Soldier with kitten, Melbourne 1915 Australian War Memorial |
Henry Newbolt’s “A
Letter from the Front” is a poem for those who don’t particularly like poetry
(it’s also a wonderful poem for cat-lovers). Without rhyme and regular meter, the poem is highly conversational. In fact, other than the line-breaks, it
appears more as an actual letter and not a poem. Newbolt shares an entertaining and curious story and doesn’t attempt to affix a moral or explain the point. Instead, the poem relates an anecdote and invites
us to make of it what we will.
A Letter from
the Front
I was out early
to-day, spying about
From the top of
a haystack—such a lovely morning—
And when I
mounted again to canter back
I saw across a
field in the broad sunlight
A young gunner subaltern, stalking along
Soldier with mascot Illustrated War News, Vol. 7, London, 1918 |
With a
rook-rifle held at the ready, and – would you believe it? –
A domestic cat,
soberly marching behind him.
And shouted out “The top of the morning” to him,
And wished him “Good sport!”—and then I remembered
My rank, and his, and what I ought to be doing;
And I rode
nearer, and added, “I can only suppose
You have not
seen the Commander-in-Chief’s orders
Forbidding
English officers to annoy their Allies
By hunting and
shooting.”
But he stood and saluted
And said
earnestly, “I beg your pardon, sir,
I was only going
out to shoot a sparrow
To feed my cat
with.”
So there was the whole picture,
The lovely early
morning, the occasional shell
Screeching and
scattering past us, the empty landscape--
Empty, except
for the young gunner saluting,
And the cat,
anxiously watching his every movement.
I may be wrong,
and I may have told it badly,
But it struck me as being extremely ludicrous.
It’s a simple tale: in the midst of war, an officer rides out
early on his horse, cantering across the fields and climbing haystacks for a
better view of the terrain. As he is
preparing to return to the lines, he spies a junior artillery officer artillery
crossing the field in front of him, carrying a light rifle designed for
shooting birds and accompanied by a house cat. The young soldier and his cat march together soberly, as if forming a
small military parade. To see a man
hunting with a cat in peace time might appear strange; during war and so close
to the front, the scene is absurd and draws from the mounted officer a laugh
and a casual greeting: “top of the morning,” and “Good sport!”
For the moment,
the war is forgotten in the “lovely early morning,” but perhaps one of the “occasional
shells” that screeches and scatters past recalls the senior officer not only to
his rank, but to his duty. He warns the young gunner of the Commander-in-Chief’s
order that English officers have been forbidden to “annoy their Allies” by
hunting. Earnestly, the young gunner salutes and explains he is only shooting
sparrows with which to feed his cat. And
as the poem states, “So there was the whole picture.”
The last two
lines of the poem are as strange as the story itself: they comment that the writer “may be wrong”
and may even have “told it badly.” Is the poem unfinished or carelessly
crafted? All we are given is the letter
writer’s personal opinion that the event was “extremely ludicrous.” We want to shake the author and demand, “What is the meaning of this?” -- and that’s the brilliance of the poem. War is absurd, and nearly everything that happens can only be understood
as random and “extremely ludicrous.”
Almost unbelievably, the jarring contrast between the empty fields of a serene early morning and the “occasional” death-dealing shells that screech and scatter past the men is casually accepted. Both soldiers have become so accustomed to death that the artillery fire is incidental and unremarkable, merely a counterpoint to birdsong.
Gordon Highlanders (15th Division) with their pet cat "Martinpuich" [IWM] |
It’s also highly
ironic that the Commander-in-Chief’s order has made it a crime to shoot a
sparrow while men are encouraged to kill as many German soldiers as they
possibly can. Hunting and shooting that
might “annoy” one’s allies is forbidden, while mowing down the enemy with machine gun fire is the duty of every good soldier.
And what of the cat? Soberly marching and anxiously watching, the
cat is the only living being that seems to acknowledge the war. It’s estimated that 500,000 cats were sent to
the trenches of the First World War.* They provided a valuable service in hunting the mice and rats that
infested soldiers’ living quarters; they were used to detect gas; and they
became beloved mascots and companions for the troops. Some cats were even
credited with saving men’s lives (to read more about cats in the First World
War, see this
link).
Henry Newbolt,
the author of “Letter from the Front” is most often remembered for his “blind patriotism
and poetic propaganda.”** His most
famous poem, “Vitai Lampada,” compares battle to a competitive school sporting
event. It’s refrain “Play up! play up! and
play the game!” was used in World War I recruiting posters. But that poem was published in 1897, and
Newbolt grew to dislike both the poem and the attention he received from it,
saying on a 1923 speaking tour, “it's a kind of Frankenstein's Monster that
I created thirty years ago."
By 1917 when Newbolt published “Letter from the Front,” he had worked for nearly three years in the
British government’s propaganda office.
Perhaps this free-verse poem reveals the emerging consciousness of a
writer who, however briefly or obliquely, admits to the absurdity of modern warfare.
--------------------------------------------
**The Rise and Fall of Meter: Poetry and
English National Culture, 1860-1930, Meredith Martin.
I love this blog Connie thank you
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for reading and responding -- and for all you do to remember the women of the war.
DeleteThank you, Connie - always so interesting. I wonder when the Western Front hunting ban began?
DeleteThanks for this very interesting article ! We have a "animals during WW1" section in our (french) blog, written by our dog Ruby (with a little help from us) and we are currently researching about cats during WW1 (because the cat is jealous now).
ReplyDeleteDear Paule-Elise, I'd love to read Ruby's research on dogs in WWI if you'd be so kind as to send a link. And I fully agree with your cat: it is time for equal treatment on the critical role of felines in the war!
DeleteOh sorry, I thought the link would appear on my comment. So here it is : https://1916kilometres.wordpress.com/
DeleteCome and say hi !
Wonderful! I love Ruby's "hairy adventures" in search of the history of the poilu! :)
DeleteThank you !
DeleteI thought I had read so much about this war, but I always learn something new on your blog!
ReplyDeleteAfter seven years of intense research re WW1, I am increasingly aware of how much more there is yet to discover - I'm now looking into the artists of the conflict - each day brings new names.
Delete