The Thousandth Regiment - 4. "Our helmets’ glistening peaks flicker over"

This poem goes back and forth between the big unit and the single person with his emotions. It develops from an anyonymous mass looked upon from the outside, through using the personal experience of emotions inside the lyrical-I, to come to the cruel conclusion, which again concerns the whole of the soldiers. Your translation transports all of this - brilliant work. Really brilliant.

The pictures are so clear and so depressing. For me I read a change of the lyrical-I in the different stanzas. It looks as if the poet uses the change of perspective to come to his own conclusions. A step to confront oneself with the reality, maybe. A way to emancipate from traditions and propaganda. I think, it is one of the poems, which shows Ehrenbaum-Degels changing/developing very strongly.

The regiment is perfectly pictured as a thousand footed creature that comes apart under fire. It’s an excellent metaphor. Thunder in battle, and in the sky  come to mind in the detailed picture he paints for us. Thanks for this installment. 

On 8/6/2019 at 1:48 PM, Lyssa said:

This poem goes back and forth between the big unit and the single person with his emotions. It develops from an anonymous mass looked upon from the outside, through using the personal experience of emotions inside the lyrical-I, to come to the cruel conclusion, which again concerns the whole of the soldiers. Your translation transports all of this - brilliant work. Really brilliant.

The pictures are so clear and so depressing. For me I read a change of the lyrical-I in the different stanzas. It looks as if the poet uses the change of perspective to come to his own conclusions. A step to confront oneself with the reality, maybe. A way to emancipate from traditions and propaganda. I think, it is one of the poems, which shows Ehrenbaum-Degels changing/developing very strongly.

Thank you for your comments, Lyssa. Going through the poems in detail, one by one as I have, there is a real sense of development. However, fortunately for himself and us, he never loses the real him in these poems (at least not that I have seen so far). Far from it, he seems to be ever questioning the "him" in these circumstances versus the civilian "him" of not that long ago. This examination, coupled with vignettes shown in real-time details, is what make these poems so successful to me. To me they are almost like an unflinching diary of emotional events, ones I feel every person or veteran of armed service can relate to. For ones who have never served, it shows snapshots of the real sights and sounds, none of them romanticized. 

Thanks again for your comments and support      

On 8/6/2019 at 2:42 PM, Parker Owens said:

The regiment is perfectly pictured as a thousand footed creature that comes apart under fire. It’s an excellent metaphor. Thunder in battle, and in the sky  come to mind in the detailed picture he paints for us. Thanks for this installment. 

Thank you, Parker. I'd have to check to be 100% sure, but auseinander is like the English "asunder," meaning the great thousand-footed unit is not coming apart in battle, as much as having the life and souls of her men ripped apart forever. 

Thanks again for always reading and commenting; I always appreciate hearing your thoughts  

i have read this ... several times over the days.  i have nothing clever other than: this is war

It took some nerve to 'go over the top'. They knew what was up there, what they'd be facing, but really there was no choice but to. Cowards were shot, you stood a better chance with the enemy. 

These are achingly sad, painful to read but they should be required reading.  But war isn't always so dirty now, what with bombs and drones, but then perhaps these should be doubly required. 

Thanks AC. 

14 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

i have read this ... several times over the days.  i have nothing clever other than: this is war

Thank you, Tim. The last line about being toyed with says the most to me. For someone like a foot soldier, it seems like all their decision-making powers has been removed from them. That's war and that's sad... 

12 hours ago, MichaelS36 said:

It took some nerve to 'go over the top'. They knew what was up there, what they'd be facing, but really there was no choice but to. Cowards were shot, you stood a better chance with the enemy. 

These are achingly sad, painful to read but they should be required reading.  But war isn't always so dirty now, what with bombs and drones, but then perhaps these should be doubly required. 

Thanks AC. 

Thank you, Mike. Your comments make me wonder if the order of these poems were published in the order they were written. Why that would matter is because the war started with lots of quick movements and countermovements as the Germans initially were able to pull to within 20 miles of Paris, within range of their big guns. But later, defensive lines were drawn and it became the war of attrition that we know of.

I think this poem is from after that stage, while a poem like No. 19 (which mentions blooming asters - a late summer/early fall flower) are from the first weeks and months of the war. Anyway, it's interesting to consider the order. 

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts and support. I really appreciate it