‘The Drum’ by John Scott
John Scott was a Quaker and therefore opposed to all violence. He wrote The
Drum in 1782 but it remained very popular and was reprinted many times during
the Napoleonic era. For centuries what Shakespeare called the ‘spirit-stirring
drum’ had been used by recruiting officers to attract men into the Army.
John Scott wrote this poem beginning each verse with 'I hate the drum's
discordant sound', in response to a patriotic war poem "The Call" by his
contemporary Thomas Osbert Mordaunt which begins with the line: “Sound,
sound the clarion, fill the fife!”
Stanza1 looks at war from the perspective of ‘thoughtless youth’ who want to
fight for their country.
Stanza 2 looks at war from the perspective of an individual who sees war as the
cause of suffering and misery.
Structure
Form – 1st person narrative.
Stanza 1 and 2 give contrasting views of war. Stanza one shows the benefits of
joining the army – ‘charms/arms’ suggests the status and attraction of the
uniform/weapons. However stanza 1 is not entirely positive. Stanza 2 focuses
on the individuals experience and describes the horror and misery war
‘bestows/woes’.
Rhythm is steady and mechanical giving a drum-like sound. There is a repeated
pattern of 4 beats to a line (Iambic Tetrameter):
I hate that drum’s discordant sound
until the last line in each stanza. In the first stanza the pace quickens to suggest
a battle and the young recruits enthusiasm. In the final line the break in tempo
suggests a broken humanity caused by the suffering and misery of war.
Rhyming couplets support the rhythm of the poem which is in keeping with the
beat of drum. In stanza 1 the rhyming couplets support the persuasive call to
arms ‘yields/fields’ whereas in the second stanza they suggest loss of liberty and
misery experienced by the recruits ‘groans/moans’.
Repetition of the first two lines in both stanzas suggests that ‘the drum’s sound is
unpleasant and false rather than an encouragement. The repetition of ‘round,
and round, and round’ conveying a sense of entrapment in the first stanza and
never ending misery and sacrifice in the second stanza. Thus ‘the drum’ is the
cause of ‘thoughtless youths’ becoming ambition in the first stanza and the cause
of misery in the second.
Language
‘Ambition’ and ‘Misery’ are personified in poem and made to appear more
powerful than the individual human. In stanza 1 ‘Ambition voice commands’
suggests that the recruits have traded their freedom for empty promises because
the army now has control over their life and death ‘to march, to fight, and fall.’
Therefore the soldiers become the sacrifice for their nation. The personification
of ‘Misery’ shows the extent of the pain and suffering caused by war which has
not respect for the individual.
The alliteration and consonance of the ‘d’ sound in the first two lines of each
stanza creates a hard, dominant, upbeat sound. In stanza one it contributes to
the ‘lure’ of young men into the army and helps us to recognise the persuasion
that would have been used to recruit. In stanza two it recreates a repetitive
sound which will mirror the relentlessness of the misery and suffering which is
graphically described. The softer sounds in the final line of the poem with
particular emphasis on the vowel sound in ‘woes’, suggesting and cry from the
heart, helps to create a tone of despair and sorrow.
More verbs are used in stanza one ‘yields’, ‘lures’, ‘sell’, ‘commands’, ‘march’,
fight’ and ‘ fall’ which are in keeping with enthusiasm of the new recruit and the
promise of action. The adjectives used such as ‘tawdry’ meaning cheap and ugly
and ‘glittering’ suggesting superficiality indicates the poet’s negative attitude
towards war.
In stanza two graphic language is used to describe the suffering and misery of
war and therefore more adjectives than verbs are used ‘ravaged’, ‘burning’,
‘ruined’, ‘mangled’, ‘dying’ … This vivid description helps the reader to imagine
the pain and suffering caused by war.
The repetition of the connective ‘and’ in stanza two conveys the excessive acts of
violence and waste of life due to war.
Essay title
Explore how Scott uses structure and negative language to convey his
attitude towards war.
Use evidence from the poem to support your answer.
Remember choose your quotations and textual references carefully so that you
can make comments that show insight and strong personal engagement with and
interpretation of the poem.