After Blenheim by Robert Southey

After Blenheim by Robert Southey Annotation and Summary Notes.

1. AFTER BLENHEIM Robert Southey

2. ANNOTATION

3. Annotate the following: 1. “why that I cannot tell,” said he, “but ‘twas a famous victory.” (OR) 2. He came to ask what he had found That was so large & smooth & round. (OR) 3. “Tis some poor fellow’s skull,” said he, “who fell in the great victory.” (OR) 4. “Now tell us all about the war, And what they fought each other for.” (0R) 5. For many thousand bodies here Lay rotting in the sun:

4. Reference: The above lines are taken from the poem ‘After Blenheim’ written by Robert Southey, an English poet belonged to the Romantic school of thought. Context: Peterkin & his sister, wilhelmine, find a large & round object while playing by the river side. Peterkin is rolling the object. He takes it to Kaspar & asks what it is. Kaspar’s grandchildren very innocently ask their grandfather about the battle. He remembers the miseries that the war brought with it. But in popular understanding the war was understood as famous, & he admitted that he never understood the reason behind the war.

5. Meaning: The children ask it out of their curiosity because they have never seen such thing in their life. Then, the grandfather explains to them that the round shaped object was the skull of a dead solider who had sacrificed his life in the Spanish war & brought great victory to the country. There were also many other soldiers who lost their lives on both sides. Thousands of bodies “lay rotting in the sun”, says Kaspar, while the peasant’s fields & homes were “wasted far & wide”. However, Kaspar is at a loss to explain the cause of the battle. In fact, the fields were littered with corpses. But such terrible consequences are part of war, he says. They do not negate the glory of the war. Old Kaspar unquestioningly accepts the loss of innocent women & children in the Battle of Blenheim as one of the prices of the glorious victory. The battle resulted in a massive bloodbath. The war was waged to satiate the ego of the rulers, but the old man cannot give a reasonable answer to his grandchildren. All he could say was that this war led to a ‘famous victory.’

6. SUMMARY

7. Robert Southey (1774-1843) was one of the leading poets of the Romantic Age. He was a contemporary of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and was one of the Lake Poets. He was also a Laureate Poet for 30 years from 1813 to hid death in 1843. ‘After Blenheim’ was published in 1798. The poem ‘After Blenheim’ was written by Robert Southey’s. it captures the destructive aftermath of the Battle of Blenheim. It plots on the most famous battle in the war of the Spanish Succession (1701 -1714). Old Kaspar, a peasant, discusses the battle with his grandchildren many years after the “famous Victory.”

8. Kaspar sits in front of his cottage watching his grandchildren. They are Wilhelmine and Peterkin. Peterkin is rolling an object he found near a stream. He takes it to Kaspar and asks what it is. The old man, who has found many such objects while plowing the fields, replies that it is the skull of a solider who died in the Battle of Blenheim. When Kaspar was explaining about skull of solider, the children curiosity aroused. The children ask him about the battle and why it was fought. Kaspar says that there were many other soldiers who lost their lives on both sides. Thousands of bodies “lay rotting in the sun,” says Kaspar. In fact, the fields were littered with corpses. Such terrible consequences are part of war, he says. The cause of the battle was not exactly known. But what they knew was that it was a great victory. It was the ambition of Dukes and Princes that led to massive bloodshed, where many innocent people lost their lives. Thus, the poem is a scathing critique of the grand ambition of the rulers that resulted in a war, causing immense bloodshed.