What is the poem the raiders by Marian Allen about?

Answer 1

'The Raiders' comes from a small 63page book of poems 'The Wind on the Downs' published by A.l.Humphreys in 1918.The poem was written on April 29th 1917 and is about the excitement of a night bombing raid on German lines. Ironically,the man Marian was to marry,Captain Arthur Tylston Greg who flew a DH4 bomber had been shot down over St.Quentin (his grave is in Jussy civilian cemetry) on April 23rd but Marian had not yet heard the news. When she knew,on May2nd,she wrote 'To A.T.G.' which refers to Arthur as "a true unflinching warrior of the air.

The basic theme of the poem is the freshness and excitement of air warfare which was often seen as rather chivalric,allowing scope for individual personality as opposed to the soulless mechanistic Horror of trench warfare where men could be,and were,wiped out en masse by shells and machine guns.

'Studded with a thousand eyes' the brightness of the starry sky through which they fly a contrast with 'the desolation' of the battlefied(this contrast between the freedom of the air and the misery of the earth -bound battlefied is the basis of the whole poem.

'Bat-like wings' adds to the night imagery and is also an accurate description of part of the wing of a French 'Caudron' plane on which Arthur trained. Incidentally,he did not feel that it handled as well as British planes.

'Stay and wire' If you look at a picture of a bi-plane you'll see that the two wings are joined by stays and wire,an essential part of the structure. ' The wind'suggests freshness but 'moans and wines' strikes a sinister note, added to by 'stings of death', the bombs which the planes will drop. It also,of course suggests the strains on the plane's structure. 'Throb'gives the noise of the engine and also suggests excitement,a heart beating with emotion,the plane is almost a living organism bent on 'Adventure' with 'thrilled expectant breath'.

Note the contrast between the freedom of the air into which theand the pilots 'rise untrammelled' and the earth and battlefield 'battle-bound'. The pilots seem to have 'risen' above death and the world of 'the lonely dead'. Their courage and sense of determination is suggested by 'unflinching' which is furthered by the image of the arrow which also links the pilots to the world of medieval wars and 'Adventure'.

'Uncharted roadway of the skies' is both a reminder of how new flight was and a reinforcement of the feeling of 'Adventure':the pilots are pioneers (the astronauts of 1917) venturing into a new world.

Incidentally, both Marian and Arthur were young(Arthur was 22 when he died) and death seemed impossible. In another moving poem written after Arthur's death she holds the silver'dog-tag' with R.F.C.(Royal Flying Corps) written on it and remembers how proud she was when she first saw it: "As when it slipped beneath your sleeve/That Sunday on a short day's leave...........That evening neither of us knew/I had no fears of death for you."

If you've not already done so please read Marian's most famous poem now known as 'The Wind on the Downs' which tells of a towpath walk in Oxford(Marian was living in Woodstock road when she met Arthur and like Marian's brother,he was studying Law at New College

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What is the poem the raiders by Marian Allen about

Answer 2

'The Raiders' comes from a small 63page book of poems 'The Wind on the Downs' published by A.l.Humphreys in 1918.The poem was written on April 29th 1917 and is about the excitement of a night bombing raid on German lines. Ironically,the man Marian was to marry,Captain Arthur Tylston Greg who flew a DH4 bomber had been shot down over St.Quentin (his grave is in Jussy civilian cemetry) on April 23rd but Marian had not yet heard the news. When she knew,on May2nd,she wrote 'To A.T.G.' which refers to Arthur as "a true unflinching warrior of the air. The basic theme of the poem is the freshness and excitement of air warfare which was often seen as rather chivalric,allowing scope for individual personality as opposed to the soulless mechanistic horror of trench warfare where men could be,and were,wiped out en masse by shells and machine guns. 'Studded with a thousand eyes' the brightness of the starry sky through which they fly a contrast with 'the desolation' of the battlefied(this contrast between the freedom of the air and the misery of the earth -bound battlefied is the basis of the whole poem. 'Bat-like wings' adds to the night imagery and is also an accurate description of part of the wing of a French 'Caudron' plane on which Arthur trained. Incidentally,he did not feel that it handled as well as British planes. 'Stay and wire' If you look at a picture of a bi-plane you'll see that the two wings are joined by stays and wire,an essential part of the structure. ' The wind'suggests freshness but 'moans and whines' strikes a sinister note, added to by 'stings of death', the bombs which the planes will drop. It also,of course suggests the strains on the plane's structure. 'Throb'gives the noise of the engine and also suggests excitement,a heart beating with emotion,the plane is almost a living organism bent on 'Adventure' with 'thrilled expectant breath'. Note the contrast between the freedom of the air into which the pilots 'rise untrammelled' and the earth and battlefield 'battle-bound'. The pilots seem to have 'risen' above death and the world of 'the lonely dead'. Their courage and sense of determination is suggested by 'unflinching' which is furthered by the image of the arrow which also links the pilots to the world of medieval wars and 'Adventure'. 'Uncharted roadway of the skies' is both a reminder of how new flight was and a reinforcement of the feeling of 'Adventure':the pilots are pioneers (the astronauts of 1917) venturing into a new world. Incidentally, both Marian and Arthur were young(Arthur was 22 when he died) and death seemed impossible. In another moving poem written after Arthur's death she holds the silver'dog-tag' with R.F.C.(Royal Flying Corps) written on it and remembers how proud she was when she first saw it: "As when it slipped beneath your sleeve/That Sunday on a short day's leave...........That evening neither of us knew/I had no fears of death for you." If you've not already done so please read Marian's most famous poem now known as 'The Wind on the Downs' which tells of a towpath walk in Oxford(Marian was living in Woodstock road when she met Arthur and like Marian's brother,he was studying Law at New College