The Horses :: Literary Analysis, Muir

Read the following verse form by Edwin Muir from The Faber Book of Beasts (pp.11920). Then write a short essay of no more than 600 lecture explaining what the poem is about and consider whether you think the poem is more traditional or dissenting. The first part of this essay will analyse the meaning of the poem called The Horses, written be Edwin Muir. Initially it would be useful to understand what is meant by traditional and dissenting. Traditional of, relating, or being tradition,(E. Dictionary, 2006). Dissenting to have a departure or withhold assent, (E. Dictionary, 2006).Muir, came from an isolated place and lived around two realness wars, (b. May 15, 1887, Deerness, Orkney, Scot..d Jan. 3, 1959, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, Eng), (Encyclopedia, Britannica, 2010). It is a tempting thought that living on a lone(a) island and through two world wars, heavily influenced him for the poem. Edwin Muirs poem The Horses tells the story of a devastating war on mankind, perhaps tha t of a nuclear war, that has left the world on the brink of extinction, Barely a twelve month after The sevensome days war that put the world to sleep, (Assignment, Book, 2008). Muirs poem could be seen to parallel Genesis(Old Testament),(Encyclopedia, Britannica, 2010). A good example of religious connotation of words, the seven days war, covenant, Eden and servitude, in the beginning and our father, (Assignment, Book, 2008). When, Muir uses the word piled in the sentence Dead bodies piled on the deck, (Assignment, Book, 2008), One has the brain that the poet wants to show the reader of the depth of disregard for the dead in the poem. It also clearly emphasises the chaos and destruction that the war has brought upon man and that there was no m for the simplest of burials. Muir, in being rhetorical, is showing that the survivors need for a simpler life a purer life away from the existence of a technology driven society that caused the seven days war. The poem shows a strong se nse of irony with, Our life is changed their coming our beginning. (Assignment Book, 2008).Muir, has used alliteration and this can be seen in the repeated f in, far past our fathers land, reinforces how much man has changed and returned to a past way of life and possibly a rhyme for forefathers when reduced to far...fathers, (Assignment, Book, 2008).