Summary

Gift in a wartime is a heart wrenching narrative of a woman whose spouse is dead in a war. This poem shows the futility of war that brings only distress even though it is valorized by the people. It portrays a real and sad picture of the family members of a dead soldier.

In the opening verse, the speaker offers roses to be buried in the new grave of her beloved (her husband who is no more). The speaker wants to provide her wedding gown to cover his grass-covered tomb. The speaker's intense love sentiments for her lovely person are expressed in the opening stanza. She presents him with roses and her bridal attire to express her profound love and care for him.

In the second verse, she speaks of her beloved's bravery and even his prizes, which she has retained in his memory. His lovely person's military presents, such as the medals with silver stars and yellow pips on the badge, are still gleaming with pride in his valor. Nevertheless, these awards are useless because the individual who received them for courage is no longer alive.

In the third verse, she talks about her youthful days with him, and how she surrendered her youth to him as a wife. They were madly in love back then. However, when she received the dreadful news from the soldiers about her beloved's death, she also lost her youth along with her beloved. That is to say, she now had no desires and ambitions like a youth has.

In the fourth verse, she describes the inhumanity of war and its gifts to people. She tells about the smell of blood and the blood of his adversary. For her, the bloodied clothing of battle merely gives her any satisfaction and feeling of pride. She wants to make the case that conflict only le to poor outcomes for mankind. It simply encourages dread, anguish, devastation, blood, and deaths, among other things.

In the fifth stanza, she tells that the loss of her beloved has left her with the clouds in summer time and coldness in the spring when warmth and happiness should have been respectively and she believe that that will now stay forever.

In the sixth stanza, the speaker tells her missing loving person about everything she has gotten from him. Her lovely person has left her offering lips without a smile, arms without kindness, eyes without sight, and the body without mobility due to the negative effects of war. This verse has illustrated the pitiable situation of the speaker's lonely life without her loving person.

The speaker apologizes to her adored person in the final line and even pledges to meet him in their next life. She says she will keep shrapnel as a souvenir to help them both identify one other. The speaker has offered a deep meaning relating to the cruel picture of war in this context.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

Answer the following questions:

a. Who is the speaker addressing and why can that person not hear or understand what she is saying?

The speaker is addressing to the dead soldier who is her husband which is why he cannot hear her.

b . What can you infer about the speaker’s feelings for the person addressed as “you”?

I assume that speaker’s feeling for the person addressed as very emotional and deep. The various instances such as she will never forget the happy days with him and his loss will always linger in her life indicate that she is greatly depressed by his death.

c. What is the speaker’s attitude toward war?

She considers war as such an event which only brings tears and bad experience for the people who survive the effects of war.

d. In what ways do you think this person’s fate has affected the speaker?

The dead soldier is most probably her husband and the speaker is feeling miserable without him because without him her youth has become meaningless and the wonderful memory with him will only bring tears in her eyes.

e. What does the speaker promise at the end of the poem? Why do you think the speaker does this?

At the end, she promises to meet him in the next life and she will keep shrapnel that killed him as a souvenir to recognize each other. I believe she is deeply in love with him and she is not satisfied with the number of days she spent with him. She still longs for his presence. Therefore, she promises this.

REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

a. What is the theme of the poem?

The theme of the poem is the atrocity of war. The outcome of war is always dreadful both to the winning side or the losing side. The families are of the soldiers are the most affected. The outcome of war is never blissful.

b. What imagery from the poem made the greatest impression on you? Why?

The imagery of the dead soldier with no smile, hands with no tenderness and motionless body made the greatest impression on me because it is the most vibrant image of a dead body equated with the emotion of the speaker gave me Goosebumps.

c. Which figurative language is used in the poem? Explain with examples.

Figurative language is terminology that extends beyond the literal meaning of words in order to convey a message. Irony, apostrophe, anaphora, and metaphor are used as figurative language in this poetry. The poet makes extensive use of imagery and metaphors.

The title of this poem is sardonic, referring to the presents of war to mankind such as sufferings, sorrows, losses, blood, and so on.

The poet has also employed the literary device of the apostrophe, which refers to a sudden exclamatory piece of speech addressed to someone or something, especially someone or something who is not present. In this poetry, the speaker addresses an absent individual and tells him about war's inhumanity.

The recurrence of the same words at the beginning of a line is referred to as anaphora. The poet has used the identical words at the beginning of the line in the second, fourth, and sixth stanzas. These words appear three times in the sixth stanza. The poet has highlighted an irony regarding the gifts that the war and her loving person (a soldier) have offered her.

Lastly, a metaphor is a form of expression that compares two things that are not literary true. The poet has likened the clouds with her tears on hot days and icy winters with her life's springtime in this poem.

d. What does the speaker “offer” in this poem? What does the person addressed as “you” give in return?

In this poetry, the speaker delivers several gifts to her beloved. She provides roses, her wedding gown, her youth, clouds, frigid winters, and other such things. The person who addresses her as "you" hands her medals with dazzling stars, a badge with yellow pips, the scent of blood from wardress, lips without a smile, arms without affection, eyes without sight, a body without action, and so on.

e. An apostrophe is a literary device in which a writer or speaker addresses an absent person or an abstract idea in such a way as if it were present and can understand. Discuss the poem in relation to apostrophe.

"The Gifts in Wartime" is a poem on the inhumanity of war and its impact on individuals. When addressing an absent individual, the speaker makes excellent use of the apostrophe. She is utilizing her persuasive phrases for the person who is no longer alive. She makes every effort to let him understand how much she adores him. From the start to the last line, she continuously reminding the missing person of her gifts, sacrifices, lonely sentiments, helplessness, war gifts such as medals, badges, army clothes with blood, painful sensations, death, and so on. She tells him about her lonely existence, in which she has suffered greatly without him. She has even made him understand the actual reason for his death and their separation. This poem presents the speaker and her talks for the absent person as though the person is listening and comprehending all she says. Through the speaker's conversations for her absent loving person, this poem depicts the harsh reality of war on mankind.

REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT

a. One way to get relief from grief is to write or talk about it. In your opinion, how might the speaker in this poem have benefitted from saying what she did? Explain.

In this poem, the speaker has succeeded in conveying a serious message about the inhumanity of war to all of her readers. Conflict usually encourages a bleak future for everyone. The victim on the battlefield is not only the suffering, but also everyone who is near to him or her. Together with her beloved's loss, the speaker of this poem has become a victim of the war. Here, the speaker's words on her actions and sacrifices in her lonely existence may have helped her to convey her experience of war as a sufferer to all of her readers. From her sad experience, the readers gained insight into the negative repercussions of war and its long-term ramifications on humanity.

b. Write an essay on the effects of war.

Any armed confrontation between two or more governments, countries, or other recognized parties is considered a war. It can frequently end in death and devastating long-term consequences, both physically and emotionally. War is defined as the purposeful use of violence and force by two or more contending parties to achieve a certain goal or objective. War is essentially an attempt to dominate or force one's will on an opponent. These violent acts can have long-term effects, as well as important social and political ramifications.

The long-term consequences of war can vary widely depending on its length and severity. People experience a wide range of physical, psychological, and social impacts in the short term. For example, the dread of war can result in addiction, despair, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Furthermore, persons engaging in battle may face bodily agony and suffering as a result of injuries, as well as physical and mental exhaustion.

The long-term consequences of conflict are frequently far worse. Individuals are shattered, traumatized, and unable to deal with regular life as a result of war. It can impact people long after the battle is over since trauma can be handed down from generation to generation. The psychological repercussions of war can be long lasting and might include flashbacks, sadness, anxiety, nightmares, and poor social functioning.

Moreover, conflict may have terrible economic consequences. Because of the disruption created by conflict, products and services cannot be produced or transferred, resulting in a decline in total economic activity. Moreover, long-term economic harm can result from infrastructure damage, resource depletion, relocation of people and products, and agricultural and farm degradation.

People are typically emotionally touched by the loss of family members and friends, as well as being witnesses to war's crimes. This can result in serious psychological problems such as sadness, guilt, and survivor's guilt. Third, war may cause political and social unrest because leaders who lead a country into war may be viewed with suspicion or even hostility.

To summarize, while the severity and duration of war might vary, the consequences are frequently disastrous and can be felt both short and long term. War has an impact on more than just the persons involved; it may cause economic, psychological, and political turmoil. As long as war exists, its consequences will not be completely recognized and the legacy will remain with us forever.