Break of Day in the Trenches by Isaac Rosenberg - 950 Words

This poem was written about and during the time of World War 1 from the perspective of Isaac Rosenberg. The poem is actually quite straightforward and simple despite its perplexing lines, and contains few allusions. One of the preeminent allusions was the one referring to the poppy. When he said, â€Å"As I pull the parapet’s poppy† (5), he was referencing the symbolism of the poppy which during the time of WW1 was the symbol of the war dead because it had a tendency to sprout up among the corpses of the fallen soldiers. By using the double meaning of the poppy Rosenberg was perhaps hinting at the inevitable death that awaited him and his comrades. The second allusion comes forth from the rat, which is observed throughout the poem. The poem†¦show more content†¦These tools help the flow of the poem. One tool he uses is long ‘e’ vowel sounds and internal rhyme, or slant rhyme. An example of slant rhyme in the poem can be found in line 12 due to th e pairing of the two words, â€Å"sleeping green† which is referring to the No Man’s Land that separated the opposing trenches of the English and the French during World War 1. These tools add on to the slow, drowsy feeling the poem emits. Rosenberg is a master of tone and creates a poem full of resignation, philosophical ideas, and death. This feeling is heightened by the words he uses, such as: crumbles, sardonic, droll, sleeping, torn, and still heavens. To create the overall feeling of the poem Rosenberg used personification to give humanistic qualities to the rat saying it to have, â€Å"cosmopolitan sympathies† (8). Personification is found numerous times between lines 4 and 19 regarding the rat and in line 17 the tool of personification is used to depict the graves of the dead soldiers as, â€Å"the bowels of the earth.† Personification is what the whole poem was based on because the base of the poem revolves around the rat and the characteristi cs that the poet muses it has. He also uses alliteration in line 5 when he wrote â€Å"parapet’s poppy†. The consonant sounds help add on to the slow pace of the poem. Then using metonymy in line 9 he references the entire English army by using one small part, â€Å"this EnglishShow MoreRelatedThe Murder Of Mankind By Isaac Rosenberg971 Words   |  4 Pagesand revealed the insanity and futility of war. Isaac Rosenberg was a recognised poet who revealed the hidden truth; he was a soldier who joined war in 1960, however, unlike others, he came from a Jewish, working class background which differed him from other well-known First World War poets. 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