After Blenheim Background and Summary

After Blenheim Background and Summary

Context

Born in 1774 in Bristol, England, Robert Southey was a prominent poet of the Romantic period and had strong connections with Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. He was England's Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to 1843.

Southey's works include the play The Fall of Robespierre, the poem The Inchcape Rock and several heroic epics, such as Thalaba the Destroyer and Madoc. However, he is more famous now for his prose and a treasured children's fable called The Story of the Three Bears, which has achieved lasting fame as the original Goldilocks story.

After Blenheim is an anti-war ballad based on the Battle of Blenheim that took place in Southern Germany in 1704. The battle, considered a turning point in European history, was won by an army led by the Duke of Marlborough of England and Prince Eugene of Savoy. Southey's poem revolves around a conversation between an old man and his grandchildren. The old man narrates the horrific ordeals faced by the common people during the war in Blenheim, all the while claiming that the war was great. Through the poem, Southey not only denounces war, but also criticises common people's blind acceptance of whatever is told to them.

Summary

Here is a summary of the poem After Blenheim by Robert Southey.

One summer evening, Old Kaspar sat outside his cottage while his granddaughter Wilhelmine played nearby. Wilhelmine saw her brother Peterkin rolling something white and round. It was something he had found while playing near the small stream that flowed by the cottage. He could not understand what it was and wanted to ask his grandfather about it.

Kaspar took one look at it and knew what it was. He explained to his grandchildren that it was the skull of a person who had died during a war, which, according to him, was a great victory'. Kaspar further told his grandchildren how he too often came across skulls while he ploughed his garden. Several thousand men had been killed in that 'great victory'.

Fascinated, Wilhelmine and Peterkin, asked him about the war and why it was fought. Wilhelmine's eyes sparkled with excitement and wonder as she waited to hear her grandfather's response. Kaspar explained how the French had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the English. But he had no knowledge of why the war was fought. He did however know that everyone called it a 'famous victory'.

Kaspar then recollected that his father too had lived

in Blenheim then. But he had been forced to escape

to safety with his family after their house was burnt

down. The extent of the war was such that there was

no place for them to even sit and rest for a while. The destruction caused by the war was widespread. Not even pregnant women and newborn babies were spared. Kaspar thought this was perhaps normal and a necessary. consequence of war.

He continued his narration, telling his grandchildren about the horrific aftermath of the war. Thousands of bodies were strewn across the battlefield, and they lay there rotting in the sun. The leaders of the victorious army, the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, received commendation from all quarters.

A confused Wilhelmine quipped how it all seemed evil. But

Kaspar hurriedly corrected her, explaining that it was

after all a famous victory. The many deaths did

not negate the glory of the victory.

Kaspar remembered fondly how

everybody praised the Duke for the

victory. At this point, Peterkin asked his

grandfather if anything good happened

as a result of the war. Old Kaspar had

no answer for this question. All he knew.

was that it was a famous victory.