The mood generated from it, is "dark", gloomy and miserable. However, reading on, the mood apparently lightens up, especially from stanza three. The word "love" begins to appear. The pastoral imagery transforms to a more hopeful state, "a love that floats like butterflies" and "flowers in the endless night."
Rothenberg is probably telling the reader that all is not lost, "even a year of war won't hide or tame [moon acacia water lily star]." There is hence, no predominant gloomy mood or atmosphere to this poem as there is a shift from a state of hopelessness to one with some optimism present.
Even so, we cannot overlook the fact that Rothenberg is saying that since we can move on from the aftermath of war, we can then take war lightly. The poet, apart from telling readers not to lose faith when war comes, is also signaling to us that "war [is] waiting in the gateway to the hive." The lesson Rothenberg is conveying to the readers that war may strike us anytime, and so we should prevent it at all costs if not things might return to how he describes it in stanza one.
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