Wartime journeys and character analysis in Homer and Shakespeare

Illiad

Argue whether the poetry/text presents the author as pilgrim or as tourist on a wartime journey

The distinction between the tourist and the pilgrim is one that invariably arises when analyzing texts that address war. While it is common for the hero (or author) to discuss war as a theme, a distinction must be made with regard to the way in which the author relates to the war and to the soldiers. In poems where the hero embarks on a journey, his journey can take the shape of either a pilgrimage or a simple tourist trip. Drawing from Donnelly's categorization involving the tourist vs. The pilgrim, this paper analyzes a series of war poems and texts that assume the form of either a pilgrimage or a tourist journey. The pilgrimage refers to an internal journey that is invested in the pilgrimage of war. The hero is profoundly affected by the pilgrimage, and the journey itself is given equal emphasis as the arrival. Finally, the pilgrim achieves a sense of community. Alternately, the tourist journey involves the inverse, with a more individualistic (but less introspective) experience. For the tourist, the arrival is important while the journey is not, and there is little emphasis on the pilgrimage of war. The tourist is not directly affected by the pilgrimage and he achieves no community. This paper does not argue that one form is superior to the other, and instead classifies the World War One and World War Two poems into one of the two forms.

Wallace Stevens's World War Two poem "Examination of the Hero in a Tim of War" stands as a strong example of the journey of the pilgrim. In the poem, the narrator struggles with the attempt to write poetry about an event as horrific as World War Two. It is clear that he has been profoundly affected by his journey and he has a deep respect for the soldiers. His internal journey and the extent to which he has been affected are demonstrated in his statement that "It is not an image. It is a feeling. There is no image of the hero. There is a feeling as definition" (Stevens, p. 248). The speaker recognizes that he does not have descriptors capable of capturing the horrors of war, and his reverence toward the soldiers is reflected in his view that they are all heroes. Additionally, he is invested in the pilgrimage of war and the power of the war site, which is reflected in his disregard for the monuments, which are located away from the battlefield.

T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding" is another example of a pilgrimage. The hero also expresses an internal journey, with an emphasis on the journey as well as the arrival, and he is also greatly affected by the pilgrimage. The extent to which he has been affected is demonstrated by his statements that "This is the death of earth," and that "the communication/Of the dead is tongued beyond the language of the living" (Eliot, p. 32). The speaker is emotionally moved and reflects an understanding that the horrors of war are beyond representation through language.

Another example of a pilgrimage is Elie Wiesel's Night (2006), which offers an autobiographical account of the horrors of war. The pilgrimage takes multiple forms; first, there is the heroes first-hand experience journeying to the Holocaust site, and there is also the journey back in time as the author attempts to come to term with the past. The book exemplifies the pilgrimage form on a number of different levels. First, his journey is internal; when Wiesel records that "There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of mystic truth," it is clear that he is invested in the psychological horrors of war. Wiesel gains a sense of community through his interaction with Moishe, who impresses upon him the value of mystical thought. He is also interested in the pilgrimage of war as it represents the impetus for his writing the book. The journey is also important for the author, as his journey is the basic plot structure for the book.

An additional example of a pilgrim journey is Edmund Blunden's World War One poem "Preparation For Victory" (Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, 1996, p. 102). The hero offers many details of combat that reflect identification with the soldiers. When he notes that a soldier "Parches and sweats and grunts to win the name of man," it is clear that he has been deeply affected by the pilgrimage and that he is both interested in the pilgrimage of war and that it has assumed an internal, psychological form.

There are also many wartime journeys that assume the form of a tourist journey. One such example is Robert Brooke's World War One poem "The Dead" (Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, 1996, p. 81). In the poem, the experience of the soldiers is recorded. The many details supplied by the narrator suggest that the speaker has been directly affected by the pilgrimage: describing a soldier, the hero notes that "He leaves a white/Unbroken glory, a gathered radiance,/A width, a shining peace, under the night (p. 81). By mentioning phrases such as "shining peace" and "gathered radiance," the hero demonstrates how his journey has been internal, and that he is interested in the pilgrimage of war and directly affected by the pilgrimage.

Thomas Hardy's "Channel Firing" and Edward Thomas's "A Private," both World War One poems, are additional examples of tourist journeys (Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, 1996, p. 78, 91). Although they are both highly descriptive, the heroes do not demonstrate that their journey has been internal, nor do they display a sense of community. The effect is as though they were attempting to simply capture the occurrences that took place during the war, without arriving at a more profound understanding of the effects of World War One.