paraphrase of the poem ‘After Blenheim’
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AFTER BLENHEIM: SUMMARYSTANZA 1The poem begins by picturizing a vivid scene of a summer evening. It is the time when most people return from work. The days are long and tiring in summers, and the sun sets late in the evening. An elderly farmer named Kaspar sits in front of his cottage watching his grandchildren Wilhelmine and Peterkin at play on the lush green field.STANZA 2As Wilhelmine was playing, she saw her brother Peterkin rolling something ‘large, smooth and round’ which he had found beside the river. Meanwhile Kaspar was sitting around observing his actions. Out of curiosity, Peterkin takes that ‘something’ to his grandfather, wanting to know about it.STANZA 3The elderly Kaspar took that round thing from the boy, who was left in anticipation. After a brief look at it, the old man shook his head with a sigh and found it to be a skull of some ‘poor fellow’ which refers to a soldier who had died in the war – in the Battle of Blenheim – ‘in the great victory’.STANZA 4The Battle of Blenheim lead to the death of thousands of soldiers whose corpses lie deep scattered in the field. Further, Kaspar relates how he had found many such objectswhile plowing the fields. The ‘great victory’ refers to the triumph in the battle which also happens to be an example of sheer patriotism. Kaspar believed that the soldiers sacrificed their life for the country and did not die in vain. Their death served the purpose of victory in the battle