Amanda Shirts

Humanities

Reflection for e-portfolio assignment:

Most people have to live through some sort of conflict that results in the loss of life. Often times, the common person has little understanding as to why war is sieged and why people are sacrificed for such causes. There are times when the battle seems justified though. When America was torn apart by the Civil War, the cause was an honorable and righteous cause. Slavery needed to be abolished and the United States needed to become a cohesive nation. When the United States declared its independence and became a nation unto itself, war was justified. However, there are times when it purpose for war might be obscured and it becomes difficult to understand why such an endeavor is undertaken. It is times like this that people search for an understanding. Songs, poetry, and other forms of artwork are used as a medium for comprehension. They help survivors of war as they mourn their losses or help them to express their rage. Soldiers have a method in which to express their thoughts and feelings. Whatever the need might be for an author to create a piece of work, these different masterpieces all people the opportunity to heal.

During the progression of this course, one of the subjects that were presented dealt with war poetry and music. I was particularly moved by this topic because for a few reasons. The first reason is that I have tremendous respect for American service personnel. I have had a number of family members serve in the different branches of the military. They have each served honorably, completing the missions that were required of them. They bare scars, both mental and physical, that they sustained while in their respected battles. They did so because they believed in this country. The men and women who serve this country have my utmost respect. A second reason for choosing to write about this particular subject was because the authors of these different works of art gave me such a unique insight into their experiences. It didn’t matter if the work was current or centuries old, it allowed me to connect, emotionally, with that person. While I may not have understood the purpose behind certain wars, I could identify with their pain and the horror that they chose to write about. Similarly, I could identify with their sense of pride and patriotism.

This section of this course deepened my understanding of war experiences. So many people are affected by war. So many people bare the marks of these wars. So many people search for meaning and understanding for these events that confuse them. We are often times presented with a watered down version of history and yet we hear tales that contradict the “facts” that we are presented. These personal accountings of these events, even in musical or poetic form, serve as a bridge between the facts that we are presented and actual events. I have come to value these different works because they have deepened my understanding of historical events. I a further humbled that so many people were willing to sacrifice so much to ensure my way of life. I am grateful that so many were willing to leave behind their thoughts and experiences. I have learned to much because of they were inspired to share their encounters with me.

Signature assignment:

Poetry and music have been a way for people to express their feelings about all sorts of situations for centuries. They have written epic poems about love, beauty and the divine. They have written songs about rebellion and freedom. It would seem only natural that people would write songs and poetry about war and their experiences with war. I don’t think that expressing ones thought and feelings about war in this manner is necessarily inappropriate. The people who experience war first hand need a venue so that these feelings don’t become bottled up. Their experiences become valuable to those who can only watch from a distance. These songs and writings help a nation understand what it was like to be in a war. We have very noble ideas of young men and women going off to war, brave and gallant but the reality is that there is fear as well. We’d like to pretend that our armies never fail and that our boarders can never be breached. What we fail to see and sometimes fail to comprehend is what a soldier must endure for our safety. During war times, there are remarkable acts of valor but there is a carnage that occurs during war that we cannot possibly comprehend. There is a pride and brotherhood that we don’t understand. These poems and songs are an effort to help us understand those concepts.

In the poem Dulce ET Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen tries to paint a picture of what it was like for him while he was in the British Army. He suffered an artillery blast which left him incapacitated during his service. When he was found by his military brethren, he had been lying in the bomb crater with a rotting corpse. Even though he was pronounced fit for duty, he suffered from shell shock or post-traumatic stress disorder and it was then that he penned this work. He writes candidly about his experience. We are made to feel, smell, hear and see these events through his words. The screams and cannon fire echo in my ears. The visions of the blood red ground and torn bodies fill my mind as Owen describes what is occurring with a dying soldier. I can only imagine what that must have been life for those who witness such events. At the end of his poem, Owen reveals the dirty little secret that we’d all like to believe: “Dulce et decorum Est pro patria mori (The glorious and decent way of dying is for one’s country.)” What we come to understand from this work is that dying is battle is gruesome and horrific. While the cause might be just, there is a horror that accompanies war that we cannot comprehend and that some have had to endure.

To counterbalance these horrific images and to cultivate a sense of hope and/or pride, other artists take a different approach. In the song The Angry American, Toby Keith tries to stir up feelings of national pride and the need to find justice for the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. While Americans have participated in wars, Americans had not experience an attack on American soil since the civil war. When the World Trade Center Towers and Pentagon were attacked, people panicked and began to lose faith in our ability to protect ourselves. Some musical artists felt a need to help restore American pride and security. They sought to “rally the forces.” Keith speaks of national pride and the resilience of Americans. While some people might have found this song controversial and boastful, Keith was trying to remind Americans that our freedoms and we needed to have justice for those who died that day. He was trying to remind people that our way of life was worth the fight and that our armies would prevail. He reminded people that America would not stand idle while terrorist acts reigned down upon us.

This was not unlike the song that Julia Ward Howe wrote in 1861. When the war began in 1861 with the battle of Fort Sumter, the Northern and Southern armies were relatively confident that they would be able to end this conflict quickly. They never imagined that the war would go on for four years or that so many lives would be lost. After the initial battle at the fort, the next major battle was at Bull Run. The Northern army was not prepared for the Southern army to defeat them and this was a huge blow to the moral of the Northern army. Several smaller battles were fought and the South was successful in defending their boarder. So when Howe toured the encampments, she saw the demoralization amongst the soldiers and was compelled to write the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The song speaks of a just cause and that the North was fighting for God’s purpose. The song was meant to rally a sense of righteousness and divine purpose. It was meant to instill courage in the troops of the North. It has become an iconic song for those in the military.

These songs and works of poetry do so much for those who are affected by war, both directly and indirectly. They help instill courage, hope, faith, and national pride. They help us understand what soldiers must have endured during military service. They allow military personnel to express their thoughts and feeling about their experiences. They help lay-folk understand the horrors that are cast upon some people. They also serve to calm confusion and capture the emotions that a nation can feel during a time of great turmoil. This is represented by a song that Alan Jackson penned after 9/11. It was entitled, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” The song, for me, describes everything I felt when that happened. I will never forget where I was or what I was doing when those events took place. I was scared. I was confused. I felt unsafe for the first time in my life. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I remember what my dad said and hearing fear in his voice. There were so many things happening and I had no words to express what I was feeling. I still don’t have the words. However, I can listen to that song and know that others felt the same way as I did. It connects me to a nation of people that I have never met in a real and intimate way. This is what war poetry and war songs do; they connect people.

Owen’s Poetry

In researching Wilfred Owen, I discovered that he was a pacifist and had no love for war. Unfortunately, he could not avoid being involved in a war as several nations were engaged in the First World War. He was recruited into the British Army and served as a second lieutenant. During his service, he suffered a concussion during a bombing in which he was blown high into the air by trench mortar. He remained in the crater for several days, lying next to remains of a fellow officer. This event cause severe trauma to his psyche and his writings reflected that trauma. It was during this time that he wrote Dulce ET Decorum Est. His writings definitely reflected his disdain for war. In this particular work, Owen describes what it was like to be in the trenches and what it was like to see fellow soldier die.

“Under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges toward me, guttering, chocking, drowning.” These few lines describe the events that occurred when a gas bomb was let loose in the trenches. The men went scrambling for their helmets and masks. Owen watched as one unlucky soldier was unable to reach his gear in time and was choking on the noxious substance. There was nothing Owen or the rest of soldiers could do for that man and so he was unceremoniously “flung” onto the death wagon. Owen goes on to say that he watched this man struggle during the last moments of his life. “And watch the white eyes writhing in his face. His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin.” He describes for the reader what it was like to see someone die from this type of warfare. Then he describes for the reader the sounds that this man makes saying, “If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs. Obscene as cancer bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues…” These words paint a grim picture of what war was like. There was no valor is deaths like this. There was no gallantry in that moment. What was present was fear and anguish.

While these words invoke horrific images of excruciating pain and death, there is a line at the end of this poem that sum up Owen’s feeling about war. He writes, “To the children ardent for some desperate glory, the old Lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.” Translated, this passage reads “the glorious and decent way of dying is for one’s country.” These words were written by Horace, a Roman lyric poet. As Owen was a scholar and teacher, he was familiar with such verse and interpreted it as sarcasm. It would seem that he is telling readers that war is noble; that there is honor in dying for one’s country. While this may be true, what people fail to realize is that dying in war is often ghastly and dreadful. Please do not misinterpret what I am saying. The men and women who have fought in war and who continue to do so have my utmost respect and gratitude. They are brave and courageous in a way that I can never even hope to be. They take up a mantle that so few chose to be burdened with but what Owen’s tries to convey is the reality of what happens to the soldiers in the trenches. People have a way of pretending events are not has horrific as they actually are and sometimes fail to understand the gravity of certain situations. Death on the battlefield is often undignified and excruciating. As lay-people, I am not sure we can begin to comprehend that even though we might see videos and pictures or read or hear accountings. We don’t live them. We don’t experience them first hand. We lament the fallen and try to honor them in the only ways we know how but most of us will never know what terrors they had to endure.

I believe that Owen’s writing did, in fact, reflect his feelings about war. He had no love for the act and did not wish to be a part of it. He, like so many, could not escape it. He gave a unique perspective into such events. While we would like to pretend that soldiers are beyond human emotions and beyond human suffering, the fact is they are just men and women who are subject to the same feelings of fear. Owen demonstrated that fact in his works. I see that fact in my family members who have served in the different wars. They bear scars that I will never see and relive moments that I will never understand. They are haunted daily by these events. My grandfather was so haunted that he would never speak of those things. He was a scout for the Marines during World War II and because he was a scout he had some unique experiences. While he never told us what they were he did say that he was reduced to a quaking, quivering mass of flesh as times because he was so overcome with fear. That was difficult for me to understand because all I ever saw in my grandfather was this strong, courageous man. Owen reminds us that soldiers are still human.

War Music’s Impact

I think that war songs are representative of the feelings and attitudes of the people during a given time. Each era that has had a war has had unique attitude accompanying it. During the Civil War, the nation was demoralized. The states were no longer united; the Southern States has seceded from the Union. Families were divided. Brothers were forced to fight against one another. The nation was torn apart. During the Vietnam war, the attitude of the American people was one of confusion and discord with the government. People didn’t understand why they were involved in the situation. They were angry with the government so they rioted and took their frustrations out on returning soldiers. Since the time of September 11th, the attitude of the American population has been very supportive of the military but still untrusting of the government and the agenda surrounding this current war. It would seem that the songs represent the general feeling and emotions of those times.

During the Civil War, the Battle Hymn of the Republic became the anthem for the demoralized Union soldiers. The song made them feel that they were fighting on God’s side and for His righteous cause. The song states, “He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on.” It seems to be telling the Union soldiers that they must carry on and that they cannot give up this fight. They must fight on, confident in the knowledge that God will be with them. It has continued to be a song that the military uses to inspire their troops. During the Vietnam war, people were confused and angry. They did not support this cause for war and the music reflected that attitude. Bob Dylan released his song, Master of War, during this time. He sings “You put a gun in my hand; And you hide from my eyes; And you turn and run farther When the fast bullets fly.” His is referencing the government leaders that caused the United States to enter into the Vietnam war. He is calling them out as cowards. Dylan’s song gave a voice to those who were angry about something that they had so little control over. After 9/11, Americans were fearful and unsure. Terrorists were becoming bold and the American population was afraid of another attack. Toby Keith tried through his song, Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue, to rekindle American pride and patriotism. He wanted people to help people have faith, once again, in their military personnel. Keith sings, “Hey, Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list; And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist; And the eagle will fly and it's gonna be hell; When you hear mother freedom start ringing her bell; And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you; Oh, brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue.” People began to have confidence again that America would be a secure place once again. Our soldiers would make it safe for us.

Musician, artists, poets and so forth have always been there to help capture moments for us. They have a unique way of helping us understand events in a real and meaningful way. War is a confusing, terrifying and difficult time. Most of the time, people lack the words to express what their feeling. Music, in particular, has always been an outlet. Music that references war is an extremely powerful outlet. We, through the artists, are able to express our rage, our fears, our confusion and other emotions. We need these songs and poems; they allow us the opportunity to heal.