Introduction
War poetry comprises a wide range of themes, such as suffering, death, brutality, destruction, and other gruesome effects of combat and bloodshed. Many authors explore the illusion of glory in war, the conflict between morality and reality, and the evil within the human heart. By exploring literary works, one can gain a better understanding of the hardships and consequences of armed conflicts, which affect several generations in the long term. In his article “Representing Destruction,” Matthew Bowman notes that art can metaphorically portray the fragility of human life and destruction. Indeed, the poems chosen for the analysis in this essay emphasize how severely war affects people and how much suffering it brings for everyone. These short pieces of poetry make readers reflect on the message by the authors and better understand the past events. This essay aims to analyze the theme of the effects of war and destruction in the poem The End and the Beginning by Wislawa Szymborska and the lyrics Harry Patch (In Memory Of) by Radiohead.
The End and the Beginning
The poetry by Wislawa Szymborska can be characterized as witty, sharp, and straightforward. It expresses social concerns and describes the effects of global events on people’s lives. According to Hutchens, Szymborska’s early works were “directly, and unavoidably influenced by the disaster of the World War II” (136). Her poem The End and the Beginning focuses on the effects of war on the population and different generations. The author emphasizes the tremendous burden of trauma caused by military actions and, at the same time, the responsibility to bring the world back into order once the war is over (Hutchens 136). Szymborska writes, “After every war / someone must clean up” (lines 1-2). She uses vivid imagery and metaphors to portray the consequences of war, such as “wagons full of corpses,” “the glass splinters,” and “bloody rags” (Szymborska, lines 7, 12, 13). The clean-up must be done by ordinary citizens who were already affected by trauma and suffering and still remember the horrors.
The destruction caused by combats is presented from the post-war perspective in the poem. Szymborska notes that “someone must glaze a window / and hang the door on hinges” (lines 16-17). Therefore, readers can visualize the damage done by the military to buildings and houses. Using words, the author draws images of destroyed walls, furniture, and roads. Wartime damage is long-lasting, and Szymborska emphasizes that the process of clean-up “is not photogenic / and takes years” (lines 18-19). Therefore, the trauma continues to affect post-war populations as long as they remember the horrific events and before life is brought into order and cleared from the impact of combats. The imagery used by the author helped me better understand the poem and its core message. Overall, destruction brought by war continues to affect and haunt citizens even after fire ceases.
However, eventually, the next generations will forget the effects and destruction when cities are rebuilt, and witnesses of war grow older. The title of Szymborska’s poem is symbolic since the end of the generation that experienced the horrors of war means the beginning of a new era where someone can lie “with an stalk of grass in his teeth / and gaze at the clouds” (lines 46-47). Such an image contrasts with the scenes of destruction described in the first half of the poem. Therefore, the author claims that eventually, the buildings will be rebuilt, and future generations will know little about the war.
Harry Patch (In Memory Of)
Another literary work analyzed in this essay is song lyrics Harry Patch (In Memory Of) by Radiohead. The themes of destruction and the effects of war are not stated directly but portrayed through imagery. According to Long and Webber, Harry Patch is “celebrated as the last veteran to have fought on the Western Front” (139). Therefore, he represents the generation that experienced the Great War and its consequences. Radiohead emphasizes this fact by stating, “I am the only one that got through / The other died wherever they fell” (lines 1-2). This short statement depicts the scale of destruction and loss of human life caused by war. Furthermore, readers can imagine the horrors of combat described by the authors as “devils coming up from the ground” and “hell upon this earth” (Radiohead, lines 7, 8). Such metaphors allow me to understand what people experienced on the battlefield. The character states that “The next will be chemical / But they will never learn,” implying that humanity will continue to suffer from further destructions (Radiohead, lines 9-10). The final lines of this work make readers reflect on the impact of a possible chemical war unless the evil is stopped.
Conclusion
To conclude, the themes of the effects of war and destruction are common among authors that write about horrible experiences of people that witnessed armed conflicts. The works by Szymborska and Radiohead explore the dreadful and long-lasting impact on humanity. War affects people on physical and mental levels and causes death, illness, hunger, destruction of buildings, and damage to economies. These themes are reflected in many poems, showing people’s attitudes towards armed conflicts and their consequences.
Works Cited
Bowman, Matthew. “Representing Destruction.” Art Monthly, no. 449, 2021, pp. 5–8. Web.
Hutchens, Jack J. B. “World under Revision: The Poetry of Wisława Szymborska.” The Polish Review, vol. 66, no. 4, 2021, pp. 136–137, Web.
Long, Paul, and Nick Webber. “’… And Then There Was One’ Cultural Representations of the Last British Veteran of the Great War.” Journal of War & Culture Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, 2019, pp. 139–155, Web.
Radiohead. Harry Patch (In Memory Of). 2009.
Szymborska, Wislawa. The End and the Beginning. Translated by Joanna Trzeciak, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.