the Irish have had for centuries, living in a war zone: "Men die at hand. In blasted street and home/The gelignite's a common sound effect." The speaker has become enamored with term "gelignite," using it liberally throughout his reportage.The speaker dramatizes the socialistic nature of the bunch and manages to fling off a reconstituted cliché "Long sucking the hind tit/Cold as a witch's and as hard to swallow/Still leaves us fork-tongued on the border bit."
from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Heaney's Hugging Destiny
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In the second quatrain, the speaker insists that nothing can erase "The living record of your memory." The poem's memory is permanent; even though "wasteful war" may "overturn" "statues" and "broils root out the work of masonry." The poem is ethereal and once written remains a permanent record written on memory.
"The living record" includes more than just parchment and ink; it includes the power of thought that is born in each mind.
from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Shakespeare Sonnet 55
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There will, in fact, be much pomp and tribute dedicated to this fallen soldier, and his personage will swell well past "the three days." Thus, the nihilistic portrayal of the unsung hero is negated in the reader's mind by the end of the second verse paragraph. So the speaker has to bounce back somehow. How can he do that?
from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Stevens' 'The Death of a Soldier'
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