4 Responses to

1. GSL says:

   February 22, 2012 at 9:12 am

   I agree with mherbert1000 that both poems, “Battle-Piece” by Jeanette Barnes and “Cavalry Crossing a Ford” by Walt Whitman, give a sense of a peaceful side to war. in my opinion; however, this sense of peace is somewhat ironic.

   Walt Whitman describes a scene of soldiers on horseback passing through a ford. This tranquil environment takes place during a war and one can only expect that this peace will be followed by or was preceded by the loud violence of battle. Jeanette Barnes describes the tranquility that takes place after a war. She gives flashbacks to the noise and violence that took place during the war. I think that it is also ironic that this peace that she describes takes place at a memorial for the war veterans – a cemetery of sorts. She states that “…these boys achieved each his own marble pillow.” This irony, I believe, shows that the only peace some soldiers get is in death.

   Reply
2. shawn says:

   February 22, 2012 at 10:54 am

   i must say i read “Battle piece” at least three times for me to get a good understanding of what it is saying. I agree that “Battle Piece” gives a sense of feeling of what happened in the war. First two stanzas gives a flashback of the war, as the poem gets deeper it shows a visual imagery of the veterans wives at the cemetery placing plastic flowers (prize of plastic daises) on the graves. In the “Cavalry Crossing a Ford” by Walt Witman, in my perspective, it shows the both sides of the war as the each opponent gather for battle across a ford. Waiving their flags high in the wind as they prepare to fight.

   Reply
3. alexander313 says:

   February 22, 2012 at 2:50 pm

   When I read “Battle-Piece” I felt what it was like to be in war. When I began reading this poem I didnt really get the vision until I got to the fifth to seventh stanza “grit in clenched teeth, carbine, cartridge, cap hurrah boys. Cannon-cracks the peal, the clap of doom”. I began to put myself in the soldiers’ shoes and visualize everything that they go threw in war. As I continued to read the visual of war becomes less violent. I agree with mherbert1000 that Jeannette Barnes tries to give us, the readers an understanding the peacefulness in war by puting a spin( using deicate words such as “glisten” and “elegant”). The image that was portrayed, unlike many other war poems, was more docile, and was leaning more on the pride that the soldiers felt for dying for a good cause.

   Reply
4. heramb08 says:

   February 27, 2012 at 12:35 pm

   “The guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind.” That shows a moment of pride and happiness even though they were at a time of war. It’s great that these two poets portrayed war this way because its honoring the soldiers that fought rather than the carnage of war.I began to put myself in the soldiers’ shoes and visualize everything that they go threw in war. As I continued to read the visual of war becomes less violent.First two stanzas gives a flashback of the war, as the poem gets deeper it shows a visual imagery of the veterans wives at the cemetery placing plastic flowers on the graves.I agree with mherbert1000 that both poems, “Battle-Piece” by Jeanette Barnes and “Cavalry Crossing a Ford” by Walt Whitman, give a sense of a peaceful side to war. in my opinion; however, this sense of peace is somewhat ironic.

   Reply