AFTER BLENHEIM

4. After Blenheim

Robert Southey

ASSIGNMENTS

I.                  (i) Kaspar, was the old man.

His grandchildren, Peterkin and Wilhelmine, were with him.

They were sitting in the sun before their cottage door. (ii) Kaspar shook his head with a sigh to reflect his disappointment at the war that took place years ago only to devour innocent lives. Peterkin brought the skull of the “poor fellow”.

(iii) The skull was found beside the small stream where Peterkin was playing.

 The skull belonged to one of the many innocent people who lost their lives in the tragic war. The 'poor' fellow became a victim of the war.

(iv) The skulls were a common sight there. Many of them could be found in the garden or in the field that Kaspar used to plough.

(v) The victory of England in the war of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) is referred to here.

Duke of Marlborough end Savoy's Prince Eugene were responsible for this victory.

II.               (i) The cause of the war in which many innocent people were killed Is being discussed here.

Peterkin and Wilhelmine were innocent grandchildren of old Kasper. Peterkin was questioning his grandfather, Kasper.

(ii) The adjectives ‘young' and ‘little' are important to highlight the innocence and purity of Peterkin and Wilhelmine. It is through their innocence that the poet, has condemned the war.

(iii) "Wonder-waiting eyes" is used for Wilhelmine, who was expecting to know the cause of the war from her grandfather. The figure of speech used here is alliteration.

She looked up with such eyes because she could not comprehend the cause of the war. It filled her with wonder. She anticipated to get a favourable answer from Kasper.

(iv) The battle was fought between the English and the French forces. Peterlcin was not given a satisfactory reply. Kasper did not know the cause of the war but still referred to the victory as great. It shows that a common man’s ignorance and complacency about  the cause and purpose of war.

(v)Kaspar was a farmer.

He was loving grandfather as he spent time with his grandchildren and tried to answer their queries. Kaspar was an old man, who was disappointed with the outcome of the war. However, he was complacent about the cause of war and had accepted the loss of innocent lives as the inevitable price of victory in the war.

III (i) The country referred to is Blenheim,  Which is the English name for the German  village of Blindheim, situate on the left bank of the Danube River in Bavaria in Southern Germany. It refers  to the death and destruction caused by the war.

(ii) The speaker tells that during the war his father lived by a stream at Blenheim. As a result of the war, his father's house was burnt which forced him to flee with his wife and child, Kasper. They were thus rendered homeless.

(iii)”Childing mother' is a phrase used for a mother expecting a baby. The poet specifically refers to the deaths of childing mothers and newborn babies to underline not only the horrors of war but also the irony of a famous victory.

(iv) The speaker has been conditioned by the perpetrators of war in such a way that he readily accepted the loss of innocent lives as the price for victory In the war. I pity the speaker as he sighed at the sight of a poor fellow's skull but his conditioning was such that he justified war.

(v) Refer to Anti-War Poem under Critical Remarks.

IV. (i) 'They’ refers to those who must have reported the entire battle scene and its after effects to Kaspar. (Kaspar experienced the war only as a child, thus his account of the war to his grandchildren is not first-hand.)

The sight was shocking because the war was won at the price of thousands of lives. The sight of many thousand bodies  lying  rotting in the sun was  gruesome.

(ii) Refer to I, (v).

(iii) The tone is ironical and sarcastic. The poet wants to question the utility of waging war, which cause destruction of  both human lives  and Property.

(iv) old Kaspar appears to be a farmer  by profession.  He lived in a cottage in a countryside, where there was a stream nearby and he mentioned that he used to find many skulls while ploughing the field. This indicates his profession.

iv) The devastation caused by war is reflected through the following:

• The presence of skulls all over the field.

• Kasper's family rendered homeless when Kaspar's father's dwelling was burnt,.

• The deaths of expecting mothers and newborn babies,

• The gruesome sight of dead bodies lying on the battle field and rotting.

V. (i) Duke of Marlbro  was an English General. He was the Commander of British forces in the War of the Spanish Succession. He was praised because he defeated the French forces.

(ii) Prince Eugene was an Austrian General, born in France. He is referred to as 'our good Prince Eugene' because with Marlborough, he defeated the French at Blenheim.

(iii) Wilhelmine did not approve the praise that Duke and Prince Eugene received because she considered their act of killing innocent people in the name of victory as wicked.

Yes, her comment is appropriate as it is the common man who has to suffer where the politicians and the rulers escape and idly boast of wars.

(iv) The poem disapproves of any war as it brings with itself death, devastation, loss and grief. The poet conveys that great victories are rendered useless when everything else is lost.

(v) The poem is relevant as it has a universal appeal. The poem is timeless and can be read irrespective of the time it was written in. It is the common man and innocent children who suffer in a war. Modern politicians dismiss the deaths of innocent people in war by referring to them with the impersonal phrase: collateral damage.

picture courtesy : Thanks Google