Burial of Sir John Moore After Corunna free essay sample

Napoleon engineered an overthrow in Spain in early 1808, but the Spanish were unhappy about it, a popular insurrection began, and the British tried to join in with the Spanish against the French. The Spanish proved to be difficult allies, though, and a British army under Sir John Moore was forced to retreat to the port of Corunna, on Spains north-western tip, from where they were to be evacuated back to Britain. The retreat had all the problems of discipline and morale that every retreat has, with the additional hardships of bad terrain and appalling weather. Worse yet:   when they got to Corunna on January 11, 1809, the British troopships that were to evacuate them had not yet arrived, so Sir John had to organize defences and fight a battle against the French. In the battle he was mortally wounded. In not wanting the French’s morale to be given a boost with the realization that the inspirational leader of the British army had died, they decided to bury him in the night; in the hope the French would be none the wiser. Even though Sir John Moore was an iconic figure, a man that the British army looked up to and admired, they could not give him a proper military funeral fitting for a man of his stature in order to keep the French in the dark about the terrible tragedy that has occurred. 2. Explain the context of the poem This poem has a very patriotic theme to it, words like hero, warrior and glory stretched throughout the poem. The first stanza in my opinion sets out the scene for the rest of the poem. The words â€Å"not a drum was heard†, â€Å"not a funeral note†,† not a soldier discharged his farewell shot† and â€Å"o’er the grave where our hero we buried† are all present in the very first stanza thus giving the reader a distinctive image of the scene of this poem right from the start. One certainly gets the image of a soldier who has died on the battle field, but for some reason is not getting the traditional burial of a soldier who has died in combat. Only when you read on and analyze the poem and its history do you truly understand why this is. If we look at the second stanza it begins with â€Å"we buried him darkly at dead of night† for reason of secrecy towards the French as the British did not want the French to know that their leader and inspiration was no longer a threat to them, thus boosting French morale and with all likelihood crushing British morale. The last three lines of this stanza give reference to them digging his grave as best they could with what they had available â€Å"the sods of our bayonets turning†. In terms of war a bayonet is a knife like instrument that a soldier would fix onto the end of his rifle to attack an enemy in close combat. They would generally stab the enemy in the guts, turning the bayonet as they retracted it and almost certainly mortally wounding the enemy. Keeping that in mind, this is what they are doing to the soil to dig the grave. They do not have spades so they must dig out a grave with their bayonets using close to the same technique that they would use when engaging the enemy on the battlefield. â€Å"By the struggling moonbeam’s misty light and the lanthorne dimly burning† makes reference again to the tumultuous task that these soldiers are facing, burying their great leader with no equipment and using the moons light and a lanthorne (lantern) that is generally used for signalling in those days to try and get the job done, with undoubtedly broken hearts and all. The third stanza begins to set out the image of just how great and important to these soldiers this man was, the vast majority of people who pass away, from general public to royalty are buried in coffins, yet the stanza begins with â€Å"no useless coffin enclosed his breast† almost giving the impression that he is too good for a coffin, a coffin is not necessary or worthy of him. It is simply not needed. â€Å"But he lay like a warrior taking his rest with his martial cloak around him†. If we go back in time and think of warfare in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s, it is very much man to man, close combat in many parts, generals on horseback and often takes place in fields and open spaces. So when the soldiers take their rest during battle they lay down in the field of battle and just curl up for a while and wrap their â€Å"martial cloak† (a military cloak) around them. Stanza four in my opinion is referring to the soldier’s brief time to look at their hero lying in his grave, one last time and pay their last respects. Few and short were the prayers we said, and we spoke not a word of sorrow†. This is deemed somewhat controversial by some, as Sir John Moore was such a inspirational leader to these men one wonders why they say few prayers and let out so little emotion as the impact of his untimely death begins to dawn on them. But this is late 1700’s and these soldiers are as tuff as they come, highly trained and incredibly di sciplined. â€Å"Gazed on the face that was dead, and we bitterly thought of the morrow†. You can almost picture the inadequate grave site of this great man, all his troops surrounding it looking down on his body, bidding their last farewells, trying their best to hold in their emotions and the pain of going on with the battle the next day without their much loved leader tearing holes in their hearts. Stanza five, they are about to leave the grave site, one can only imagine the guilt that must be tearing them apart, the sadness and emptiness they must feel as they â€Å"smooth’d down his lonely pillow†. There isn’t much they can do for him in terms of physically showing respect like mounting headstones or draping a flag over a coffin. So they push together a mound of earth to lay his head on, like a pillow, a simple yet gracious act for a man they dearly miss and love, and rather gave the impression he was simply sleeping, maybe making it a little easier to cope with as appose to knowing he has passed away. Even so, they must move on, they after all have a battle to win and will be determined to win even more so now for them memory of Sir John Moore. The foe and the stranger would tread o’er his head, and we far away on the billow†. This must have been a thought going through all the soldiers’ minds, as they sail away on the billow (an old word for waves). The enemy and general public would be unknowingly treading on his grave. Stanza six begins with â€Å"Lightly they’ll talk of the spirit that’s gone, and o’er his cold ashes upbraid him†. Making reference to the French speaking out of term about Sir John Moore, using the word â€Å"upbraid† meaning chastise or criticize, thus talking about him disrespectfully. But little he’ll reck, is they let him sleep on in the grave where a Briton has laid him†. In my opinion this means if they leave him alone, he can be hurt no more in the grave his soldiers made him. Allow me to emphasise on the phrase â€Å"Grave where a Briton has laid him†. An extremely powerful and patriotic piece of verse, almost giving a two fingers up at the French but at the same time giving the impression that if a Briton has made that grave it must be top class. Just simply putting â€Å"laid him in a grave† or something similar doesn’t do it any justice, the patriotism and pride theme of this poem is clearly seen throughout this poem, but is never more strong than in that particular piece. â€Å"But half our heavy task was done when the clock struck the hour for retiring† starts off stanza seven. In the days of gruesome man on man battles, many men lay dead or wounded on the battlefield. After a day’s battle, time would be allowed for each opponent to enter the battlefield and collect their dead and wounded. But the British only had half the time to do this as they were secretly burying their fallen leader in the â€Å"dead of night†. â€Å"We heard the distant and random gun that the foe was sullenly firing†. As the British dragged their brave comrades from the battlefield, dead or alive they could hear the enemy â€Å"sullenly† meaning very sneaky, sly if you will, firing at them from the distance. In many ways the first stanza in my opinion gave a vivid picture of what was taking place and set the theme and tone for this poem, I feel the last stanza in the same respect sums up the poem in its entirety. Slowly and sadly we laid him down† is how stanza eight start off. Referring to the soldiers not wanting to do it, with every fibre in their being they simply did not want to lay their leader to rest, but for the sake of the greater task ahead of them they had no choice. â€Å"From the field of his fame, fresh and gory†. Sir John Moore was shot in the sh oulder and bled to death. His would not allow the medics to treat his wound when it happened until (in his eyes) more important business was attended to; he was a very proud and professional soldier. So the term â€Å"gory† stands out there for me. Given that he bled to death from a shoulder wound, he must have been bleeding for quite a considerable amount of time, so one can only imagine how he must have looked when he was finally laid to rest, no doubt soaked in blood. A very gruesome and â€Å"gory† image. â€Å"We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone† again making reference to the inadequate funeral procedures and lack of a memorial monument at the grave site due to trying their best to keep his death a secret from the enemy. â€Å"But we left him alone with his glory† an extremely powerful and somewhat uplifting end to a poem. Giving the impression that he does not need a monument, he is a world respected soldier and will never be forgotten, not just by the British, but the world, especially the military as they seem to have a universal respect for one another even if in some cases they are enemies. A fitting end to this poem about a great man who was world renowned as such a good soldier and leader that in fact when the British returned to Corunna to retrieve his body and bring it home to give him a proper burial fitting for a man such as he, when they arrived where they had buried him, the French had already built a monument for him on top of where he was buried. The very people that ended his life respected him enough to commemorate his life with their own monument to him, so obviously the French all along must have known that Sir John Moore had in fact died, but showed tremendous respect in making sure he is remembered, by all, for eternity. 3. Wolfe’s use of figurative language The poem â€Å"The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna† has alternate rhyming line endings throughout. Wolfe uses some old fashioned words appropriate for the time the poem was written such as corse meaning corpse and lanthorne meaning lantern. There are also many examples of alliteration in this poem, â€Å"darkly at dead of night†, â€Å"moonbeam’s misty light†, â€Å"sheet or in shroud†, â€Å"slowly and sadly† and â€Å"field of his fame fresh and gory†. We also might respect the rhythm a little more if we remind ourselves that a reader two hundred plus years ago would have been quicker to recognize that Wolfe here borrows the rhythm of a drumbeat; both in form and content, his poem makes up for that which was missing from this inadequate funeral Not a drum was heard†. Metaphors were used in this poem also, in stanza five the word â€Å"pillow† was given to describe a mound of earth to lay his head on as he lay in the grave, also the euphemistic treatment of death as a sleep in a narrow bed†. It almost seems as if The Burial of Sir John Moore did provide some sort of comfort and solace to an individual unable to provide his dead comrade with a decent burial. â€Å"Lay like a warrior taking his rest† is also a good example of a simile in stanza three.