The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner
By Randall Jarrell
From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
Summary of The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner
- Popularity of “The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner”: Written by a writer, literary critic, essayist, and poet, Randal Jarrell, this brief poem first appeared in 1945. The poet presents the pen picture and horrible feelings of a gunner packed in the belly of an American bomber during WWII. The poem happens to appear at the moment when this issue has become highly pressing for the dying gunners demonstrating their grit when stuck in the little space they were put into.
- “The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner” As a Representative of Horrors of War: Although written in the first person, the poem shows as if the poet himself has experienced staying in that little space to be a gunner. It shows that the gunner’s feelings are exactly as if he has fallen into the lap of the State, or the United States, to become a gunner. This coming out of the mother’s sleep shows how the speaker sits in the belly of the bomber hunched. He experiences the dream of his life, watching falling fighters and targeting fighters. However, the end, he points out, is quite horrible that if he dies there in the belly of the bomber, his dead body is washed out with a hose.
- Major Themes in “The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner”: Institutionalized barbarism, horrors of war, and morality are major thematic strands of the poem. Although the first-person speaker has not directly pointed out how he has become a victim of this violence, it is clear that his action of hunching into the belly of the bomber is akin to his being in the belly of his mother. That is where he dreams and sees fighters going down. This also shows how the horrors of war result in the death of the same speaker who knows that his dead body would be stuck in that belly and that a hose would be used to take his dead body out of the turret. It also shows that morality has died and that at least a hero should have some good space when going to his Creator or some good funeral rites when dying.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner
Randall Jarrell used various literary devices to impact the audience of his poem beautifully. Some of the major literary devices he uses here are as follows.
- Allusion: It means to refer to some event or figure of cultural or historical or literary significance. The poet alluded to the United States directly and to WWII indirectly.
- Alliteration: This literary device shows the use of initial consonants in consecutive words. For example, the sound /f/ is repeated in the initials of “fur froze.”
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e/ in “Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life” and the sound of /e/ and /o/ in “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /r / in “I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters” and the sound of /d/ and /m/ in “Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Randall Jarrell used imagery in this poem, such as “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State”, “And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze” and “Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet used the metaphor of the womb to show his position in the belly of the bomber.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols such as belly, fur, life, death, and turret to show the horrors of war.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The Death of The Ball Turret Gunner
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal and poetic diction.
- End Rhyme: It means to use verses having matching end words. Randall Jarrell shows the use of end rhyme, such as froze/hose.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This is a single-stanza poem, having five verses.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows a nightmarish, terrible, and disgusting tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the horrors of a gunner.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.
