Poem #3: Response to "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner" by Jarrell

Poem:

From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.

Response:

Although I am not entirely sure what this poem is completely about, I know that the theme revolves around the topic of war and death. The speaker introduces this topic of death in the beginning of the poem when the speaker states, "Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life..." As a reader, I could tell here that the speaker is already dead, in fact he is already "six miles from earth". Taking into consideration the line, "I woke to black flak and nightmare fighters", I could tell that the speaker has been involved in war and has been killed while in battle. Therefore, this is where I came up with the theme of war and death. It's also very interesting to note that the speaker is already dead as he is narrating this poem. I noted in my TPCASTT the diction the author uses such as the words, "hunched, froze, and washed" as a way to describe the inevitable death of the speaker. Using these types of words helps to come to the conclusion of what the theme is because by using these three words, the speaker is pictured as someone who was never able to get out of the war by being "frozen" inside of battle. Also, the author uses imagery to get us readers to picture how awful the war must of been for the speaker. For instance in one of the lines, the speaker says, "...they washed me out of the turret with a hose." This image contributes to the tone and setting of the poem: the aftermath of the war and what happened to him after the war ended. This also helps me put into consideration what happens to most soldiers when they are killed in battle: nothing. Most soldiers get no recognition for dying for their country and often times no one hears about what they actually go through in the war, thus the line, "...they washed me out of the turret with a hose". This is interesting to think about because this could also serve as the author's purpose of the poem: giving recognition and opening people's eyes about how soldiers' lives aren't praised and treasured when they die for our country. If this is the main purpose or theme then I definitely like the poem a lot more better after analyzing it so thoroughly.