THEME 4 COURAGE THROUGH CONFLICT Discuss Which of these statements do you agree with most? Discuss your views in pairs.
Those who are left behind suffer greatly during war. People should show empathy and love in times of war. War is a bloody mess.
Understand 1. What is revealed in the opening line of the poem?
2. In the fourth stanza, what does the soldier tell us that he intends to do if he is killed in battle?
3. What does the soldier describe as ‘a bloody mess’? 4. Find two examples of enjambment in this poem.
Explore
3 3 3 3 3
1. The soldier says ‘none can blame / Me’. Do you think he blames himself or feels some guilt at what he has done?
2. What could be the soldier’s reason for thinking ‘it might be best / To die’? 3. Do you think the soldier feels let down or abandoned by God? 4. How do you think the soldier’s mother feels?
5. Who do you feel more sympathy for, the soldier speaking in poem or the one who died?
Create
Imagine you are one of the soldiers depicted in this poem. Write a letter home to your mother on the morning before the shooting took place.
