Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tony Harrison "A Cold Coming"
This poem deals with birth because the soldier talks about other soldiers having offspring even after they die. The images of death are seen in the death of the soldiers. The author focuses on the idea of sperm banks and procreation in the portrayal of the atrocities of war because it shows how inhuman war is. I think Harrison is stating that it is a shame that war causes men to have to put sperm in sperm banks because they may not make it. This can be seen as inhuman because it is not at all natural. The Iraqi soldier is speaking to a poet rather than a journalist because poets can morph words and disguise his words with words that sound differently where as a journalist can only directly quote people or paraphrase what has been said.
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8 comments:
I didn't catch your idea on the author focusing on how inhuman the war is but now after reading your post I can see where you got that idea.
I agree with what you said about war being inhuman. I thought that as well since people were going to the extreme lengths of freezing their sperm to make sure they lived even if it was through other means that the author was trying to get across that point.
I like how you associated the main focus of the author in his idea of procreation and sperm banks with the idea that war is inhuman. I agree that what the men are doing by saving their sperm in the case they should not live through the war is not natural. If they truly did want children and wanted them to be happy they should have been thinking for the children's sake. What child wants to grow up without a father?
I really enjoyed your post i thought you brought up a good point and after reading your comment and reading the story again i better grasped the idea of what your were talking about.
I agree with you thinking that this poem was about birth. But the idea of inhuman war is insane. I was trying to figure out why the author was relating sperm banks and procreation to war, but after reading the story for a few times, I realized what the author meant.
I agree with the commment about war being inhuman. War is always that way and with the extremeities being described, inhuman is definitely a great way to describe "A Cold Coming."
I agree with you about the war being inhuman and how its full of atrocities. Also I agree with your thoughts on the difference between journalists and poets.
I agree with your interpretation of this story. I liked what you said about the poet talking about the Iraqi's words instead of the journalist. That's how i felt about it as well.
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