1943

In the poem 1943 by Donald Hall, the wording and diction of the poem waiver from a very safe, domestic feeling to a vulnerable, independent feeling. The general gist of the poem is talking about the war. About how, when so many souls are lost in the curses of war that people can live on with normal and safe lives back at home.      I love how the poet starts with the title being 1943, giving the insinuation that the events that he is describing is about WWII, and then he immediately starts with talk of the war at home, but in the next stanza, Hall continues describing the war, but more-so from a soldiers perspective. The author waivers between perspectives in each stanza; hence, the stanza structure.
     The part of the poem that was chilling was the point of connection between these different perspectives of safe suburban life and dangerous battle life. Specifically, the last line of the poem is this point: "...with frostbitten feet as white as milk." The author describes the milk in his domestic perspective and the storming troops as his war perspective and the last line is where the connection is made.
     I mostly like this poem for the fact that it waits until the last line to break the connection of the subjects he is talking about in the preceding four stanzas, so when you realize he is connecting the two life perspectives all along, it magnifies the poems meaning ten fold.