Thomas McGrath wrote the poem Ode for the American Fallen in Asia in 1972 as a tribute to the fallen American servicemen in Korea. Ode for the American Dead in Korea was the old title of the poem. Odes are written to express intense feelings about something or someone, as well as to convey a specific meaning. Thomas McGrath wanted to provide political criticism and is seen as a revolutionary who did not shy away from criticizing societal practices. Although being a war veteran himself, one of his actions was to oppose the Korean War. The focus of the poem is on war, but the author seeks to address the concept of bravery and ignorance as depicted by choice of words and literary devices. Although the poem is generally about war, the focus is not on the significance of the war but the underlying circumstances of those sent to fight the war. The conditions at home that prepare them for the war with ignorance considered a primary factor for the bravery of the soldiers. This essay provides a literary analysis to show that the poem Ode for the American dead in Asia aimed to show the soldiers sent to war were ignorant.
Throughout the poem, McGrath serves to show the ignorance of the soldiers fighting in a war they do not understand its significance. McGrath begins the poem with the lines, “God love you now, if no one else will ever, Corpse in the paddy, or dead on a high hill,” which serve to show the focus of the poem is on the soldier sent to fight in the war. The opening highlights that the poem concentrates on the soldiers and not much on the politics on the significance of the war. The line, “All your false flags were Of bravery and ignorance, like grade school maps” brings the focus on the lack of understanding by the soldiers, with flags that portrayed bravery and ignorance. The line also denotes the disdain for loss of lives by the youth for a war that was not necessary or god but in his opinion, “false.” McGrath shows his view on the war; that it was not necessary and that the soldiers were falsely the ignorant soldiers were sent to Asia. The fear of communism and China’s dominance was the basis for the war, which McGrath serves to show was false and not a good basis. The lack of understanding of the reason for the war and the impact of the war by the soldiers forms the main focus of McGrath’s poem.
The ignorance of the brave soldiers sent to fight in Asia is also evident in the line, “the safe commanders sent You into your future.” McGrath brings in the line after stating that the soldiers were, “laughing, well armed, perfectly ready to kill” not knowing that they were being sent by safe commanders into their future, which is death. The soldiers were ignorant of the fate that was to befall them and were laughing about it. That the soldiers were laughing at a time that marked their last days on American soil served to show the ignorance that McGrath aimed at portraying in the poem. The following sentence also serves to show the fate of the soldiers, “Oh, dead on a hill, Dead in a paddy, leeched and tumbled to a tomb of footnotes.” McGrath’s view of the soldiers’ ignorance is also confirmed in the last line of verse one when he refers to them as changeling, “We mourn a changeling: you:” The last two lines of verse one, “Handselled to poverty and drummed to war By distinguished masters whom you never knew” also serves to show the soldiers did not even know who their masters were further showing their ignorance.
The second verse also seeks to depict further the ignorance of the brave soldiers sent to fight in Asia. McGrath blames the society for the ignorance of the soldiers stating, “You mined a culture that was mined for war: The state to mold you, church to bless, and always The elders to confirm you in your ignorance” According to McGrath the society does little to inform the soldiers of the impending peril and the futility of the war they are sent to fight. The inability of the soldiers to seek knowledge and think on their own is also stated in the next lines, “No scholar put your thinking cap on nor Warned that in dead seas fishes died in schools Before inventing legs to walk the land.” The following lines also serve to depict further the ignorance shown by the soldiers, “In time of change Courage is not enough: the blind mole dies, and you on your hill, who did not know the rules.” The lack of scholarship and focus on the elder’s confirmation of ignorance makes the soldiers blind to reality leading to their death. The blind bravery of the soldiers is lamented in these lines as McGrath believes is the reason for their deaths. The lack of instruction by the community including the government and the lack of learning from the experiences in Korea and sending the soldiers to war in Vietnam support the claims presented. The lines, “The rulers stuck a tennis racket in your hand, An Ark against the flood” shows the soldiers’ ignorance of not realizing they were fighting in a war they were not equipped to win and that the very government sending them did not prepare them to succeed. The tennis racket is not equipped enough to deal with the flood, but the soldiers cannot comprehend this and pay the price in death in the rice fields and nameless hills of Asia.
The third verse further criticizes the ignorance of the soldiers and tries to inform them that their courage would not amount to much. McGrath states, “Your scarecrow valor grows And rusts like early lilac while the rose Blooms in Dakota and the stock exchange Flowers” showing that the American youth die in Asia and are returned to American places including North Dakota where their courage would not count for much and would only exist as fossils filling the “limestone histories.” The statement, “while the rose Blooms in Dakota and the stock exchange Flowers” shows the benefactors of the war are not the soldiers but business people and the government back in the United States. That this fact is lost on the soldiers evidences the ignorance that McGrath is against in the poem. McGrath seeks to show that in their ignorance, the soldiers fight and die in a futile war believing that they will be considered part of history but in reality, their courage and sacrifice amounts to nothing. It is in the last three lines that we get to know the reason for the ignorance that forms the most of the poem that it serves to provide the soldier’s courage and bravery. It is their ignorance of their fate, the safety of the commanders, and the futility of the war that the soldiers are brave. McGrath states, “We will mourn you, whose fossil courage fills The limestone histories: brave: ignorant: amazed: Dead in the rice paddies, dead on the nameless hills.” McGrath states that the soldiers are brave, ignorant, and amazed serving to show their lack of expectation for the occurrence since they did not have information. The soldiers are unaware of the realities of the war connecting the bravery to the ignorance.
In the poem, Ode for the American dead in Asia, McGrath points out that the ignorance is the basis for the soldier’s bravery in the war. The ignorance is reflected in the decision to participate in a futile war that results in death in Asian field and hills. The ignorance by the soldiers is evident in the support for the war by the government and the public. The perspective that ignorance provided the soldiers can also be looked upon from the perspective of bravery from a commitment to safeguarding the interest of the country. The role of the public and the government in reinforcing the ignorance can also be reviewed to provide a better understanding of the society during the time of the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Work Cited
McGrath, Thomas. "Ode for the American Dead in Asia."
