Those troops of youth
Looking so smart
In their green-brown uniforms
Happen they Were
As they drummed with their hand
And sang the their songs
And bear their boots in rhythm
The truck trundled to the north
Was it a their Youth
That brought the mist to my eyes?
Was it the unbroken melody
That left me uneasy
I could not wipe of picture
That sprang before me and spread
As they long convey passed
And the music in it faded
A long line of cage parrots
I saw one day in a pet shop
The green was fading from their feathers
I knew their days were numbered
I wanted by them all
And let them fly
Back to the Greenwood to sing all day
The trucks trundled to the north
I pressed my eyelids
Down over the smarting eyes
The Gods protect you
I thought
And also,those you met
Smart they looked
Those troops of youth
In green-brown uniforms
Happy they seemed
As they drummed their hands
And sang their songs
Their voices drowned the noises
In the street
The trucks trundle to the north
Kamala Wijeratne in the poem "Musical" discusses the tragedy of war and her main focus is the destruction of innocent youth who fight in war. In the first and second stanzas the reader is given a picture of young, perhaps inexperienced, soldiers singing while they are traveling to North. Their youthful innocence is captured effectively by the poet through lines such as "Happy they were / As they drummed with their hands / And sang their songs / And beat their boots in rhythm." It is apparent that these soldiers have not seen the brutality of war. The rhetoric questions (a question without an answer), "Was it their youth that brought the mist to my eyes?" and "Was it the unbroken melody that left me uneasy?" illustrate the way the poet worries about the young men's fate.
Then in the next verse (fourth) she refers to a scene of "caged parrots" with "the green...fading from their feathers" and the reader can easily make the connection between the young men in "their green-brown uniforms" and the parrots that the poet saw in a pet shop. Like in the case of the parrots, these young men's days too are numbered. The poet wanted to buy the caged parrots and set them free to the forest "to sing all day" and it is apparent that she feels the same way about the young soldiers who have sacrificed their youth to face a tragic end.
"Musical" is a poem that criticizes war without taking a particular side. The poet in fact blesses the soldiers and the ones they meet, their enemies who are also young men and women who have become a part of war. In this manner the poet is against war and the killing of innocent lives and sees no beauty, justice or nobility in war. The last two stanzas of the poem mostly repeat the same lines that appeared earlier in the poem, by using this kind of repetition, the poet reinforces the ideas of tragedy and the youthful innocence of these young soldiers.
The poem uses colloquial language and it is in free verse with no regular rhyming scheme. It is given through the eyes of a passer-by who sees the young men traveling to North and the first person narration gives a personal aspect to the poem as the poet's sadness (the scene has brought "mist" to her eyes and they are "smarting" because of pain) is effectively communicated to the reader generating such emotional responses in the reader as well. As mentioned earlier in this essay, the poet makes a reference to "caged parrots" and this is an effective symbol for the young soldiers. Thus, Kamala Wijeratne talks about the tragedy of war and the loss of innocent youth who should have spent their youth in a better way. Their singing of songs and their apparent joy show that even though they are soldiers going to fight in a war, they are still young men. Even though her poem is based on Sri Lankan situation (with clear references to war affected areas such as "north"), her subject and theme are universal as war destroys innocent people whatever their nationality, caste or class may be.
Kamala Wijeratne in the poem "Musical" discusses the tragedy of war and her main focus is the destruction of innocent youth who fight in war. In the first and second stanzas the reader is given a picture of young, perhaps inexperienced, soldiers singing while they are traveling to North. Their youthful innocence is captured effectively by the poet through lines such as "Happy they were / As they drummed with their hands / And sang their songs / And beat their boots in rhythm." It is apparent that these soldiers have not seen the brutality of war. The rhetoric questions (a question without an answer), "Was it their youth that brought the mist to my eyes?" and "Was it the unbroken melody that left me uneasy?" illustrate the way the poet worries about the young men's fate.
Then in the next verse (fourth) she refers to a scene of "caged parrots" with "the green...fading from their feathers" and the reader can easily make the connection between the young men in "their green-brown uniforms" and the parrots that the poet saw in a pet shop. Like in the case of the parrots, these young men's days too are numbered. The poet wanted to buy the caged parrots and set them free to the forest "to sing all day" and it is apparent that she feels the same way about the young soldiers who have sacrificed their youth to face a tragic end.
"Musical" is a poem that criticizes war without taking a particular side. The poet in fact blesses the soldiers and the ones they meet, their enemies who are also young men and women who have become a part of war. In this manner the poet is against war and the killing of innocent lives and sees no beauty, justice or nobility in war. The last two stanzas of the poem mostly repeat the same lines that appeared earlier in the poem, by using this kind of repetition, the poet reinforces the ideas of tragedy and the youthful innocence of these young soldiers.
The poem uses colloquial language and it is in free verse with no regular rhyming scheme. It is given through the eyes of a passer-by who sees the young men traveling to North and the first person narration gives a personal aspect to the poem as the poet's sadness (the scene has brought "mist" to her eyes and they are "smarting" because of pain) is effectively communicated to the reader generating such emotional responses in the reader as well. As mentioned earlier in this essay, the poet makes a reference to "caged parrots" and this is an effective symbol for the young soldiers. Thus, Kamala Wijeratne talks about the tragedy of war and the loss of innocent youth who should have spent their youth in a better way. Their singing of songs and their apparent joy show that even though they are soldiers going to fight in a war, they are still young men. Even though her poem is based on Sri Lankan situation (with clear references to war affected areas such as "north"), her subject and theme are universal as war destroys innocent people whatever their nationality, caste or class may be.
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