Literary genres: Poetry

I Sing the Battle                                                            

By Harry Kemp

I SING the song of the great clean guns that belch forth death at will.

"Ah, but the wailing mothers, the lifeless forms and still!"

I sing the song of the billowing flags, the bugles that cry before.

"Ah, but the skeletons flapping rags, the lips that speak no more!"

I sing the clash of bayonets, of sabres that flash and cleave.

"And wilt thou sing the maimed ones, too, that go with pinnedup sleeve?"

I sing acclaimed generals that bring the victory home.

"Ah, but the broken bodies that drip like honey-comb!"

I sing of hosts triumphant, long ranks of marching men.

"And wilt thou sing the shadowy hosts that never march again?"

What makes it a poem

What makes different poetry from other genres is the way sentences are organized, when writing a poem it is necessary to write several verses in stanzas. The main idea of a poem is to express feelings by using different figurative language that catches the audience’s attention. There are several techniques of figurative language: onomatopoeia, alliteration, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, idioms and personification. A good poem must have at least one or two of these.

In the “I sing the battle” by Harry Kemp’s case, we can find three of them: personification, simile and alliteration.

PERSONIFICATION: “great clean guns that belch forth death at will.” This verse is an example of personification because the author presents the guns as beings that can belch, action that does not happen in real life. The same case with “the bugles that cry before.” In this case bugles can cry but it does not happen in real life. The author puts in this way in order to catch audience’s attention by showing how difficult the battle is.

SIMILE: "Ah, but the broken bodies that drip like honey-comb!" in this case, the other uses like in order to compare the broken bodies with the honey-comp, referring to the blood from those bodies.

ALLITERATION: “I SING the song, broken bodies, marching men.” The author repeats the initial letters in these verses, considered as a poetic device to catch audience’s attention.

This poem by Kemp is a clear example of what makes poetry; it has several elements that are important when inspiring ourselves writing verses.