Introduce

Poetry Across Time

Conflict

Establish

'Come On, Come Back'By Stevie Smith

Establish/Discuss

Incident in a future war?

Background: 'Life' article - Nov 1949 -Extracts

Background and Context: Nuclear War

The Cold WarA nuclear arms race began after WW2 as superpowers in the East and West began testing powerful new weapons. The rising of the Iron Curtain intensified the threat of mass destruction and led to the Nuclear Fear of the 1950s and 1960s

Background and Context: Chemical Warfare

22nd April, 1915: German army release 168 tons of chlorine gas over a 4 mile area of the front line.

16th March, 1988: Sadam Hussein orders multiple chemical agents (inc. mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide and nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX) to be dropped over the Kurdish town of Halabja, Iraqi Kurdistan

Chemical Warfare...

9th August, 1961: US aircraft sprayed dioxin-laced Agent Orange over Kon Tum, Vietnam

At the 1925 Geneva Conference the French suggested a protocol for the non-use of poisonous gases: "The use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all of the analogous liquids, materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilised world." It was signed on 17th June, 1925.

Author's Ideas and Background

'Come On, Come Back'By Stevie Smith

The poet known as Stevie Smith was born in Yorkshire in 1902 and died of cancer in 1971. Her real name was Florence Margaret Smith and she was brought up by her feminist aunt after her mother became ill and her father deserted his family to go off to sea. Deceptively simple, her poems penetrate straight to the heart of life's greatest fears and anxieties. They are persistently dark and filled with 'death-wishfulness'. Stevie Smith was subject to periods of depression during her life and was preoccupied with death, seeing it as a release or consolation. Her poetry has strong underlying themes of love and death, it is whimsical but fiercely honest and direct.

"I want to get something out that is working away at me. I think pressure is the operative word... The pressure of despair."

"Being alive is like being in enemy territory."Stevie Smith

It is not possible to read her work without consciousness of the strength a nd persistence of its death-wishfulness. The poet's convictions about the "friend- liness" of death, the sweet gentleness of oblivion, as compared to the painful consciousness of the "enemy territory" where she must live. It is life that Stevie Smith laments, not death. Her poems persistently use metaphors that record that struggle, showing the way the tug of death." Elizabeth Lawson, Stevie Smith and the Metaphors of Disengagement

Poem

‘Come On, Come Back’

Incident in a future war

Left by the ebbing tide of battleOn the field of AusterlitzThe girl soldier Vaudevue sitsHer fingers tap the ground, she is aloneAt midnight in the moonlight she is sitting alone on a round flat stone.

Graded by the Memel Conference firstOf all human exterminatorsM.L.5.Has left her just aliveOnly her memory is dead for evermore.She fears and cries, Ah me why am I here?Sitting alone on a round flat stone on a hummock there.

Rising, staggering, over the ground she goesOver the seeming miles of rutted meadowTo the margin of a lakeThe sand beneath her feetIs cold and damp and firm to the waves’ beat.

Quickly - as a child, an idiot, as one without memory -She strips her uniform off, strips, stands and plungesInto the icy waters of the adorable lake.On the surface of the water liesA ribbon of white moonlightThe waters on either side of the moony trackAre black as her mind,Her mind is as secret from herAs the water on which she swims,As secret as profound as ominous.

Weeping bitterly for her ominous mind, her plight,Up the river of white moonlight she swimsUntil a treacherous undercurrentSeizing her in an icy-amorous embraceDives with her, swiftly severingThe waters which close above her head.

An enemy sentinelFinding the abandoned clothesWaits for the swimmer’s return(‘Come on, come back’)Waiting, whiling away the hourWhittling a shepherd’s pipe from the hollow reeds.

In the chill light of dawnRing out the pipe’s wild notes‘Come on, come back.’

VaudevueIn the swift and subtle current’s close embraceSleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tuneFavourite of all the troops of all the armiesFavourite of VaudevueFor she had sung it tooMarching to Austerlitz,‘Come on, come back.’

STEVIE SMITH

Skill

The Girl Soldier...

What strikes you about that particular combination of words?

Discussion Points

'War is mad, crazy; and it makes you crazy as well. All you can think about is whether in a minute it will be your turn to die.' (A survivor of the Rwanda massacre in 1994, when she was only 18)

'With tears in her eyes, she told me she had already died four times: that's the number of times the guards had simulated her execution. On one occasion they had stood her against a wall, told her she was going to be shot, and fired blanks at her... As we talked, it was clear that something had indeed died in her. She was only 15, and I was filled with silent rage about her torments.' (Iranian women accused of political offences)

'They threatened me with a knife, then held me down and raped me. I said to one of them, "How would you feel if someone treated your mother, sister or daughter like this?" He hesitated, as if he no longer wanted to go on. Then he went to the door and asked if anyone else wanted to rape me. There was nobody, so they left.' (A Croatian woman during the Bosnian war)

'I can't work, and I keep forgetting things. The doctor said it was traumatic epilepsy and explained that it was caused by the war. He told me that I had experienced many terrible things, that I should try to regain control of my life, but that it would be very difficult.' (A woman who as a teenager in the 1980s had fought in the civil war in El Salvador)

Women and War:

Additional

A former SAS officer and professional soldier:

"A fact of life for a soldier is the necessity to kill at close range. This can require a degree of savagery far beyond most people's imagining, and it's uncivilised to expect young women to sink to such emotional depths....This state of mind - going berserk in the old Viking sense - is not uncommon among fighting men in extreme circumstances (I've been overcome by it several times). Under its influence one loses all fear of death, becoming in the process a completely barbaric and utterly merciless, atavistic killing machine."

CAN women fight on the front line?

SHOULD they?

Establish/Discuss

"In the battle of Austerlitz...you have covered yourselves with eternal glory. An army of one hundred thousand men which was commanded by the emperors of Russia and Austria had been, in less than four hours, either cut off or dispersed. Those that escaped your swords have thrown themselves into the lakes."

Napoleon's Proclamation to his Soldiers, 1805:

Framed

‘Come On, Come Back’

Incident in a future war

Left by the ebbing tide of battleOn the field of AusterlitzThe girl soldier Vaudevue sitsHer fingers tap the ground, she is aloneAt midnight in the moonlight she is sitting alone on a round flat stone.

Graded by the Memel Conference firstOf all human exterminatorsM.L.5.Has left her just aliveOnly her memory is dead for evermore.She fears and cries, Ah me why am I here?Sitting alone on a round flat stone on a hummock there.

Technique ?What is it describing?

Battle ground in the Napoleonicwars.

Repetition for emphasis.

Alliteration emphasises the moonlight and the eerie setting.

Chilling, impersonal word. A town in Nazi Germany nowin Lithuania.

Imaginary poisonous gas.

} Description of?

Suggests?

Emphasises Vaudevue's struggle and confusion.

What does this word suggest?

This adjective is unexpected - suggests?

Smooth, peacefulimage.Why?

What does thissuggest aboutVaudevue'sstate of mind?

This word hints something bad will happen.

Rising, staggering, over the ground she goesOver the seeming miles of rutted meadowTo the margin of a lakeThe sand beneath her feetIs cold and damp and firm to the waves’ beat.

Quickly - as a child, an idiot, as one without memory -She strips her uniform off, strips, stands and plungesInto the icy waters of the adorable lake.On the surface of the water liesA ribbon of white moonlightThe waters on either side of the moony trackAre black as her mind,Her mind is as secret from herAs the water on which she swims,As secret as profound as ominous.

Repetition Why?

{What is beingdescribed here?Technique?

Alliteration to emphasise...?

Emphasisestime passingslowly.

Why such a striking image?

Why the brackets?Significance of the title of song?

Weeping bitterly for her ominous mind, her plight,Up the river of white moonlight she swimsUntil a treacherous undercurrentSeizing her in an icy-amorous embraceDives with her, swiftly severingThe waters which close above her head.

An enemy sentinelFinding the abandoned clothesWaits for the swimmer’s return(‘Come on, come back’)Waiting, whiling away the hourWhittling a shepherd’s pipe from the hollow reeds.

In the chill light of dawnRing out the pipe’s wild notes‘Come on, come back.’

VaudevueIn the swift and subtle current’s close embraceSleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tuneFavourite of all the troops of all the armiesFavourite of VaudevueFor she had sung it tooMarching to Austerlitz,‘Come on, come back.’

STEVIE SMITHThe poem ends sadly- Vaudevue won't come back because she's dead.

Shows that?

Why?

Irony?

Significance?

Techniques?

Skill

Tracking ideas...

What lines seem relevant to this image?

Skill: Symbolism

Sleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tune

Favourite of all the troops of all the armies

Favourite of Vaudevue

For she had sung it too

Marching to Austerlitz,

'Come on, come back.'

Endings:

Reflection...* What words stand out in

the last stanza? Why?* What point do you think

the poet is trying to make? Explain your ideas and try to link to other poems that you have looked at so far.

Skill: Interpreting the Text

1ImageryWhat extended metaphor is used in the poem?

StructureThink about organisation of the poem. What do you notice?

Interpreting the text:

Word ChoiceStevie Smith's poems are filled with unexpected word choices. What examples of this can you find?

Look at the images below:

Can you find the quotation/idea that they refer to?

Quick Questions

1. How does the poet create a sense of mystery in the poem?

2. How does the title of the poem relate to the content?

3. Who finds Vaudevue's clothes?What impression do you get of this character?

4. Which key words are repeated to give the poem a cold, deathly feel?

5. What do you think is the significance of the lake?

Question Time!

Additional

Not Waving But Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man,But still he lay moaning:I was much further out than you thoughtAnd not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larkingAnd now he's deadIt must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always(Still the dead one lay moaning)I was much too far out all my lifeAnd not waving but drowning.

STEVIE SMITH

Additional

Do Not!

Do not despair of man, and do not scold him, Who are you that you should so lightly hold him? Are you not also a man, and in your heartAre there not warlike thoughts and fear and smart? Are you not also afraid and in fear cruel,Do you not think of yourself as usual,Faint for ambition, desire to be loved,Prick at a virtuous thought by beauty moved? You love your wife, you hold your children dear, Then say not that Man is vile, but say they are. But they are not. So is your judgement shown Presumptuous, false, quite vain, merely your own Sadness for failed ambition set outside,Made a philosophy of, prinked, beautified In noble dress and into the world sent outTo run with the ill it most pretends to rout.Oh know your own heart, that heart's not wholly evil, And from the particular judge the general, If judge you must, but with compassion see life, Or else, of yourself despairing, flee strife.

STEVIE SMITH

Additional

After Blenheim IT was a summer evening, Old Kaspar's work was done, And he before his cottage door Was sitting in the sun;And by him sported on the green 5His little grandchild Wilhelmine.

She saw her brother Peterkin Roll something large and round, Which he beside the rivulet In playing there had found: 10He came to ask what he had found That was so large and smooth and round. Old Kaspar took it from the boy, Who stood expectant by; And then the old man shook his head, 15 And with a natural sigh— "'Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he, "Who fell in the great victory.

"I find them in the garden, For there's many here about; 20And often when I go to plough The ploughshare turns them out. For many thousand men," said he, "Were slain in that great victory." "Now tell us what 'twas all about," 25 Young Peterkin he cries; And little Wilhelmine looks up With wonder-waiting eyes; "Now tell us all about the war, And what they fought each other for." 30

"It was the English," Kaspar cried, "Who put the French to rout; But what they fought each other I could not well make out. But everybody said," quoth he, 35"That 'twas a famous victory.

"My father lived at Blenheim then, Yon little stream hard by; They burnt his dwelling to the ground, And he was forced to fly: 40So with his wife and child he fled, Nor had he where to rest his head. "With fire and sword the country round Was wasted far and wide, And many a childing mother then 45 And newborn baby died: But things like that, you know, must be At every famous victory.

"They say it was a shocking sight After the field was won, 50For many thousand bodies here Lay rotting in the sun; But things like that, you know, must be After a famous victory.

"Great praise the Duke of Marlbro' won, 55 And our good Prince Eugene"— "Why 'twas a very wicked thing!" Said little Welhelmine; "Nay—nay, my little girl," quoth he, "It was a famous victory. 60 "And everybody praised the Duke Who this great fight did win"— "But what good came of it at last?" Quoth little Peterkin. "Why that I cannot tell," said he, 65"But 'twas a famous victory."

ROBERT SOUTHEY (1796)

Links and References

Biography of poet:http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=7088http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/stevie-smith

Poet talks about poems:http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do;jsessionid=FA14D6F9A1A9DC9FE55F811C7F459C1B?poemId=7089

Analysis of poem:http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/poetry/poetry_women1.html

Women soldiers on front line debate:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/769612.stm

Frankie Goes to Hollywood video - Two Tribes (1983)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOQUnvI3CA

Information (and video clips) on the Cold War culture:http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/cold_war/topics/274/

Links: