Rhonda Massengill Poems by Randall Jarrell's

Randall Jarrell was a teacher, critic, and poet. Some of his most popular work of literature was done after he had served some time in prison. He was at first to become a business man inside his uncles’ studio. He’s uncle had finally agreed to send him back to school and that is where he earned his M.A. degree. From that point he ends up being an English teacher at Kenyon College. His main themes in his poems are change which affect women, children, and men in war and peace.

“Losses”
The event in this poem based on a plane crash that had happened in WWII. This could be a reflection of an event that had happened in his life. What had happened was that the pilot had gotten the concordance wrong and the planes had collated into one another. It goes on to talk about what we do to them. He goes on to state that we bombed their open ranges and shores. Lastly he talks about the rewards received for fighting in wars. He says we get a medal or if we die they say the causalities were low. I feel with this statement he is making a mockery of war. He views people that are serving in war as being under appreciated.

“The death of the Ball Turret Gunner”
In this short poem I wanted to reflect on the comment that was made at the end of the poem. This again states how military men are not appreciated they way that they should be. “When I died they washed me out of the turrent with a hose”. This image was disturbing to me. To think that they didn’t have enough respect for the soldiers to even give them a proper burial.

“In Montecito”
This poem reminds me of when I was little. The little breast reminded me of the circus and their big hot air balloons. How they prop them up and set them up for entertainment purposes. “The lips let the air out of the breasts”. Another thing that reminded me of the circus was when they were talking about Greenis Taliaferro (A tight-fighting gymnastic suit of stretch-knit fabric).