Poetry Response 7

When first reading the poem "1943" by Donald Hall, I didn't really understand it. However, when we went over it in class it made a lot more sense. Sometimes I forget to consider a poem's title when reading or analyzing it. It's an easy and sometimes very confusing mistake that I think I made when first reading this poem. When I finally remembered that probably the title had some sort of significance in the poem, the first two stanzas made perfect sense. I got a little confused when the poem started talking about milk, but when it was mentioned in class that milk can be a symbol of sustenance or youth, the image became a bit clearer. It seems like Hall is making a statement about how in WWII troops fought hard so Americans could continue to enjoy a high standard of living where we take things like milk and cream for granted. The milk reference could also tie back to the first stanza, where he's talking about high school, to illustrate the loss of childhood when young men went off to war, and their longing to return to a simpler time in their lives. Figuring this out explained all but one line of the poem to me, and made it much more impactful. The line that still didn't make sense was the very last: "--with frostbitten feet as white as milk." Someone in class mentioned that frostbite isn't white at all, but when I think about it, the simile can still make sense because feet would turn white before frostbite can have its full effect, because the blood will leave the feet in order to keep more important body parts warm. It could be possible that the color of their feet in the cold reminded Hall of the "frozen cream [that] lifted the cardboard lids of glass bottles." This makes for a gruesome, yet meaningful and fitting image of what soldiers in WWII had to go through. This poem overall has a dark feeling, but it really makes you think.