(Marie Kim)English Project

English Fina l project By Marie Kim

Channel Firing

Channe l Firing is a poem writte n in .the be g inning s of the g re at war

Many people have enjoyed this poem e ve r s ince it was writte n for its

. s imple me ssag e and truth

My Reading of the Poem That night your great guns, unawares,Shook all our coffins as we lay,And broke the chancel window-squares,We thought it was the Judgement-day

And sat upright. While drearisomeArose the howl of wakened hounds:The mouse let fall the altar-crumb,The worms drew back into their mounds,

The glebe-cow drooled. Till God called, “No;It's gunnery practice out at seaJust as before you went below;The world is as it used to be:

All nations striving strong to makeRed war yet redder. Mad as hattersThey do no more for Christés sakeThan you that are helpless in such matters.

That this is not the judgement-hourFor some of them's a blessed thing,

For if it were they'd have to scourHell's floor for so much threatening...

Ha, ha. It will be warmer whenI blow the trumpet (if indeedI ever do; for you are men,And rest eternal sorely needed).'

So down we lay again. `I wonder,Will the world ever saner be,'Said one, `than when He sent us underIn our indifferent century!'

And many a skeleton shook his head.`Instead of preaching forty year,'My neighbor Parson Thirdly said,`I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.'

Again the guns disturbed the hour,Roaring their readiness to avenge,As far inland as Stourton Tower,And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.

Vocab tha t may be needed to know the contents That night your great guns, unawares,Shook all our coffins as we lay,And broke the chancel window-squares,We thought it was the Judgement-day

And sat upright. While drearisomeArose the howl of wakened hounds:The mouse let fall the altar-crumb,The worms drew back into their mounds,

The glebe-cow drooled. Till God called, “No;It's gunnery practice out at seaJust as before you went below;The world is as it used to be:

All nations striving strong to makeRed war yet redder. Mad as hattersThey do no more for Christés sakeThan you that are helpless in such matters.

That this is not the judgement-hourFor some of them's a blessed thing,For if it were they'd have to scourHell's floor for so much threatening...

Ha, ha. It will be warmer whenI blow the trumpet (if indeedI ever do; for you are men,And rest eternal sorely needed).'

So down we lay again. `I wonder,Will the world ever saner be,'Said one, `than when He sent us underIn our indifferent century!'

And many a skeleton shook his head.`Instead of preaching forty year,'My neighbor Parson Thirdly said,`I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.'

Again the guns disturbed the hour,Roaring their readiness to avenge,As far inland as Stourton Tower,And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.

:Chance l:Chance l The front are a of The front are a of

the church the church

- : Glebe cow- : Glebe cow a cow put out on to a cow put out on to

pas ture on church land pas ture on church land :Stourton Tower :Stourton Tower a towe r in a towe r in

, Wiltshire built, Wiltshire built in the honor of in the honor of

’ Alfre d s vic tory’ Alfre d s vic tory ove r the Dane s ove r the Dane s( )in UK( )in UK

:Came lot:Came lot

’ King Arthur s ’ King Arthur s,court,court

a le g endary a le g endary capital capital

:Stonehenge:Stonehenge myste rious myste rious

c irc le of huge c irc le of huge s tone s made s tone s made

by prehis toric by prehis toric people in people in

EuropeEurope

Summary of Poem• The re is gunfire in the BritishChanne l

, In a country church the de ad were woken be cause of the loud, noise and the y think that it is .the ir de ath day again

• God te lls the de ad that it is anothe r war

The dead lay down to re s t again and wonde r when the world w ill . s top fighting

Poetry Devices Used• Allus ion

rhyme

• tone

• me taphor

image ry

• figurative language

pe rsonification

Allus ion , , A re fe r e n ce to a h is tor ica l m yth ica l

, , , p la ce e ve n t m ovem en t or a h is tor ica l p e r son

The Last Stanza

Again the guns disturbed the hour,Roaring their readiness to avenge,As far inland as Stourton Tower,And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.

Stourton Tower- historicalCamelot- Mythical

Stonehenge- prehistoric

-Rhyme

That night your great guns, unawares,Shook all our coffins as we lay,And broke the chancel window-squares,We thought it was the Judgement-day

e xample one

2 3Example &

And many a skeleton shook his head.`Instead of preaching forty year,'My neighbor Parson Thirdly said,`I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.'

Again the guns disturbed the hour,Roaring their readiness to avenge,As far inland as Stourton Tower,And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.

-Tone The voice of the poem

The tone of Channe l Firing is obvious ly sad the y conve y this fe e ling and voice w ith a lot

.of e xample s

1Example

4s tanza- All nations s triving s trong to

make red war ye t redde r

means that all the means that all the nations of the s tart of nations of the s tart of

1 World war was 1 World war was prepared to kill e ach prepared to kill e achothe rothe r

2Example

My neighbor Parson Thirdly said,`I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.'

...fille d w ith re g re t for ...fille d w ith re g re t for

3 Example

Just as before you went below;The world is as it used to be

Figura tive Language

“ , Making red war ye tre dde r”

e xample one

This bas ically means that

the y are making a

, bloody warbloodie r

2exampleThe mouse let fall the altar-crumb,The worms drew back into their mounds,

Th is ju s t e xp la in s th a t t h e gun fir e wa s loud e r th a n

a noth e r for th e a n im a ls to be shocke d

Personifica tion

Roaring their readiness to avenge

Guns do not re ady to Guns do not re ady to, ’ avenge that s jus t, ’ avenge that s jus t

g iving it a human g iving it a humancharacte ris ticcharacte ris tic

Imagery

, As you re ad this poem you can suddenly he ar gun fire and you can

pic ture a night whe re all pe ace was...disrupte d

?Why

Imagery

Hardy touche s mos tly upon one of , .the s ix sense s which is sound

e xample sArose the howl of wakened hounds

I blow the trumpet

the guns disturbed the hour

Thomas Hardy• Hardy was the son of a mason

and s tudie d archite c ture

• He also be gan to write fic tion and published many books such

as The Re turn of the Native

, Afte r he marrie d his w ife .encouraged him to write poe try

•

• Hardy had always pre fe rred , poe try anyway and he published

. quite a few poe try books too

• Some of his books ne ve r got published be cause it was too

s imple and controve rs ial

’ Unders tanding Hardy s Style• Hardy te nded to write poems or s torie s about the re ality of human nature and and analys is

.of the human condition

His writing s tyle was ve ry, s imple but conve yed the

.meaning s we ll

• He also wrote a lot of war. poems Most of them have

, diffe re nt ide as so the re is no- .c le ar cut opinion of war

Main Point of the Poem

The main point of this poem is show ing how /s tupid mankind is to have fights wars

,It also te lls the truth of war of how horrible it is

Reference, . " Webste r Loren In a Dark... ." Tim The Eye Beg ins to se e

2001 . 20 2009 <Jan:// . . / _ _ _ /2001/10 /09 / - /http www lorenwebs te r ne t In a Dark Time channe l firing

> . , . " ." Smith Ke ith Thomas Hardy

2001 . . . 20 unive rsalte ache r org 2009 <Jan:// . . . / / .http www unive rsalte ache r org uk poe try hardy htm

> .

Link to visua l presenta tion

:// . . / 13http kisdigg e seng lish w ikispace s com Mariek

visua l two

1 s ince the s t visual was too, :short I made anothe r visual D