I Have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger - Essay Example

? I Have a Rendezvous with Death By Alan Seeger A Figurative Analysis Ramakrishna S I Have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger is a shortpoem, yet rated among the best pieces of literature of fear as well as courage inspired by the World Wars, much like John Masefield’s August 1914, Joyce Kilmer’s Rouge Bouquet and Rupert Brooke’s The Soldier. Just this one poem, which is remarkably impressive and beautiful, was capable of establishing Seeger as a sensible poet and won him enduring literary fame. With its conspicuous title and imaginative theme, it attracted universal attention. This paper attempts a figurative analysis of the nuances of the poem. I Have a Rendezvous with Death: A Figurative Analysis (1830 Words) If there is one thing that is inevitable, yet frightening, it is death. Everyone is prepared for contingencies in life, though there is no way to predict how and when they arise. No one, however, is prepared to meet death, in spite of knowing full well that it is not a contingency but a certainty. A rendezvous, it is to be noted, is not just an encounter. It is of free will, anticipated and often planned. It is associated not with fear or hatred, but with friendly spirit and enthusiasm. Obviously, no human being is likely to relish the idea of a personal appointment with death unless he happens to be either a philosopher like Socrates or a soldier on the battlefield because he alone knows the sublime beauty of surrendering his life in the name of a cause. For a soldier, death is not alraming but a part of life. He is by and large aware of the nature of his death and also its when and where as the word rendezvous connotes. For all others, a rendezvous with death is an oxymoron whereas for a soldier, it is a morale-boosting juxtaposition. Thus Alan Seeger, well in the title of the poem, establishes the true mercenary’s perspective effectively by using the apparently incompatible words together. It is this soldier-poet’s viewpoint that sharply distinguishes Seeger’s work from other literary endeavors on the theme of death like Emily Dickinson’s poem Because I Could Not Wait for Death. The poem from the trenches, with its seemingly traditional verse and traditionally intellectual ideas, attaches a certain grace and respectability to the idea of death by personifying it as a gentle, caring, personal companion (“It may be he shall take my hand / And lead me into his dark land”), thereby making it seem less frightening. It gives the reader the insight that we can choose to die well. That the poet is not in the least reluctant to face war and even death, that he has made his choice to keep his pledged word, is a testimony to the point that he intends to drive home – that death, after all, is not as bad as it is made out to be. It is a privilege to die for the country. It needs to be clarified further here that the expression pledged word does not denote an imposed obligation. It is an overt sign of passionate commitment. The first of the three stanzas of the poem is the most striking because it draws a strange connection between birth and death. It forecasts the poet’s imminent, yet heroic, death. The second introduces the stages of death (his being led into the empire of death) and the third asserts that poet is not keen to remain in his comfort zone like most others would do, but prefers to take pride in keeping his appointment with death at all costs. It is very human to fear the unknown but the soldier has no hesitation in treading the death’s dark land. This overall theme is wrapped up in admirable poetic devices such as instructive diction, juxtaposition, personification, repetition and a flowing, though peculiar, rhyme scheme. A vital factor that goes into making the poem have an immediate impact on the reader is the use of the first person. It is just impossible to imagine the poem from the third person perspective as it would have adversely affected the solemn mood of the poem. The line ‘I have a rendezvous with death’ and the idea of ‘spring’ occur four times each in the poem. The former characterizes an iron resolve and the later an inner longing to sacrifice. To think that the repetition is for the poet to reassure himself would mean solely missing his attitude. It is a bold assertion of his firm conviction. The poem is not just about the inevitability of death and its graceful acceptance. It is about extending, with a cheerful smile, a handshake with death. The imagery of spring is conventionally symbolic of life, joy and high spirits. It is the time when weather becomes pleasanter, new leaves and plants start to grow again and new flowers appear. It is interesting that the poet’s date with death is When Spring comes back with rustling shade, when apple blossoms fill the air and When Spring brings back blue days and fair. To be clearer, it is going to be When Spring comes round again this year / And the first meadow flowers appear. But spring, which is the poet’s deemed time of doom, is also the season of rebirth. It is an indication that the poet does not really consider death to be the end of life. On the contrary, he regards it as the beginning of another fruitful phase of life-giving springtime presence that involves hope and a more blissful sleep. Even beyond death, even after foregoing the comfort of being pillowed down in silk and scented down, there is still room for love, pulse, breath and hushed awakenings. The dark land to which he shall be taken need not be understood as a gloomy place for darkness is a prerequisite to blissful sleep. It is worth noting that by the year 1916, the word ‘spring’ assumed a new meaning that referred to appointed time of slaughter and crazed hours of preliminary bombardment (Bryant, 1936, p. 234). This is an instance of powerful diction employed by the poet, which presents with stoical steadiness what would otherwise be an unpleasant idea. It is this patriotic and motivational value rather than absolute literary merit that made the poem a timeless classic (Ebel, 2010, p. 82). I Have a Rendezvous with Death is essentially a poem of beauty and love, the poet’s lover being ‘death’. It is forged on the anvil of war filled with the fire of emotion. On the one hand, it portrays a soldier’s risking his life on the battlefield with deliberation, in order to keep his oath, as an act of courage. Every soldier knows there is a bullet with his name on it but for him it only evokes a sense of honor and glory, the supreme experience of being the instrument of Destiny. The battlefield is the place where the pulsations are the liveliest. Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior remarks that Seeger wanted “the largest movement the planet allows – a companionship to the stars” (Minter, 1996, p. 67). For that reward of glorified death, he thinks it is worth joining the ‘lost generation’ staying true to his pledge word. He is determined not to fail that rendezvous. He considers the rendezvous is going to be a pleasant and redemptive experience. In this light, it is possible to say that the tone of the poem is not at all apocalyptic nor eerie, as some critics saw it. It is not the cry of an anguished soul but an expression of valor and integrity. Avoiding the rendezvous would amount to violation of honor and betraying the new lover, that is, death. The sense of duty prevailing over the fear of death and the desire to live brings to the reader’s mind the famous lines of Robert Frost: “The woods are lovely dark and deep / But I have promises to keep / And miles to go before I sleep”. On the other hand, the idea of the grandeur of war and its heroic potential notwithstanding, the poem does not quite seem to endorse war as something desirable in itself. Seeger is quite mindful of its horrors, rending agonies and its inherent wickedness and futility, so he juxtaposes the beauties of spring against the ugliness of war. He subtly captures the dark nature of war as a blot on humanity when he mentions its disputed barricades suggesting conflict, scarred slopes of battered hills and flaming towns at midnight suggesting pain and destruction. The use of the word ‘disputed’, by any stretch of imagination, does not connote any uncertainty in the mind of the poet but rather signifies military clashes at borders. No wonder the poignant poem about death, Seeger’s wartime love, was among the favorites of J F Kennedy. Franklin D Roosevelt’s famous line, “This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny” in 1936 is believed to have been inspired by Seeger’s poem. When Mark Van Wienen’s anthology of American Poems of the Great War was titled Rendezvous with Death, it made a statement that Seeger’s was the best known American poem of the war, though it operates without allusion to any poetic tradition (Ehrhart, 2002, p. 226). Parts of the poem seem to agree with the pattern of iambic pentameter but it is again broken by the unorthodox rhyme scheme. As such, the poem may be said to be an organization of freely flowing thoughts and emotions and not a professional literary attempt. Seeger appears to have an infatuation for death. It formed the central theme of many of his poems like The Sultan’s Palace. His most famous work I Have a Rendezvous with Death, however, has come to be identified with his name so much so that it may well be considered a monument of his. It also made him the voice of young men drawn by duty into the Great War. He was not just a poet and a soldier but a wartime apostle of the martyr tradition. The poem was the medium through which he perpetuated his idealism and his beliefs about death. Its argument that death is not necessarily a tragic event and it does not have to be feared caught the imagination of likeminded people. It was heartening to think that death (war death, to be more specific) was lovable and it could be the gate to a new life, especially for a soldier. However, it would be stretching things too far to think that Seeger in this poem has made any subtle or direct references to such things as heaven, hell and afterlife. Nor is there any evidence of confusion or conflict in the thought process of the poet. It is lucid with a clear sense of direction, with the principal focus remaining on the dignity of death in the battlefield. Fear is an animal instinct. If there is one thing that can remove all fears it is love. The human race claims to be superior to animals chiefly because of its ability to love at a cosmic level. In the poem under consideration it is the love for death as much as the love for the country that removes all fears and induces in the poet the audacity to die unwept. The significance of this audacity is that it has the power to augment and reinforce the reader’s faith in humanity. It is this faith again that sustains the hope that the world is going to be a more harmonious place with finer land, better people and a nobler civilization. The same faith is also the reason why the poem continues to be widely read and reflected upon almost a century after the publication of the poem. Its lessons are too valuable to be ignored after all, aren’t they? Reference Bryant, Arthur (1936). The American ideal. North Stratford, NH: Ayer Publishing. Ebel, Jonathan H (2010). Faith in the fight: Religion and the American soldier in the Great War. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Ehrhart, W D (2002). The madness of it all: Essays on war, literature and American life. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. Minter, David (1996). A cultural history of the American novel: Henry James to William Faulkner. New York: Cambridge University Press. Read More