For whom the bell tolls

 Hello readers...

This blog is in response of the thinking activity by our mentor prof.Dilip Barad sir for understanding and evaluating things more clear as of to the real ones .This activity shows the true nature of the poems by comparing elements of them.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

🔎Overview of the poem : 

It is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1940. It tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American volunteerattached to a Republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. As a dynamiter, he is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia.

Christ and the Soldier

by Siegfried Sassoon (1916)

I
The straggled soldier halted -- stared at Him -- Then clumsily dumped down upon his knees, Gasping

"O blessed crucifix, I'm beat !"

And Christ, still sentried by the seraphim, Near the front-line, between two splintered trees, Spoke him:

"My son, behold these hands and feet."

The soldier eyed him upward, limb by limb, Paused at the Face, then muttered,

"Wounds like these Would shift a bloke to Blighty just a treat !"

Christ, gazing downward, grieving and ungrim, Whispered,

"I made for you the mysteries, Beyond all battles moves the Paraclete."
II
The soldier chucked his rifle in the dust, And slipped his pack, and wiped his neck, and said --

"O Christ Almighty, stop this bleeding fight !"

Above that hill the sky was stained like rust With smoke. In sullen daybreak flaring red The guns were thundering bombardment's blight. The soldier cried,

"I was born full of lust, With hunger, thirst, and wishfulness to wed. Who cares today if I done wrong or right?"

Christ asked all pitying,

"Can you put no trust In my known word that shrives each faithful head ? Am I not resurrection, life and light ?"
III
Machine-guns rattled from below the hill; High bullets flicked and whistled through the leaves; And smoke came drifting from exploding shells.

Christ said

"Believe; and I can cleanse your ill. I have not died in vain between two thieves; Nor made a fruitless gift of miracles."

The soldier answered,

"Heal me if you will, Maybe there's comfort when a soul believes In mercy, and we need it in these hells. But be you for both sides ? I'm paid to kill And if I shoot a man his mother grieves. Does that come into what your teaching tells ?"

A bird lit on the Christ and twittered gay; Then a breeze passed and shook the ripening corn. A Red Cross waggon bumped along the track. Forsaken Jesus dreamed in the desolate day -- Uplifted Jesus, Prince of Peace forsworn -- An observation post for the attack.

"Lord Jesus, ain't you got no more to say ?"

Bowed hung that head below the crown of thorns. The soldier shifted, and picked up his pack, And slung his gun, and stumbled on his way.

"O God," he groaned,"why ever was I born ?"

... The battle boomed, and no reply came back.

🔎Overview of the poem : 

The poem Christ and the Soldier gives the viewpoint that war is a absolutely terrible crime against humankind with no sort of positive. It also shows that no matter what, there is no "good" side in war, no matter what the morals on either side; both are fighting for the wrong reasons.

💡Comparing all the elements of both the poem :

If we compare both the poem by thir different elements then we can get the true idea to which the writer was inspired and wrote poems like this. 

⚫Point of view of the writer:

1. For whom the bell tolls

The view of the writer is to predicted the civil war would begin in 1935, and when it erupted in 1936, Hemingway began writing and making speeches to raise funds for the Loyalist cause.

2. Christ and the soldier

By author's experience in April 1917 Sassoon was wounded and evacuated back to Britain. During his convalescence, his discontent with the course of the war became more pronounced. In July he issued a public declaration of his belief that the war was being deliberately prolonged by those who had the power to end it.

⚫Narrative technique :

1.) For Whom Bell Tolls' presents the narrative through an omniscient point of view that continually shifts back and forth between the characters. In this way, Hemingway can effectively chronicle the effect of the war on the men and women involved.

2.) By using the colloquial language and Georgian style in his poem, Sassoon has realistically presented the sufferings of the soldiers.

Which clearly shows that how much depth is having this poetry with vivid narration .

⚫Characterization :

1.)All the characters has the importance of community and fellow-feeling the values that initially incited and also the characters who are shown as of good image carrying finds it difficult to tackle the war.

2.) The poem's characterization is based on  the viewpoint that war is a absolutely terrible crime against humankind with no sort of positive. It also shows that no matter what, there is no "good" side in war, no matter what the morals on either side; both are fighting for the wrong reasons.

⚫Plot :

1.) Set in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, For Whom the Bell Tolls follows the struggles of an American college instructor who has left his job to fight for the Republicans. Robert Jordan has been dispatched from Madrid to lead a band of guerrilleros that operates in a perpetual state of leadership crisis.

2.)Christ and the Soldier.  The plot of the poem is on of despair and distress as the soldier pleads to his lord to end the blood bath that is the war, as his lord gives him no mercy or pity and leaves him to die.

⚫Effect of the war :

1.) As a dynamiter,  is assigned to blow up a bridge during an attack on the city of Segovia. It was published just after the end of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), whose general lines were well known at the time.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls."

2.) This poetry, regardless of the era from which it originated, captures themes that carry across generations. Also it carries the effect that war is always bad.It also seeks to create new language, which later generations use as a framework for understanding war history.