Dead Man's Dump

Isaac Rosenberg - Wikipedia 

Isaac Rosenberg is a British poet who also served in the great war. Although growing up in poverty, Rosenberg was able to enroll in Birkbeck College and pursue art. Rosenberg's talent allowed him to receive a scholarship to the Slade Art School. While attending the art school, Rosenberg became more and more interested in poetry. In 1913, Rosenberg began to be very sick and moved to South Afirca for 2 years. Upon his return home, Rosenberg released a connection of poems called "Youth" and enlisted in the war. In 1916 Rosenberg was sent to the Western Front and never received a promotion. Rosenberg's poem "Dead Man's Dump"describes what it is like to spread wire across "No Man's Land" in World War 1. His words describe having to walk over dead bodies with a mule in order to lay out more wire. According to G.M. Griffiths, "When the swift iron burning bee /  Drained the wild honey of their youth": The pastoral imagery here - of a bee drinking honey -  suggests the draining of blood from young men by the "swift iron" of bullets" (movehimintothesun.wordpress.com, 2017). The metaphor comparing bees to bullets can give the reader a sense of how the bullets would fly through the air in the trenches. Also, comparing soldier's blood to wild honey being drained can give a sense of death. The horrible sights on the Western front are all described in the poem. Every line of the poem paints an image of death and blood. "A man's brains splattered on / a stretcher bearer's face..." provides an image of a stretcher bearer's face covered in blood, trying to help a dying soldier. The scenes during the war were horrifying and Rosenberg's words allow readers to realize what being in the army is actually like.