The poem entitled "Laments," by Gillian Clarke refers to
the horror of war.
To best understand the relevance of the
title, it is important to know the meaning of the word
"lament."
Dictionary.com defines "lament" (used as a noun)
as:
a formal
expression of sorrow or mourning, especially in verse or
song
Gillian Clarke wrote
this poem after viewing pictures posted by photographers of the Gulf War in 1991. The
images of war showed not only the impact of war on the land and the people, but also on
the environment. The poem starts with...
the very foundations of earth, nature (including
the oceans and the animals), progressing to human beings (the soldiers and the natives
who have joined the war
effort).
The sense of
"lamenting" on Gillian Clarke's part is the mourning for all that/who she sees in the
pictures:
"For the ocean's lap with its mortal stain"
refers to blood spilled in the ocean.
"For the soldier in
his uniform of fire" refers to a soldier who has caught
fire.
"For...the ashes of language" refers to the words of
peace that might have ended the war, which have been
destroyed.
The title, then,
is perfectly apt in that the poem revolves around the sorrow Clarke experiences in
seeing how drastically life is fragmented and destroyed because of
war.
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