Flying the Flag in Bosnia

Flying the flag in Bosnia

Her face is hidden by her hands,
But the hands are enough.
She is slumped by the cross
That bears her son’s name,
Crudely lettered.
An old woman
Whose hair is parted
Straight down the middle.

On one arm of the cross,
Some keys and a wallet.
Below, between two lighted candles,
A full cup of coffee,
Left by the grave digger.
Draped on the cross
A shirt, almost new,
Creases still crisp from the iron,
Is unfurled by the wind
Like a flag,
In a country which already has
Too many.

By Derek Power

1. Comment on the tone of this poem and say how the poet makes the poem poignant to readers

Ans:
The tone of the poem is meant to make the readers feel sad when they read it. " Her face is hidden by her hands" shows that the woman was grieving about something and as you continue to read, you will see the reason why she is in such a depressed mood----she had just lost her son, as can be seen from "she is slumped by the cross which bears her son's name". She is an old woman and the death of her son had a great emotional toll on her. Overall, this poem is to express the sense of despair and hopelessness that wars bring as can be seen from " Like a flag in a country which already has too many."

2.Explore the various devices used by the poet and say what attitude / purpose the poet has in writing.

Ans:
The poet uses the poetry device "simile" in "a shiry, almost new, creases still crisp from the iron, is unfurled by the wind in a country which already has too many", he likened the shirt which is draped across the cross to a flag in a country which has "too many". This has two meanings. Firstly, "too many" could be used to refer to too many shirts, thus it could be used to say that there were a lot of shirts similar to the one in the poem, hanging on crosses all over the country, thus saying that there were many casualities, people were dying. Secondly, it could be used to say "too many" refers to too many flags, presumely flags of foreign counties, it could refer to that the country, Bosnia, has been invaded many times by foreign countries and the people had enough and thus yearned for the day when they could be independent.
The author is writing to show that he is against wars, in the face of all the sadness and woes that they bring, he is probably trying to use his poem to reach out to people and urge them to bring a peaceful change to the world