By Andrew Nelson
- Who is the speaker in the poem? Describe.
- Limited 3rd person. The speaker has seen war , and destruction. Just as well they are remorseful and nostalgic at the same time, and are at a loss to explain the evil and somewhat malicious nature of the human spirit to cause war at all.
- Who is the audience of the poem?
- THe intended audience for the poem may be the young who idealize war, however the message of the poem rings true for all people.
- What is the situation and setting of the poem?
- After a fierce conflict thought is given to the implications of actions taken and the repercussions to come. A man mull over his past and parallels it with the innocence of his puppy, which scampers about the room.
- State the poem’s central idea or theme in a single sentence.
- War will live on, but will mankind?
- Describe structural pattern of the poem both in terms of visual patterns and sound patterns (stanzas, rhyme scheme, meter, free verse, alliteration, repetition, etc.)
- not a meter, but there is a rhyme scheme. Two rhyming lines, one not, and two more rhyming. Ninth line repeats “one” several times.
- Comment on the poem’s diction. How does diction relate to tone?
- Jarrel uses innocuous language like lap and puppy to contrast murderers and blood to emphasize the ridiculousness of mankind to be playful and innocent one moment and vicious and cutthroat the next. His tone is somewhat cautionary yet somewhat pessimistic, looking at the way in which he juxtaposes ideas of death, life, and love.
- Is imagery dominant? Explain.
- yes it is suggestive of much of the man’s surroundings including his pet and tells the story of his past vividly.
- Is the poem narrative (creating a “story” of sorts) or lyric (suggestive rather than concrete, often expressing a single emotion)?
- A narrative. Tells the story of his time in war his thoughts about it and then summarizes the meaning of peace as time before the next war.
- Comment on figurative language (metaphor, extended metaphor, simile, idiom, personification).
- The poem uses an extended metaphor of puppies as men to play up ideas of incompetence of men and incredulity at the thought of them.
- Explain any symbols. Is the poem allegorical?
- In a small way it is allegorical using small dogs yet not terribly much as the poem is rather short.
- TPCastt formate: Goodbye, Wendover; Goodbye, Mountain Home
- http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/74/3#20590889
- Examine the title before reading the poem. Consider connotations. What do you think of or associate with the title?
- A great loss. Considering Jarrell's partiality to war stories it may be somewhere lost due to bombing or incursion. Alternatively though this could reference a bildungsroman, or story of grow even if the poem would be out of character.
- P = Paraphrase
- Translate the poem into your own words. Be literal, looking for denotative meaning. Resist the urge to jump to interpretation. A failure to understand what happens literally sometimes leads to an interpretive misunderstanding. What is being said?
- Women move their children elsewhere.Their husbands fight in the war, being moved from laredo to Kearns. The men don’t really care where they go. Their going to Kearns most likely, and it’s not for certain.Women worry for their men as they drink and talk with sailors; They leave while the men prepare for overseas movement. They will leave in the morning. Still no word as to where they are truly headed.
- Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal by looking at the language and form. What is not being said?
- Observe:
- Diction
- indicative of personal experience with informal terms like ORD’s which has to be explained outside of contextual clues.
- Imagery (especially as it presents, metaphor, simile, personification)
- The humanizing of the argument with the image of sobbing women and anxious men before war.
- Symbolism
- The women’s trip home symbolizes the ever widening gap between those military husbands and wives.
- Irony (paradox, understatement, oxymoron)
- the men are just as lost as their wives as they leave for war.
- Effect of sound devices (alliteration, meter, onomatopoeia, assonance, rhyme)
- the repetition of Kearns represents the looming thought f war’s reality to the soldiers.
- Tone – Examine both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitudes. Remember don’t confuse the author with the persona. What is the attitude?
- Observe:
- Speaker’s attitude toward self, other characters and the subject
- Attitudes of characters other than the speaker
- Poet’s attitude toward the speaker, other characters and finally toward the reader
- Note shifts in speaker, attitude or mood. What changes?
- Occasion of poem (time and place setting)
- Key words (but, yet)
- Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, etc.)
- Stanza divisions
- Changes in line and / or stanza length
- Irony (sometimes irony hides shifts)
- Effect of structure on the meaning
- Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level. What do we now know about the title?
- It does mean in fact the moving of military troops to airfields. The Two names are Second Air Force fields
- First list what the poem is about (subject), then determine what the poet is saying about each of these subjects (theme). Remember, theme must be expressed as a complete sentence. What is the overarching idea?
- Separation-just as hard for those leaving as those staying
- war-unintelligible from subservience
- Print versions of analysis templates are available in class. If you create an electronic anthology, your analyses can also be electronic (templates are available on Mrs. Hazle’s website) Scan your annotated poems and upload as part of your electronic anthology.
- Include a works cited page at the end of your anthology which indicates the sources of the poems.
- Work Cited
- Jarrell, Randall. "Eighth Air Force." Poetry Foundation. harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, n.d. Web. 20 May 2012.
- Jarrell, Randall. "Goodbye, Wendover; Goodbye, Mountain Home." Poetry Foundation. harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, n.d. Web. 20 May 2012.
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