Question

In the poem After Blenheim

1:Point out the refrain in the poem.

2:What effect does the refrain
have on the readers?
3: What do you think about the poet's attitude towards the war.

Answer 1

Refrain is great victory or famous victory.

It brings the feeling' ignorance of the old people.

Pointlessness of war.

Answer 2

Robert Southey’s poem ‘After Blenheim’ narrates the story of the Battle of Blenheim and the death and destruction it caused. The poem is in ironical tone where the poet presents the common people’s misconceptions regarding war, how they fall prey to the propaganda that was indoctrinated in them and how they glorify war and the so-called war-heroes.
In the poem we see Old Kaspar praise the war calling it a ‘great victory’ and a ‘famous victory‘ as he has heard people say so. He does not know why it was a great victory.

Refrain, phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at intervals throughout a poem, generally at the end of the stanza. ... Three common refrains are the chorus, recited by more than one person; the burden, in which a whole stanza is repeated; and the repetend, in which the words are repeated erratically throughout the poem.

The poem gives a strong message that war is not an option and nothing ever justifies the loss of lives and destruction caused by the war and rather we can say that war doesn’t makes a country to win or lose, it causes destruction between the two.