The poem is a shoutout about those who suffer and who undergo problems dealing with their emotions. They find it hard to silence their increasing agonies for they grow till they overwhelm the individual.
Composed of two distinct stanzas – the first one is an octave while the second stanza is a sextet.
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The rhyming of the octave is abcbdede whereas for the sextet, the rhyming is abcabc. Hence the audience notices a fluctuation in the emotions of the poet at the beginning of the octave. She tries to control her flow of emotions by bringing a pattern thereafter in her verses.
Stanza 1:
Starts with a rhetorical statement, wherein the poet questions life during war. The individual is surrounded with destruction which afflict the on-looker more than one can perceive. The emotions are raging as the poet concentrates on the extent of harm done to geographical surrounding of the poet. This has an extensive impact on the poet who clings to what she sees. Her surroundings garnish her emotional landscape. Therefore when it is destroyed, she feels that part of her being is now destroyed.
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Her sufferance increases as she lists out a series of adjectives which are sad and full of destructive bearing, while qualifying each participant of the war.
Repetition of sickness emphasises on how much she is suffering. She feels that her immediate surrounding does not belong to her.
She tries to introspect so as to have a clearer idea of how she is feeling. She claims that the destruction that is all around her is wholesome as it damages and annihilated annihilates a person completely- physically and emotionally.
She uses visual imagery to draw the distinct details of how ugly war is. She qualifies war as madness- repeating the term several times with synonyms such as sickness and fear. Hence, the perpetrators of war are. It logical and normal humans who care for others. They spread war to destroy.However the individual is too vulnerable and easily assaulted/harmed.
Stanza 2:
Even the solutions provided to solve war are not requisite with the desired end. Actually, these solutions are make-beliefs, blindfolded the onlooker to think and accept that war has been controlled. Yet,
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She juxtaposes camp with Chambers that is the war moves from the battlefield into offices or conference rooms,where the war is now using words,instead of weapons. The authorities persevere in wanting to control the country, their neighbours and the world. The government continues to bring divisions and anti-social ideas which will surely generate further disruption in the future.
The poet remains a witness of how the world is destroying itself. It is on self-destructive mode, thus the world is killing its own children. Th
hides life in her own defeat: shows how pessimistic her tone and mindset is; how she knows that change is not around; and how defeated she feels.
The alliterative phrase whole world with the sound ‘w’ dramatises the idea of how the world as a whole, that is everyone involved are together killing and destroying each other. She underlines the narrow boundaries which are spread around the individual and which suffocate the individual with their biaese.
Visual Imagery: classical reference- of Earth being the Goddess of fertility. Yet, Earth witnesses the murder of her children by her children. In the end, Earth is childless, as she cannot save her children from their own base vices.
Rukeyser contemplates on human nature- how people do not practise fraternity. The quests for power is superior to loving one another. Humanity destroys itself as humans do not respect each other. The differences have been created by humans vis a vis each other, condemning any possibility of living together well and peacefully.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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