‘THE WAR LORD’ Poem

Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow

THE WAR LORD

Cut, thrust, plunge
Slash, slit, stab
Starve, maim, shoot
Torch, burn, scar

The trumpets herald you with regal glory
Epaulettes glisten and medals gleam

Plunder, loot  and steal
Blind, brand, rape
Curse, crush, kidnap
Smash, torture, kill

Your arrival is welcomed with carpets of steel
Ramrod backed your subjects hail you

Bind, bludgeon, bury
Garotte, impale, castrate
Order, imprison, enslave
Censor, cajole and destroy
Your scarlet cape billows as you sense fresh converts
Ever more shrill their praises grow.
Barren, bleak, blackened
Shattered, sterile, stricken
Torn, poisoned, defiled
Bloodied, emtombed, rotting

The prize presented on some stolen silver
A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world.

Questions

(a)    Briefly explain what the poem is talking about.  (3mks)
(b)    What is the attitude of the persona to the warlord? Elaborate your answer. (2mks)
    Explain the relevance of having separated words for stanza one, three, five and seven. (3mks)
(c)    Explain the irony in the poem.  (3mks)
(d)    What is the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem?                
(i)    The trumpets herald you with regal glory.
    Epaulettes glisten and medals gleam.  (2mks)
(ii)    The prize presented on some stolen silver.
    A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world.  (2mks)
(e)    Apart from irony, which other stylistic device has been used in the poem?  (2mks)
(f)    Identify one thematic concern of the poem. (3mks)

THE WAR LORD ANSWERS

(a)    The poem talks about an army that is approaching a village and the things that are done by the army – cutting, thrushing, slashing etc.  The reaction of the people is that of subservience, for they are barren, bleak, blackened, shattered, sterile, and stricken.
(b)    The poet is contemptuous towards the warlord.  The warlord’s actions are condescending and the poet doesn’t admire what they do.
(c)    The separated words reveal the kneejerk decisions made that aim at destruction e.g. cut, thrust, plunge etc.  they mimick the destruction meted on the people by the members of  the warlord’s army.
(d)    As the warlord strives to concur, he destroys what he/she desires to concur.  The praises he gets are as a result of coercion that is why it is ‘shrill.’
(e)    (i)      Glory awaits the warlord – with regal glory and glistering epaulettes.
    (ii)      Through the warlord is overjoyed by all the “success” the people concurred are unhappy their voices are sharper and sharper.
        Metaphor – ‘A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world.’
Effects of war
The citizens groan under the atrocities committed by the warlord and his/her army – The plunder, rape, castration, torture, killing etc have devastating effects on the citizens.