Question

Discuss 'asleep in the valley' as an anti-war poem.

Answer 1

The poem is about the death of a young soldier, whose body lies among the ferns and flowers in a valley. This poem is most probably written in the October of 1870 but was published in the collection called, Anthologie Lemerre in 1888. It is known to have been written in 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Since there’s no evidence to suggest any battle to have been fought in Charleville, it is probable that this poem may have been inspired by the war but is not an actual account of a real incident. The original was written in French, named ‘Le Dormeur du Val’. This English version was translated by Paul Schmidt.