The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner free essay sample

The paper analyzes the poem The Death of the Ball Turrett Gunner by American poet Randall Jarrell. An analysis of the poem The Death of the Ball Turrett Gunner by Randall Jarrell about a plane gunner and his death in battle. The paper covers areas such as denotation and connotation, imagery, literary techniques, symbols, irony and tone of the poem. Flak, nightmare and woke are words especially well chosen. Flak in the poem refers to flak from machine-gun fire but the word flak also has a second meaning of criticism. This double meaning implies that he is disliked with the actual flak a product of this dislike. Jarrell then describes the fighters shooting at the gunner as nightmare fighters. The word nightmare on one level means terrible but on another links to the feeling of the complete terror in a nightmare. This double meaning gives an insight into the gunners fear. We will write a custom essay sample on The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The word woke also has important connotations. While the denotation to wake is important, it also implies a greater significance in the connotation meaning becoming aware of. The woke then means not only that he woke up but also that he realized something.