The Battle of Blenheim

1
The Battle of Blenheim
2
What can we see in this picture?
3
Famous victories

• How many wars can you name? How many war heroes
  or war stories can you think of?

4
Context

• Robert Southey wrote it in 1798 looking back to
  1704 when the Duke of Marlborough defeated the
  French and Austrians.
• In 1798, Southey wanted to avoid another war with
  France. However, the Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815)
  saw Britain and France fight in many battles with
  thousands dying.

5
Story of the poem

• Old Kaspar is a peasant who lives on the former
  battlefield. His grandchild finds a skull and ask
  what it is. Kaspar tells him about the war and
  how thousands died in the fields. Although he
  knows it was a famous victory, Kaspar cannot tell
  his grandchild what good came from the war.

6
Ballad

• The poem is a ballad. This is a narrative (story)
  which has a simple rhyming style, concise action
  and dialogue.

7
Rhythm

• There is a regular rhythm to the poem. It sounds
  upbeat and almost jolly. This is helped by
• a regular number of syllables in alternate lines
  (between six and eight)
• Rhyming words at the end of each line with a
  regular rhyme pattern in each stanza (abcbdd)
• regular emphasis on the final rhyming word
• Rhyming couplet at the end of each stanza
• Repetition of a variation of the last line of
  stanzas 3-6 and 8-11.

What is strange or interesting about a war poem
with such a childlike rhythm?
8
The children

• Peterkin is expectant.
• Wilhelmine has wonder-waiting eyes.
• Peterkin asks what had he found?
• He wants to know what was the war about?
• Wilhelmine is curious to know what they fought
  each other for?
• Peterkin wants to know what good came of the war?
• Wilhelmine says twas a very wicked thing!

• Southey chooses to use children in the poem. What
  is the effect of including them?

9
Contrast

• It was a summer evening,
• Old Kaspars work was done,
• And he before his cottage door
• Was sitting in the sun,
• And by him sported on the green,
• His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
• She saw her brother Peterkin
• Roll something large and round,
• Which he beside the rivulet
• In playing there had found
• He came to ask what he had found,
• That was so large, and smooth, and round.

• With fire and sword the country round
• Was wasted far and wide,
• And many a childing mother then,
• And new-born baby died
• But things like that, you know, must be
• At every famous victory.
• They say it was a shocking sight
• After the field was won
• For many thousand bodies here
• Lay rotting in the sun
• But things like that, you know, must be
• After a famous victory.

10
Contrast
The metaphorical warmth of the family is evoked
by the literal warmth of the sun
The smallness of the rivulet helps to complete
the romantic picture and its size contrasts with
the huge scale of the horrors of war.
Summer makes us think of peace, warmth and
tranquillity. The poem starts with a warm
pastoral image.

• It was a summer evening,
• Old Kaspars work was done,
• And he before his cottage door
• Was sitting in the sun,
• And by him sported on the green,
• His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
• She saw her brother Peterkin
• Roll something large and round,
• Which he beside the rivulet
• In playing there had found
• He came to ask what he had found,
• That was so large, and smooth, and round.

• With fire and sword the country round
• Was wasted far and wide,
• And many a childing mother then,
• And new-born baby died
• But things like that, you know, must be
• At every famous victory.
• They say it was a shocking sight
• After the field was won
• For many thousand bodies here
• Lay rotting in the sun
• But things like that, you know, must be
• After a famous victory.

The image of the cottage is a romantic one the
peasants life is simple but one of emotional
warmth. We are minded of a family portrait with
grandfather observing his grandchildren at play.
The word little helps to emphasise the childs
innocence.
The boys innocence (and lack of knowledge of the
horrors of the world, e.g. death) is suggested by
the vagueness of something.
The repetition of vocabulary is childlike. We are
positioned as the child we see the world through
his eyes as we dont yet know what he has found.
11
Contrast
The image of the mother and baby here helps us to
see war as destructive of both the present and
the future. It powerfully evokes the death of
innocence
Fire and sword are here used as the symbols
of war. They represent destruction, death and
horror.
Wasted is an emotively charged word. It
conjures an image of a land raped of any use,
purpose and dignity. It shows both the futility
of war and its power to destroy.

• It was a summer evening,
• Old Kaspars work was done,
• And he before his cottage door
• Was sitting in the sun,
• And by him sported on the green,
• His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
• She saw her brother Peterkin
• Roll something large and round,
• Which he beside the rivulet
• In playing there had found
• He cam to ask what he had found,
• That was so large, and smooth, and round.

• With fire and sword the country round
• Was wasted far and wide,
• And many a childing mother then,
• And new-born baby died
• But things like that, you know, must be
• At every famous victory.
• They say it was a shocking sight
• After the field was won
• For many thousand bodies here
• Lay rotting in the sun
• But things like that, you know, must be
• After a famous victory.

Whether he believes this or not, Kaspar is
resigned to the inevitability of death and
destruction. War kills.
There are similar sounds in this stanza helped by
the assonance of shocking and rotting and the
alliteration in the first line. Combined, they
give greater resonance to the horrendous image of
death.
Rotting reduces the dead men to carrion. An
emotive, vivid word, it shows how war not only
takes away life but dignity and humanity.
12
Myth

• who fell in the great victory
• were slain in the great victory
• but everybody said quoth he that twas a
  famous victory
• but things like that, you know, must be at every
  famous victory
• but things like that, you know, must be after a
  famous victory.
• Naynaymy little girl quoth he, it was a
  famous victory.
• And everybody praised the Duke who this great
  fight did win.
• But twas a famous victory.

• War stories are handed down from generation to
  generation. We can all recall famous battles and
  some of the people involved. War creates heroes
  and generals are seen as significant historical
  figures. The reality and horror of war can
  sometimes be forgotten in the wave of patriotism,
  hero worship and war stories. In some cases, the
  way we remember wars is far removed from actually
  happened. How do Kaspar and Southey view the
  Battle of Blenheim differently?

13
Futility

• But what they fought each other for,
• I could not well make out.
• Why that I cannot tell said he
• But twas a famous victory.

• Kaspar cannot tell his grandchildren why the war
  was fought or what happened as a result of it.
  Southey is suggesting that war is pointless. How
  effective does he get this message across?