Come on, Come BackStevie Smith

Think Incident in a future war?

The Cold War A 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

Chemical Warfare...

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.

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

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

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.

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. Alliteration emphasises the moonlight and creates an eerie setting

Repetition for emphasis

This was a battleground in one of the Napoleonic wars

This is a strong metaphor – when the tide goes out it leaves random objects stranded

This unusual combination if her being a girl and a solider is unsettling – it sounds like a contradiction

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.

The imaginary conference on killing suggests how seriously war is still taken in the future

This is a chilling, clinical, impersonal word

A disturbing description of how shocked and traumatised she is

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.

Emphasises Vaudevue’s struggle and confusion

The physical qualities of the sand contrast with Vaudevue’s vagueness

The ground is difficult to walk over – this contrasts with the sand at the end of the stanza

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.

Suggests sudden decision and movement

This adjective is unexpected – it makes the lake sound innocent and unappealing

A smooth, peaceful image – it sounds tempting

This sounds unreal and dreamlike

Emphasises the damage that has been done to Vaudevue – she doesn’t know what’s happening or what she’s doing.

Ending the stanza with this word hints that something bad will happen

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.

Repeating this word makes the sense of doom stronger

Personification of the undercurrent adds to the surreal atmosphereThe oxymoron

adds to the eerie atmosphere

Alliteration emphasises the speed of what is happening. There’s a double meaning to ‘severing’ – the undercurrent cuts through the water and also cuts off Vaudevue’s life.

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.

Alliteration emphasis the time passing slowly

This is the title of a song

A strangely innocent image for a soldier waiting to kill someone

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.’

There are no brackets around the song title this time – it’s as if the music’s getting louder

Enemies have some things in common

It’s ironic that Vaudevue sand the same song as her enemyReminds the reader of the beginning of the poem, when Vaudevue has just survived the battle

The poem ends sadly – Vaudevue won’t come back because she’s dead

Form and Structure Form – the line lengths are a mixture of short and

long, which creates a rambling conversational feeling, and makes the story seem even more unpredictable. There is some random rhyme, half-rhyme and internal-rhyme which is sometimes unsettling because it is unexpected. It makes the reader confused, just like Vaudevue.

Structure - The events in the poem are told in chronological order, starting just after Vaudevue flights in the battle at Austerlitz.

The last three lines of the poem link back to the battle, creating a circular effect

Language Repetition – Repeating the title song reminds

the reader of all who have been lost, not just Vaudevue. Key words are also repeated to give the poem a cold, deathly feel.

Surreal Language – Strong descriptive images and personification create an eerie atmosphere.

Past and Future – There are several references to places associated with past wars. The references to war are both historic and futuristic, suggesting that war and its casualties are universal and timeless.

The Girl Soldier...

What strikes you about that particular combination of words?

Women and War: '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)

CAN women fight on the front line?

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."

Interpreting the text:

Imagery› What extended metaphor is used in the

poem? Structure

› Think about organisation of the poem.› What do you notice?

Word Choice› Stevie Smith's poems are filled with

unexpected word choices. What examples of this can you find?

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?