Oh, How One Word Can Change a Poem's Meaning...

“No Man’s Land”

Written by J. Knight-Adkin

NO Man’s Land is an eerie sight
At early dawn in the pale gray light.
Never a house and never a hedge
In No Man’s Land from edge to edge,
And never a living soul walks there	5
To taste the fresh of the morning air;—
Only some lumps of rotting clay,
That were friends or foemen yesterday.
What are the bounds of No Man’s Land?
You can see them clearly on either hand,	10
A mound of rag-bags gray in the sun,
Or a furrow of brown where the earthworks run
From the eastern hills to the western sea,
Through field or forest o’er river and lea;
No man may pass them, but aim you well	15
And Death rides across on the bullet or shell.
But No Man’s Land is a goblin sight
When patrols crawl over at dead o’ night;
Boche or British, Belgian or French,
You dice with death when you cross the trench.	20
When the “rapid,” like fireflies in the dark,
Flits down the parapet spark by spark,
And you drop for cover to keep your head
With your face on the breast of the four months’ dead.
The man who ranges in No Man’s Land	25
Is dogged by the shadows on either hand
When the star-shell’s flare, as it bursts o’erhead,
Scares the gray rats that feed on the dead,
And the bursting bomb or the bayonet-snatch
May answer the click of your safety-catch,	30
For the lone patrol, with his life in his hand,
Is hunting for blood in No Man’s Land.     “No Man’s Land” was written by J Knight-Adkin.  Knight had firsthand experience with World War I trench warfare. He fought in the trenches for four months before he was injured and sent to work at a prisoner of war camp. The first time I read “No Man’s Land” it was for a history class. “No man’s land” was part of a group of sources that had an overall Ally forces bias. This meant that all of them talked about how horrid and despicable Germans were. So when I read the poem, I was shocked and amazed that there was finally something that showed when it comes to death all men are equal. But there is one line or one word that differs from the idea of equality between men in battle. I didn’t even realize what this one little word meant until I looked it up… With the true definition of the word my whole equality in death analysis needed to be changed. “No Man’s Land” has four stanza’s. Each stanza has 8 lines and the rhyme scheme ABBCCDD.  The poem is easy to read through because of the rhyming couplets. Also Knight uses simple but powerful descriptions to describe what ‘no man’s land’ is like. Oh also for those of you who do not know what ‘no man’s land” is, it was the stretch of land between enemy trenches during World War I. It was called this because soldiers who stepped on to no man’s land would usually die. Knight uses vivid descriptions that show the horror and monstrosity of trench warfare. In the first stanza the reader will find that in trench warfare there are no bright mornings. No man’s land is described as eerie, gray, and pale. Also the cloud of death hangs over the strip of land, “And never a living soul walks there/ To taste the fresh of the morning air;/ Only some lumps of rotting clay,/That were friends or foemen yesterday.” We get a scene description and a soldier’s mentality in the first stanza which allows us to feel emotion for those who have been lost to no man’s land. The second stanza gives more description and reveals how impersonal trench warfare is. A man can kill another man without even seeing him. The third stanza is where the seemingly innocent word is found: “Boche or British, Belgian or French,/ You dice with death when you cross the trench.” When I first read these lines I thought, “oh how great that he is telling the reader that everyone dies in war which then makes them equal…” He represented men that were English, Belgian, French, and German. But wait he does not say German… He uses the term “Boche” which happens to be a derogatory word that was used during WWI towards German soldiers. It seems a little unfair does it not??? He cheapens the death of German soldiers by calling them a derogatory term… So therefore apparently everyone else is equal in death…except the Germans. The rest of the poem describes what sounds fills the trenches when there is an attack. Also the horrors of battle are brought to center fold with Knight’s vivid details. Now this poem is still and excellent WWI poem because it delves into the mind of a soldier who has seen the horrors trench war fare and how the fighting almost seemed futile. But this poem really shows how something can seem like it represents all parties of an event. But in reality it makes one of the parties seem less human.