And from the close-packed deck, about to die 6 Looked up and saw the Birkenheads tall spars 7
Weave wavering lines across the Southern sky 8 Or in the stifling tween decks, row on row 9
At Aboukir, saw how the dead men lay 10 Charged with the fiercest in Busacos strife 11
Brave dreams are his -- the flickring lamp burns low 12 Yet couraged for the battles of the day 13
He goes to stand full face to face with life 14
1. The Analysis of the Poem “The Warrior”
In this poem, John McCrae used “He” as his narrator in his poem. “He” in this poem is a brave freshman soldier who already joined the army and he saw and
learns from the battle before that nothing but death that is after him. This poem shows us the way to sacrifice on the way to obtain something worth in our life.
The first line of this poem is talk about the life of the soldier. He was poor and his life is full of something that he might that it is a waste.
He wrought in poverty, the dull grey days
The word “Dull grey days” is used to emphasize about unpleasant situation in his life. ”Dull” is the synonym of boring, something that not
interesting or exciting. The word “grey” is a color that symbolizes something not interesting. “Dull grey days” here means that most of his life is very unpleasant
and not interesting at all. In the second line through the fourth line, we can see that there were
sudden changes when the night falls.
But with the night his little lamp-lit room was bright with battle flame, or through a haze of smoke that stung his eyes he heard the boom.
In the night his life is not boring anymore; his life is getting exciting because of the smoke, haze and flame. We learn that the soldier is very exciting
when the battle comes, he enjoy every moment when the flame torch the night. This condition was actually as same as the condition that young John
McCrae has. When war was declared in 1914, he answered Canada’s call for recruits. He felt that every man who capable must join the calls for recruitment
because it shows the loyalty of the country and as part of patriotism. John McCrae believed that a man must fight the evil wherever he encountered it. No wonder in
his life, John McCrae had been experienced many battle. And when he get older, he still shows his characteristic and his believe on
something that he knew was right. At age of forty-one, John McCrae, once again join the army as a Brigade-Surgeon, because he was too old and unpractised to
command the artillery brigade as he wished. In the fifth line through the eleventh line, we can see names that wrote by
John McCrae.
Of Bluechers guns he shared Almeidas scars. And from the close- packed deck, about to die Looked up and saw the Birkenheads tall spars weave
wavering lines across the Southern sky. Or in the stifling tween decks, row on row At Aboukir, saw how the dead men lay. Charged with the fiercest
in Busacos
strife
In the fifth line we see Bluecher and Almeida. Bluecher was one of the greatest Germany battle ships. It was also the biggest and the most harmful ships
in that time. With big placement and the massive armament, it was called as a sea monster by their enemy.
John McCrae also uses the word “Birkenhead spars”. Birkenhead or HMS Birkenhead is the name of the British Naval troopship. It was one of the first iron-
hulled, steam ships built for the Royal Navy. This ship only carried the soldier and the cavalry troops into the battle area. On 26 February 1852, while transporting
troops primarily of the 73
rd
Regiment of Foot to Algoa Bay, she was wrecked at Gansbaai near Cape Town South Africa. The story of the sinking of the
Birkenhead was described as courage to face hopeless circumstances. Almeida is a Portuguese defend fortress to protect Lisbon from the attack
of French. The fortress was also the only way to enter the Portuguese and captured Lisbon. Almeida was defended by more than 100 guns, 40 of which were
of 18-pounder or heavier caliber to stop the French enter Portuguese. In fact, the fortress could not stand to defend from the frontal attack of the French army.
In the second stanza line 10 and 11, John McCrae also use names in his poem, like Aboukir and Busaco. Aboukir, like the Birkenhead, is a name of
British naval ship. HMS Aboukir is one of ships form the British Naval Battle group. During the first month of the First World War, Aboukir encounter with
Germany submarine or U-Boat. A torpedo from the U-Boat strikes the Aboukir. Because of the damage, HMS Aboukir was sinking in ten minutes.
Busaco is a battle in the Peninsular War on 1810 in the central Portuguese. Busaco was a battle between British and Portuguese against French army of
Napoleon. This battle was describe as” carnage” because in this battle, the soldier were fight face to face using their bayonet more often than using their guns.
In the last three lines of the second stanza describe about the journey of a soldier.
Brave dreams are his the flickring lamp burns low. Yet couraged for the battles of the day he goes to stand full face to face with life.
John McCrae wanted to say that to be a good soldier, people have to stand bravely although he knows that the end of their story is about to die First thing
that we can learn being a good soldier is to fight against our biggest fear which is death. From these sentences, John McCrae tries to encourage the soldier to gain
the spirit in the battle. Form this poem, we can learn that become a soldier needs a brave
patriotism spirit and the eagerness to sacrifice. John McCrae describe his own experience to drag the soldier to be a brave soldier who has a bravery to fight and
also a firm believe about his choice to be a soldier and also an expectation that heir battle is dedicated for a new hope.
2. John McCrae’s View on War as seen in “The Warrior”
