Write the summary of AFTER BLENHEIM by robert southey.....
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After Blenheim’ by Robert Southey is an anti-war poem that centres around one of the major battles of eighteenth century – the Battle of Blenheim. Written in 1796 in the form of a ballad, it offers deep insights on war and its consequences. The 1704 War of Spanish Succession, in which a coalition of forces including the English, defeated the Franco-Bavarian army on the land of Blenheim, a small village in Southern Germany, supplies its ingredients.
Through a conversation between an old farmer, Kaspar and his grandchildren, Wilhelmine and Peterkin the poet gradually reveals the scene of a former battlefield. One of the kids has found something ‘large and round’ which his grandfather explains is a skull, one of many to be found nearby. Similar instances run through the poem to support the main ideas – tragic end of war & the vulnerability of human life. The poem After Blenheim makes us ponder on the purpose and result of a war and even questions its validity.
The war caused huge devastation and thousands of casualties. But Old Kaspar seems to have an unconcerned attitude towards this as he claims that ‘it was a famous victory’ and ‘things like that must be’. His gruesome descriptions, followed by his casual sayings create an effect of irony. It is ironic that it was a great war but no one knows why.
After Blenheim: Form and Style
This ballad is separated into 11 equal verses. The poet has followed the rhyming scheme abcbdd in all the stanzas except the second one. The style used by the poet is a conversation between two people of very different ages – the younger age representing vigor, restlessness and curiosity whereas the old age depicts experience, knowledge and passivity.
Through a conversation between an old farmer, Kaspar and his grandchildren, Wilhelmine and Peterkin the poet gradually reveals the scene of a former battlefield. One of the kids has found something ‘large and round’ which his grandfather explains is a skull, one of many to be found nearby. Similar instances run through the poem to support the main ideas – tragic end of war & the vulnerability of human life. The poem After Blenheim makes us ponder on the purpose and result of a war and even questions its validity.
The war caused huge devastation and thousands of casualties. But Old Kaspar seems to have an unconcerned attitude towards this as he claims that ‘it was a famous victory’ and ‘things like that must be’. His gruesome descriptions, followed by his casual sayings create an effect of irony. It is ironic that it was a great war but no one knows why.
After Blenheim: Form and Style
This ballad is separated into 11 equal verses. The poet has followed the rhyming scheme abcbdd in all the stanzas except the second one. The style used by the poet is a conversation between two people of very different ages – the younger age representing vigor, restlessness and curiosity whereas the old age depicts experience, knowledge and passivity.
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“After Blenheim"" is a poem that tells about an old man and his grandson. He is watching his Grandson playing on the grass while sitting in front of his house. The old Kasper starts telling Peterkin and his sister about the “Battle of Blenheim”, which was once there in the fields surrounding the Bavarian village of Blenheim in southern Germany.
An old farmer named Kaspar looks at his little nephew, Wilhelmine, and Peterkin, playing. In a sigh, Kasper broke his head to express his disappointment at the war that had happened years ago, only to devour innocent life. Wilhelmine did not approve of the praise that Prince and Prince Eugeniusz had given because they believed that their act of killing innocent people was evil.
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