During the World Wars, massive amounts of soldiers and civilians lost their lives because of countries protecting the freedom of their citizens, and because of land hungry dictators wanting to expand their empires and their ideologies. There were over sixty million causalities in World War II (Tankersley), and thirty-eight million causalities in World War I (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).  During these times great advances occurred in warfare technology and military strategies and, because of that most of these causalities during the World Wars came from soldiers dying during action.  Two premier poets that wrote about these horrendous times were named Rupert Brooke and Randell Jarrell.  Both poets were soldiers, Rupert Brooke served in World War I, while Randell Jarrell served during World War II.  Serving in those wars gave these poets firsthand experiences, and insight on how war is truly hell.  Rupert Brooke’s poem, “The Soldier”, and Randall Jarrell’s, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”, are both poems written about soldiers’ perspectives on death. In Rupert Brooke’s poem, the solider is alive and has a more patriotic view of dying during battle, and believes dying for his “motherland” is a grand gesture of proving his patriotism, and serves as a ultimate way to repay his country for all it has given to him.  The soldier in this poem feels like we would in a sense find spiritual redemption from him sacrificing of his life for his country.  While in Randell Jarrell’s, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”, it is written in the perspective of a dead soldier, who sees his death as it truly is, which is a sacrifice, and sees how he was replaced as fast as they could washed his remains out of the turret.  These poems address the concept of death during war, and how when alive, soldiers believe dying for their country is the noblest of gestures and how they will never be truly forgotten by their country because they will live eternally through their country through spirit.  But in reality, soldiers’ deaths are a sacrifice to a bigger cause, which is victory in a war, and soldiers won’t really live for eternally though their country, because they die and become forgotten about.

Having an overall better understanding the type of weapons, and types of military strategies that occurred during these wars will help bring some clarification to some of the references that were made in Randall Jarrell’s, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” and Rupert Brooke’s, “The Soldier”.  During World War I most of the land warfare consisted in the trenches.  The reason why most of the battles occurred in the trenches, was because of the advances that occurred in weaponry that was being used during this war.  These advancements in weaponry made fighting from a distance the only logical strategy, and because of that trench warfare emerged as the most dominant strategy that was used.  Trench warfare was fought by using underground mines, artillery and mortars, machine-guns, poison gas, tanks, and rifles (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).  In the poem, “The Soldier”, there are references about a soldier possibly dying in the corner of a foreign country’s land (line2), and it is only logical to think Brooke’s is referencing to a solider possibly dying in the trenches, because majority of the battles that were fought on land during World War I occurred in the trenches.  World War II consisted of great battles that occurred on land, sky, and sea.  Some of the greatest and most crucial battles during World War II occurred in the skies.  These battles were won because of technological advances in the aviation field.  An example of how crucial technological advances in the aviation field were was, the Battle of Britain.  England never got fully invaded by Nazi Germany, because England kept control of the skis.  The reason why England controlled the skies was, because of their technological advance in the aviation field.  What truly saved the British from being invaded was the invention of radar (Tankersley).  These technological advances that were made to planes during this war ultimately made planes faster and more powerful.  The planes being faster and more powerful made aerial warfare much deadlier.   There were more deaths in World War II aerial warfare than any other war (Tankersley).  In Jarrell’s poem, “The Death of the Ball Turret”, he talks about one of these deaths.  Jarrell also discusses ball turrets, which is one of many aerial technological advances that occurred during World War II.  Ball turrets were spherical shaped mounted turrets that were placed on various areas of the plane for protection (Truman).  Ball turrets were on American B-17 and B-24 planes (Truman).  

In Jarrell’s poem, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”, the poem is written in the perspective of a dead turret gunner who dies during action.  The tone of the poem is very depressing.  An example of this from the text is when it says, “I woke to black flak and the nightmares fighters” (line 4).  That line in the poem is the ball turret gunner dealing with the realization of his death.  The gunner reveals his death when he says, “And I hunched in its belly till my wet feet freeze” (2).  The slump posture of the soldier and the coldness of his body makes one only conclude that the soldier died.    Writing in this perspective Jarrell illustrates an age long question that some ponder and debate about which is, ‘what does one experience when one passes away’.  Using the perspective of a dead soldier he conveys his thoughts on this ageless question.  His thoughts on this topic is that the dead get to watch what happens to them after they die. The dead turret gunner gets to witness the harsh reality of what happens to his remains after he dies during action.  In the poem it says, “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose” (5). This shows the reality of war, and how when it comes down to it soldiers’ deaths are a sacrifice to a larger cause, which is victory in the war.  Jarrell answering an age long question, conveying one of the most brutal truths of war, and using a depressing tone is some of the many reasons why this poem is so powerful and unique. 

 Brooke’s poem, “The Soldier”, is written in the perspective of a soldier who is preparing himself to die for England.  This poem conveys very more patriotic themes then Jarrell’s poem did. The soldier in this poem is very content with the idea of dying for England, and feels like it would be the only sufficient way for him to pay back his great “motherland”, for all it has given him. The solider says in the poem, “Gives somewhere, back the thoughts by England Given;/ Her sights and sounds dreams happy as her day/ And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness” (11-13). In that section of the poem the soldier conveys how much England has truly given him, and how truly appreciative he is for it.   The soldier also believes he will never truly die, because by him dying for England he will live through England for eternity.  In the poem the speaker says, “If I should die, think only this of me/ That there’s corner of a foreign field/ That is Forever England, There shall be” (1-3).  This is the soldier talking about when he dies on the battle field, figuratively speaking he will turn a foreign piece of land into English soil and will live through that as a part of England for eternity.  The soldier also thinks he will gain spiritual redemption from dying for England.  In the poem the soldier says, “And think this heart, all evil shed away/ A pulse in the external mind, no less” (9-10).  That portion of the poem conveys two ideas of the solider believes in which is, he will gain spiritual redemption through death, and also about how he will live for eternity through England.  When the soldier is talking about all the evil shedding away, that is him showing him gaining spiritual purification for dying for his country.  The second part of the quote when referencing to the pulse in external minds is him coming back to the idea of he will never truly die, because he’s part of the pulse of England’s heart that will never stop beating.             

 While written during different times, Brooke and Jarrell’s poems both illustrate similar concepts.  Both poems are written about soldiers’ sharing their perspectives on death during war, and they also share in both of these poems what will happen to a soldiers’ remains after they die.  While one took a more realistic approach to what would happen to the soldiers remains, the other poem had more sentimental approach.   Another concept that is illustrated in both of these poem is how war is hell.  The things you see, and the things you have to turn the most civial of people of savages.  Being exposed to war, soldiers soon realize death is lurking everywhere a solider goes.  In these poems death is present as a major factor in the soldiers’ lives.  

These poems address the concept of death during war, and how when alive, soldiers believe dying for their country is the noblest of gestures and how they will never be truly be forgotten by their country because they will live eternally through their country through spirit.   But in reality, soldiers’ deaths are a sacrifice to a bigger cause, which is victory, and soldiers’ won’t really live for eternally though their country because they will die and become forgotten about.  Brooke’s poem dealt with a more patriotic approach towards a soldier dying for his country.  While Jarrell’s poem was more of the realistic approach towards a soldier dying, and also  talks about how truly soldiers serve as a sacrifices towards a larger goal.  Both poems serve as excellent resources when it comes to the World Wars, and studying how soldiers’ really felt, and what type of events that truly occurred during the Wars.
