In “If We Must Die,” the narrator describes himself and the rest of his military crew as hogs. I couldn’t pick out a direct distinction of which branch of military they were. “Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot” This ultimately represents feeling hunted like animals and trapped with no escape.” There hasn’t been an attack yet but they sit waiting and continue to be preyed on like hogs.
You can gather the assumption that this is taking place in a war because of the tone of the poem with this undying commitment. “If we must die, O let us nobly die, so that our precious blood may not be shed.” Basically this states that if they were to die at least they would die heroes. “In Vain; then even the monsters we defy shall be constrained to honor us though dead!” Even though the men are terribly threatened by the attackers they won’t back down and in the end they will have to commend them on such bravery and persistence.
“Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, and for their thousand blows deal one dealthblow!” Here you can really feel the encouragement that even though they are greatly outnumbered and have been hit far more they will come after the enemy with one blow and take them down. Throughout the poem there is just a lot spirit and courage with an undying sense of commitment for whatever it is they are fighting for. It’s almost like taking that last bit of energy that you have left and giving it all you’ve got. The narrator states that all that is left in front of him is either death or triumph. He has accepted this and insists on pushing forward, but this time they are men fighting back and are not the hogs that they were in the beginning scared of what might happen next. Even thought they will surely die, they won’t die without a fight.
I absolutely loved this poem, being such a huge fan of Tolkien and Homer, war heroes show the upmost amount of courage. This poem almost seems like a motivation battle cry right before the final battle.
ReplyDeleteIf you recall the Lord of the Ring's series, the last of the soldiers after the Battle of Pelennor Fields decide to confront Sauron head-on at the Black Gate of Morannon. Extremely outnumbered, they realize that they cannot possibly win this battle, but they can still win the war if they can distract the Eye long enough for Frodo to cast the Ring into Orodruin.