The War Correspondent - Ciaran Carson (Hiba)

This poem gives the reader a detailed insight of the Crimean War, 1854-1856 as well as the Dardanelles campaign, 1915-1916. Carson especially uses sensory language to depict these periods of war.

The first section within this poem- Gallipoli focuses on the Dardanelles Campaign where allied forces tried to seize Constantinople. Within this first section, there’s a repetition of the word ‘take’ which gives the impression of these allied forces being intrusive, forcing an unwelcomed appearance.

‘Take sheds and stalls from Billingsgate...’

‘Take an Irish landlord’s ruinous estate…’

‘Take a dirty gutter from a back street in Boulogne…’

‘Take the garlic-oregano-tainted arcades of Bologna…’

The first 4 stanzas start with these 4 lines. The continuous use of the phrase ‘take’ is almost meddlesome and in a sense, presumptuous as these allies aren’t taking any consideration of these regions but only for their resources – to benefit them.

As well as the repetition, the entire first part has no full stops until the last stanza which suggests that it is almost overflowing – either with the descriptive language or in a more figurative manner, overflowing with the many people who have congregated to take on the role of soldiers. The first few stanzas of section one practically describes the different ethnicities, nationalities and backgrounds of these individuals in a sense that they are nothing.

‘Then populate this slum with Cypriot and Turk,

Armenians and Arabs, British riflemen

And French Zouaves, camel-drivers, officers and sailors…’

 

This stanza describes the many different individuals that are taken in to fight. The phrase ‘slum’ represents displacement and discomfort. Carson’s writing conveys these entities to barely be significant although their entire lives are being ripped apart. In the First World War, Britain fought with Turkey, whereas in the Crimean war Britain fought against Turkey which can be a reference of disloyalty in correlation to the poem.

The last 3 stanzas of part 1 foreshadows the aftermath of the war. These people that have been taken in to fight are now just seen as rotting bodies. Carson symbolises rotting food which reflects the image of rotting bodies, the use of rich sensory detail helps to depict this perception of human bodies- rotting, putrid and nauseating. ‘let the staple diet be green cantaloupes swarming with flies washed down with sour wine…’, this description is already hard to picture just with food let alone actual decomposing bodies.

 

Up until the last stanza of the first part of the poem – Gallipoli, there isn’t any use of full stops. This reveals the continuity of war.

 

Section 4 of the poem – Balaklava presents a positive display of war which is juxtaposed as a usual effect of war would be tragedy. ‘…like a bed of flowers scattered over the valley floor.’ Although this description is aesthetically pleasing, the true meaning is that the ‘scattered flowers’ are the dead bodies that aren’t buried or taken account of. Furthermore, the full-stop in that first stanza signifies the end of a soldier’s life. Carson uses names of different plants which implies the different ethnicities of the soldiers however mid-stanza 2, the phrase ‘and countless other plants whose names I lack’ suggests that the soldiers are barely acknowledged. This gives the impression of ‘not belonging’, these soldiers had lost their lives for the cause of war however they are not recognised.

 

‘Phalanxes of rank grass, marking the mounds’ is contrast to the first two stanzas and a more literal description of dead bodies. ‘Tatters of scarlet cloth hanging to the bones of his arms…’ is an oxymoron which shows the desperation of identity. The image of cloth hanging mirrors an image of eagerness. Moreover, the last stanza further reflects the notion of lack of acknowledgement and a sense of ignorance.

 ‘All the buttons had been cut off the jacket.’

‘…our fellow men-at-arms under the noon sun in out buttoned-up jackets.’

There’s a definite contrast between these two lines. The deceased soldiers aren’t significant for their own sake but only for the advantage of the soldiers that are still living. A literal explanation of the saying, “the dead has benefitted the living.”