Poem Analysis: Arms and The Boy

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Arms and the Boy:
Let the boy try along this bayonet-blade How cold steel is, and keen with hunger of blood; Blue with all malice, like a madman's flash; And thinly drawn with famishing for flesh.
Lend him to stroke these blind, blunt bullet-heads Which long to muzzle in the hearts of lads. Or give him cartridges of fine zinc teeth, Sharp with the sharpness of grief and death.
For his teeth seem for laughing round an apple.
There lurk no claws behind his fingers supple;
And God will grow no talons at his heels,
Nor antlers through the thickness of his curls.


Analysis:
This poem tries to bring out the cruelty of war through the destruction of innocence in a young boy. This poem has 3 stanzas, each stanza consisting 4 lines, with strict rhyme scheme. This restricted poem style brings out how the boy has lost his initial carefree innocence.

The setting is one of the boy stroking his weapons. Through this episode where the poet personifies the weapons, we can see how the boy has already become obsessed with these weapons of destruction.

The point of view is spoken in a third-person point of view. This shows how one is already unable to comprehend the boy’s obsession with the weapons, and how cruel a person he has turned into. Therefore, this poem is written not in first person point of view of the boy, but instead a third person observation of his incomprehensible behavior.

The language used in the poem is very effective in conveying the poet’s theme. One must note that there is much personification in the poem of the weapons - “steel...keen with hunger of blood”, “bullet-heads...long to muzzle in the hearts of lads”. All these serve to convey the theme that war is cruel. The gruesome imagery painted in the poem by the diction such as “malice”, “madman”, “death”, “famishing” totally contrast with the innocent and naive characteristics a young boy should have. The thought that such a young boy totally changes into a “madman” who strokes his weapons, “famishing” for “death” once he is sent into the battlefield, gains our sympathy for him, as well as arouse our hatred towards war - a cruel place.

Furthermore, there is also clever use of alliteration in the third and fourth line: “madman’s flash...famishing for flesh”. The harsh pronunciation of the letter “f” when being read emphasizes the cruelty and inhumanity of such thoughts by the boy. Also, the alliteration is deliberately put on these words precisely because they depict cruel images - “famishing for flesh”. The alliteration gives them an extra emphasizes and highlight. Another alliteration can be seen in the 1st line of stanza 2 - “blind blunt bullet”. Again the harsh pronunciation of the letter “b” brings emphasis to the cruelty of such weapons of murder. Indeed, the bullets just kill whoever they see - they have no target, or even any mercy.

The last two lines were especially well-written - “And God will grow no talons at his heels, nor antlers through the thickness of his curls”. Indeed, God did not design us, when we were born, to have “talons” and “antlers”, which are weapons of killing. They are symbols of inhumanity and violence, and the by making this link, the poet instill in us the idea that war is violent and inhumane. War is also meaningless - we were made to live in peace, yet now in this war where humans fight each other, even young boys lose their innocence, and turn into madman obsessed with weapons of destruction.

It may seem impossible, yet actually not difficult to empathize with the young boy in the poem. In a war, death is such a common thing, that the young boy is already numbed with these images and scenes. In fact, he is obsessed with weapons of destructions precisely because in a war, the only way one can defend his own life is to kill others.

The last two lines of the poem really do conclude my analysis. Life is created to live, work and play in peace, especially when we are young, we should play and live in innocence and harmony. However, this poem depicts a true but harsh reality of what war is like - soldiers have to constantly fight for their lives and even young boys are being conscripted into war, where they have to carry weapons of murder at such a young age and see images of death, blood and murder everywhere. Such traumatizing scenes has totally changed them into madmen who love their weapons, because its the only thing that can make them survive.

This poem has succeeded in making us sympathizing with young boy and his plight. Indeed, war is so cruel and inhumane. This quote summarizes my thoughts: “War is a novelty only to those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded”.