#281-The Death Of a Soldier

In the poem, The Death of a Soldier, by Wallace Stevens, knowing who the speaker is helps understand the meaning of the poem. The speaker is not the soldier in the poem like how many war poems are, but rather the speaker is Stevens himself. He is using an unnamed and unrecognized, fictitious soldier to relate his ideas to the audience. He is writing the poem as a way to express his opinion on war, but more importantly religion. The poem has an overall tone of sadness and finality without celebration. There are numerous works of Stevens's that challenge common idea of religion in a way that appears atheistic. It is not so much that he is writing against the idea that these things actually happened, but he sometimes criticizes the ideas of the Christian faith. Knowing that Stevens has a history of atheistic views present in his writing helps the reader understand some of the references he makes in the poem. When you first look at the physical format of the poem, it appears as if there will be a structured rhyme scheme and meter. However, upon analyzing the poem I was unable to conclude any specific form. There are few words that rhyme with any other word in the poem and the pattern of the syllables yields no formal type of meter. This free verse is very representative of the poem, though. The overall message is that the soldier is laying down his life without making a big deal about it. There is no ceremony or service. These things would imply structure. Without, the poem having a formalized structure, it shows that the soldier's death also lacked the normal, structure of death.

One interesting literary device Stevens chooses to use is repetition. In the first and third stanzas, the line "As in a season of autumn." (2 and 8) is present as the second line of the stanzas. Now at first I was challenged to figure out the meaning of the repetition, but I eventually came up with a response that may seem a little unexpected because of its simplicity. I focused on the type of season autumn is. To me, it is the ending of summer, the ending of warm weather and sunny days. It is the transition to the cold darkness of winter. In my mind, fall is the unrecognized and undistinguished season. Instead of people seeing fall as still offering some warm days, many see fall as the ushering in of winter. It is almost as if fall is blamed for being the precursor to the worst season. And you can say I'm looking too into things, but if you think about it fall is a lonely set of three months. For example, there is no major holiday or event that occurs in the fall. Now some could argue that Thanksgiving takes place, but that is only an American holiday. Around the world you have Christmas in winter, Easter in spring, and just the joy that summer is here during summer, but there is no celebration of fall. This portrays the soldier perfectly. He is just another soldier laying down his life without a big deal being made about it. This presents a sad view of the futility of war because his life is valuable, but is not being recognized. Perhaps the most important and obvious device used in the poem are the biblical allusions. Stevens writes, "He does not become a three-days personage" (4). This is a direct reference to the death of Christ. Christ died and rose again three days later. For many Christians, those three days before Easter are very solemn and filled with ceremony. This is where the atheistic tone is present in the poem. Stevens takes a shot at Christianity saying that Christ died and everyone makes a huge deal about it. He is not saying that a big deal shouldn't be made, but does not see how it is fair that the dead soldier can so easily be forgotten. Stevens argues that Christ was supposed to come and die for all of us, but it seems a bit ironic that Christ receives all the big to-do while many people he was supposed to save just die. They die alone and are not recognized. Stevens wonders where the love of the soldier's life is.

This poem was intriguing in many different aspects. Stevens is making quite a big statement in the poem. I can't agree with his views on the irony of people celebrating Christ in ceremony, but I can see his argument on behalf of the unknown soldier. Is it too much for all of us to expect some sort of recognition of our lives when we die? I don't think it is too much. It deeply saddens me that the soldier just gives up his life and does not receive any recognition. I thought Stevens has a creative message about war. He is obviously against it, but it is in a more subtle way that he expresses his feelings. He is able to delve into the religiousness (or lack thereof) of the lack of recognition for the average soldier. It was a simple poem, that held a complex message.