Break of Day in the Trenches - Analysis PDF

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Analysis of "A break of day in the trenches" by Rosenberg....

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GERMB315 Seminars A. General Questions for Close Reading CONTENT:

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What is the poem “about”? What can you say about its general topic & theme? Can you provide a short, general summary in this respect? What is the poet trying to say? What is the tone of the poem?

- While the poem describes a mundane situation: a morning (personification of time as a druid, suggesting there is something age-old and ancient about the dawn), a soldier in the trenches during WWI - pulling a poppy from a the trench when a rat leaps in his hand - it has a much deeper meaning. It criticizes the war by showing how some vermin that is supposed to be inferior to humans in every way, is the only one that actually sees the war for what it is: senseless manslaughter dictated by politics, and he is the only one that is able to cross the ‘no-man’s land’, he is not concerned by the war and doesn’t discriminate whether he is on an Englishman’s or German’s hand - spreading the message that we are all the same. The main topics and themes of the poem are the atrocities of war “strong eyes (…) bonds to the whims of murder” “The torn fields of France” and how it changes the human heart “What do you see in our eyes at the shrieking iron and flame hurled through still heavens? What quaver – what heart aghast?”, the physical and political boundaries between man “Now you have touched this English hand you will do the same to a German (…) if it be your pleasure to cross the sleeping green between”, eternal sleep and hope (the symbol of the poppy), racism, antisemitism, the human’s destructive power... Rosenberg wanted it to be as simple as ordinary talk, he wanted people to understand what soldiers were feeling in the Trenches. - The poet conveyed his anti-war message by using a rat as an analogy, he uses simple language, even humor, but the message is deep and important. The poem starts with a dark tone “The darkness crumbles away”, then the poet adds some peaceful and even somehow innocent tone “as I pull the parapet’s poppy to stick behind my ear” “It seems you inwardly grin as you pass” “if it be your pleasure to cross the sleeping green between”. The poem continues on a dark tone “the bowels of the earth” “the shrieking iron and flame” “what quaver – what heart aghast?”. The poem ends on a peaceful

tone “But mine is safe – just a little white with the dust”. ( this dark-light-darklight change in tone, coupled with the simple language that he uses, reminds us of nursery rhymes, because the back-and-forth between light and dark images creates a lulling tone.)

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How can the poem be said to incorporate the general aesthetics of Modernism? (breaking with the recent past; constructive enthusiasm; pessimism and alienation; rejection of realism; high degree of formalism; transcendence of everyday life; metacultural reflection on artistic production; Apollonian vs Dionysian practices; irony…). Is the poem truly modernistic or rather an example of ‘contemporary’ poetry?

The poem is breaking the codes of poetry – it is a free verse poem, with no rhyme scheme and composed of only one long stanza. It is a poem about an individual’s feelings – he can still see some peace in these atrocities. There is some degree of irony (the rat can go anywhere he wants to, while humans are bound to the war – the droll animal has more chances to survive than the haughty athletes). There is a high degree of symbolism and hidden meanings in words: poppies, even though the name is melodic and the image of the flower is calming, it symbolizes death and conflict; The rat is known for its enormous skill to survive in a vast range of conditions, oddly linked to humans by our shared evolutionary successes; it symbolizes the power of nature, impoverishment and disease. He wanted to break with the formalism of his time – he wanted his poem to be understood by everyone, which is why he used simple language. There is some degree of enthusiasm in the narrator pulling a poppy, seeing a rat and being able to stay hopeful no matter how horrific the war is, but the poem as a whole has a pessimistic tone because of the author’s own views on war. Rosenberg included modernist aesthetics, contemporary poems are usually more patriotic (ex: “We are the Brits! We are the Best!”) 

Are there any particularly complicated passages that need to be decoded? Which parts in particular do you consider essential to unlocking a fuller understanding of the poem?

Nothing complicated in the language since the poet wanted it to be like everyday speech To fully understand the poem, we need to be aware of the symbolism of the poppy and its meaning in poetry – it was used by John McCrea in “In

Flanders Fields” and is ever since associated with WWI → It symbolizes many things, but most commonly it is a symbol of remembrance of the First World War. It is strongly linked with Armistice Day (11 November), because poppies were very common on the Western Front. The red color of the poppy can also be a symbol for blood, which was also very common on every Front. They also symbolize sleep because the opium extracted from them is a sedative, and also death or eternal sleep because they are used as emblems on tombstones and they are usually planted alongside graves. And finally, they also symbolize peace. Also, we need to understand Rosenberg’s Jewish culture – he is not a patriot and highly believed in peace → the cosmopolitan rat was an antiSemitic description of Jews - the rat could also be a representation of the author, since he was Jewish and he was bullied for it once he joined the army and in one line he says “Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew; Your cosmopolitan sympathies.” - meaning, they would shoot him if they knew the rat was Jewish, subtly hinting at the anti-semitism he experienced, and then shows the rat as being very anti-discriminatory - he goes to the English and then to the Germans and doesn’t care what race they are or what side they’re fighting for - meaning, humans should look up to rats (irony).

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Does the poem use any main/recurring images to get the message across? What do you think are the most interesting figures of speech and why? Can you label them correctly?

Metaphor: The Fields of France as the bowels of the earth → It shows how horrific this war is, no one should ever have to live like that - comparing a scene that would arouse feelings of beauty, nature, harmony (the green vast fields of France) and the worst place imaginable which the war has turned it into. Synecdoche: The English and the German hand to imply the whole groups of men in the battlefield. It shows how big their boundaries are. Usually, the synecdoche emphasizes the part of the whole - in this case, the hand - the hand that is capable of cuddling the rat, but also capable of murder. It is also the hand that the English and German could use to make peace. Synecdoche: String eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes to talk about the human being → shows how stronger they are compared to the rat + the use of haughty adds to the irony Personification (anthropomorphism): a sardonic rat, rat’s cosmopolitan sympathies, the rat grinning, … - it humanizes the rat, presenting the rat as being Jewish humanizes it also, making the comparison between the rat and the human more evident.

Whims of murder to designate the political decisions and the whims of the politics → Is a critic of the purpose of the war: personification? Personification of time → Time is like a druid, a religious and political leader who orders the world 

Are there any interesting ambiguities? In what way do these contribute to or detract from the main topics/themes you’ve formulated?

- There is ambiguity in the analysis of the rat: On one hand, the rat could symbolize the author - a Jew who is very peaceful and anti-racist but also discriminated against - but in general, it is represented as a kind of ideal to strive for in the poem “Don’t be racist, don’t wage wars, be like the rat, the rat has more humanity than humans, etc.”, only then will you be able to cross the ‘no man’s land’ like the rat. 

Does the poem contain references to other poems?

The use of the symbol of the poppy can be seen as a reference to “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae – poppies growing on graves in Flanders Fields where soldiers are buried. 

Doe history or biography help towards reaching a fuller understanding of the poem?

- Yes, the poem talks about a soldier in the trenches in France, and we know that he was in France, in the trenches, during WWI when he wrote this poem. There are also anti-semitic references and we know from his biography that he was Jewish and bullied for it in the army. We also know from his biography that he was very anti-war, he only enlisted to earn money and take care of his family, which helps us understand the meaning of his poem better.

FORM:

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How is the poem structured? Has the poet used a specific form (sonnet, rondeau?) How many stanzas are there? How are these stanzas structured? Is there any relation between the general form or structure and the theme?

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1 stanza of 26 lines and 8 sentences

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No specific form because it is all a free verse

The stanza contains 5 main ideas: The day is arising “The darkness crumbles away (…) as ever”, the poet meets a rat “Only a live thing (…) behind my ear”, he compares the rat to humans “Droll rat (…) Less chanced than you in life”, war is horrible “Bonds to the whims of

murder (…) what heart aghast?”, but he still has hope “Poppies whose roots are in man’s veins (…) with the dust” A poem of 1 stanza represents 1 though of a soldier in the Trenches + the language is simple → The soldier doesn’t have time to elaborate and analyse his thoughts + we should also mention the tone here as well (cf point 1) 

Does the poem follow a specific metric pattern or does it use free verse? Why?

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It is a free verse poem

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No metrical pattern

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These are literally thoughts, meant to be read as in everyday speech 

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Does the poem incorporate any melodic aspects or specific sound patterns? No melodic aspects, nor sound pattern – at least, none that I saw…

B. Specific Questions for Different Authors WAR POETS

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In general terms, how do “The Soldier,” “Dulce et Decorum” and “Break of Day in the Trenches” compare to each other? What do they reveal about the different stages/aspects of War Poetry?

Here we are in the middle of the war – it is already terrible and indescribable but soldiers still have hope to see it end - The Soldier (1915) has a very peaceful and patriotic feeling, so maybe the first stage of the war: the pride of serving the country? Dulce et Decorum (1917) shows darker, muddier images of the war, exhausted men living in horrible conditions, but still fighting on, although now they’re just fighting to stay alive, not for their country, so maybe this shows the second stage of war: reality sets in, but the soldiers are determined. Break of Day in the Trenches (1916) could by this logic show the third and final stage of war: a moment to reflect, to examine our core beliefs and values and ask ourselves: what are we fighting for?

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To what extent can each of these poems be said to incorporate the Modernist aesthetic? Cf. point 2 in CONTENT

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“Break of Day in the Trenches”

o What is the overall tone & setting of this poem?

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Cf Point 1 in CONTENT o What type of language does Rosenberg use here? How does it compare to the type of language used by Brooke or Owen?

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He uses simple language that can be understood by everyone

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He uses a lot of symbols and images

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He uses a lot of humour and irony o Which device does Rosenberg use to describe No Man’s Land? To what effect?

No-man’s land is the sleeping green (fun fact: the expression "sleeping green" became famous and widely used to describe the no-man's-land after Break of Day in the Trenches) between the English and the German hand → It is a place where there is no living thing – it is “asleep” – but it was once a green field → shows how the war changed the place → It is “the calm before the storm” (ex: Red Zone in France) It is the bowels of the earth → a horrific place where no one wants to go – a place where everything dies → It makes the reader understand how inhuman and horrible the no-man’s-land is, but it is also shown as the only way to unity, the rat is the only one that can cross it and be on both sides, while for the humans it is the thing that divides them. The rat is the only thing that can touch both the Englishman’s hand and a German’s hand - meaning, the English and the Germans will never shake hands. o

How does “Break of Day” integrate one of the emblematic images of WWI?

Destruction of Nature → war has completely transformed once green and fertile lands into a hell-like environment → It also changed the human nature – their peace and hope is dropping from their veins as they die or are wounded -

War separates humans and ruins nature

- It also made humans do the worst they're capable of - it is especially true for the WWI which transformed into a horrible butchery - man not fighting for their country anymore but

becoming mad and killing for the purpose of killing (as in "they would kill you if they knew your cosmopolitan sympathies")

Extra: - there is none of the strong moralising or quietly righteous (never self-righteous) indignation found in much of Wilfred Owen’s poetry. Instead, Rosenberg describes and lets his description (largely) do the work. - The rat darts between strong, fit, healthy young men, yet – despite the associations between rats and disease and extermination – this rat’s life expectancy is probably better than most of these young soldiers, who may be dead next week, or tomorrow, or later that day. - alludes to the idea that red poppies sprang from the blood of dead soldiers. These poppies are dropping and dying here in No Man’s Land – just like the soldiers themselves – while the rat thrives. - This is what makes Isaac Rosenberg different from Wilfred Owen or Siegfried Sassoon: he is a poet of statement, even understatement.

Break of Day in the Trenches ISAAC ROSENBERG The darkness crumbles away. It is the same old druid Time as ever, Only a live thing leaps my hand, A queer sardonic rat, As I pull the parapet’s poppy To stick behind my ear. Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew Your cosmopolitan sympathies. Now you have touched this English hand You will do the same to a German Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure To cross the sleeping green between. It seems you inwardly grin as you pass Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes, Less chanced than you for life,

-------- the rat is luckier than the humans

Bonds to the whims of murder, Sprawled in the bowels of the earth, The torn fields of France. What do you see in our eyes At the shrieking iron and flame Hurled through still heavens?...