Annotations
Poem Annotations
Sonnet
By John Buxton
I saw men’s homes burst into sudden flower
Of crimson petals round each golden shell.
I listened to the whining bombs that fell
And felt the hard earth tremble at their power.
I saw bewildered eyes that hour by hour
Had peered through rifle sights. I heard men tell
How many rounds they fired. I learned, the smell
Of cattle burning in the byres is sour.
So much war taught me. And, when I return,
Because I did not cower nor shirk the fight,
But took a little part in this mad play,
Because I too have helped to kill, wreak, burn-
“You did your duty, helped defend the right,
You too were brave,” some poor, blind fool will say.
Imagery - communicates the horrors of the war
by clearly giving a picture of the dreadful war
conditions.
Metaphor - This metaphor activates the
reader's imagination from the word flower to
suggest that war has beauty and brutality, and
also compares the destruction caused by the
bombs to the flower.
Personification - This adds life and relatability to
the sounds of terror from war.
Juxtaposition - expresses the differences of the
hard earth trembling from the bombs.
Enjambment - Adds tension to emphasise the
visceral impact of the war on the soldiers.
Alliteration - draws attention with a rhythmic
flow that proclaims how formidable war is.
Repetition - emphasises the point of view of the
soldier on these events.
Metaphor - It tells us that the leaders were the
so-called “puppet masters" controlling all the
soldiers.
Tricolon - conveys the strong message of the
soldiers that were affected by killing, and
others may still see them as heroes.
Irony - expresses the way our society values
violence, fighting, and the bravery of the
soldiers and ignores the human cost of war, the
killing, and the trauma from war.
Symbolism - expresses the double meaning of
the crimson petals being the colour red,
symbolising the blood
Personal Pronouns - make the text seem
intended directly for the audience, making it
more personal and giving the message of the
bad conditions experienced by soldiers, a
more deep impact.
Rhyme - adds fluency to send the message of
war to the reader.
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