I chose Rosenberg\u2019s poem \u201cReturning, we hear the larks\u201d for many reasons, but what struck me most was the wartime language permeating a moment that might otherwise read as peaceful. Rosenberg uses words like \u201cringing,\u201d \u201cshowering,\u201d and \u201cdropped\u201d to describe the larks\u2019 song as the soldiers return to their trench\u2014terms we\u2019ve consistently associated with bombs, shells, and destruction throughout the semester. This made me wonder why he frames a brief moment of \u201cbeauty\u201d with the language of violence. And as I reread the poem, I began to understand my initial reaction: what first felt hopeful gradually became angry and frustrated, as though I were mocking the larks rather than admiring them. That shift is ultimately what gave the poem new meaning for me: the larks felt less like symbols of solace and more like reminders of what the soldiers can never truly have, their song suggesting a peace the soldiers know is false. This is also why the final line resonated with me so deeply\u2014the comparison to \u201ca serpent\u201d hiding in a young girl\u2019s kiss reveals the soldiers\u2019 awareness that the larks\u2019 music is a kind of deception, offering hope that war immediately takes away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reading this poem also felt fitting because it echoes themes that have interested me throughout the semester, especially in Not So Quiet<\/em>. I was fascinated by Nellie\u2019s accusatory tone toward her mother and Mrs. Evans-Mawnington, and by the ways gender norms both confine and shape her anger. I\u2019ve come to see her inability to directly condemn the war in her letters as a symptom of the limited agency she both resists and reinforces. This also emerges in Not Only War<\/em>, where Montie\u2019s entire military experience is shaped and controlled by a white man, despite his efforts to resist it. And even in the end, when he dies while trying to save Bob\u2014a moment that could be read as hopeful\u2014I see Montie losing agency once again, his identity and legacy still tied to privileged groups. I noticed a similar pattern in Rosenberg\u2019s poem too: he accuses the larks of offering false joy but retreats at the end, unable to fully articulate the soldiers\u2019 anger, almost emotionally withdrawing himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, this poem allowed me to further examine the subtle ways authors reveal a lack of agency. This has always been the theme I\u2019m most drawn to, for I enjoy dissecting what emerges unintentionally, beneath the surface. In Rosenberg\u2019s case, that hidden layer exposes the falseness of hope in wartime, where pain is the constant reality and peace is only ever momentary and often misleading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/jlzb1DOmFtM<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I chose Rosenberg\u2019s poem \u201cReturning, we hear the larks\u201d for many reasons, but what struck me most was the wartime language permeating a moment that might otherwise read as peaceful. Rosenberg uses words like \u201cringing,\u201d \u201cshowering,\u201d and \u201cdropped\u201d to describe … Continue reading