John Peale Bishop was a poet, essayist, and soldier who served in WWI. In his poem "In the Dordogne", he vividly describes the daily routines and experiences of soldiers through imagery of nature, religion, and the impending specter of death. He conveys disillusionment with the war, seeing the wasted lives of young men, but finds solace in nature's persistence despite humanity's destruction.

1. John Peale Bishop
1892-1944
By Taylor-Mae Atkinson

3. • John Peale Bishop was born in Charles
Town, West Virginia, on May 21 1892.
• He had exceptional literary abilities, many
of his peers describing him as a ‘poetic
genius’
• His talents extended within various fields
of literature, including being recognised as
an: essayist, fictional writer, critic and poet.
• Once he had graduated from Princeton
university, he was commissioned First
Lieutenant in an Infantry and served
overseas in Europe during World War I.

4. In the Dordogne
Page 203

5. The poem appears to be
arranged in 5 stanzas, all of
roughly equal lines (between 7-
11 per stanza.) This proves to
be of importance as it could be
John Peale Bishop trying to
convey to the reader the idea
of military organization during
the War. The structure of this
poem could reflect how the
War was very strict and that
rules and regulations existed,
in order to maintain a sense of
discipline amongst the soldiers.

6. Major themes:
Reference to nature
Death
Authority
Religion
Courage
Futility of War

7. In the Dordogne
Immediately the pronoun makes us
question:’ who is ‘we?’ As a reader,
further into the poem I gain the
impression that it may be John Woke, before the
Peale Bishop himself along with his world
infantry.
We stood up before day The candle could
And shaved by metal mirrors possibly act to
reflect hope.
In the faint flame of a faulty candle.
Repetition of: ‘Faint’, ‘flame’, and ‘faulty’ – the ‘F’
sound is quite a dominant, powerful sound. Could
reflect the power of War.

8. The stray enjambment, and varying line lengths
could actually reflect the physical movement of The ‘stone’ could have
the soldiers ‘hurrying’ down the stairs. connotations of the hard
exterior/shell that the soldiers
need to portray during a War.
And we hurried down the wide stone stairs
The chains could With a clirr of spur chains
illustrate that the
soldiers feel both
psychologically
and physically
‘locked up’. On stone. And we thought
‘chained down’ by
the thoughts in When the cocks crew
their own minds Reference to nature,
and ‘chained’ by gives the idea that
their physical state despite the sheer
or injuries. horror of War the
birds still sing.

9. A supernatural feeling arises.
Are the ghosts (the dead
However, it is quite ironic that soldiers) trying to escape the
John Peale Bishop describes the pain of the War that lies
ghosts as if to ‘rise’ despite the within them? They tried to,
fact that they are already dead. but it was no good, hence
they gave up and ‘they
That the ghosts of a dead dawn stayed’
Would rise and be off. But they stayed
Under the window, crouched on the staircase,
The windows now the color of morning.
Represent the physical The staircase is critical within this poem.
posture of the soldiers. The reason for this is because it could act
symbolically to almost represent a
downward decent into the ground, into
death. The soldiers are basically walking to
face their death (similar to how many
soldiers walked to their deaths in the line of
fire.)

10. A barrier against
The colonel slept in the bed of Sully loss of innocence,
the ‘white wall’
Slept on: but we descended could be a source
of protection.
And saw in a niche in the white wall
A virgin and Child, serene
Biblical allusion:
reference to the ‘serene’ has connotations of: calmness and
bible. Despite the tranquillity- which contrasts significantly with the
War, the soldiers still War time environment.
have this faith in
religion.

11. .
‘saw’ makes reference to our senses- ‘sight.’ Lifelessness/coldness of the
The idea that the poet can witness all of this ‘stone’ contrasts with the
suffering and devastation, but he is also growth and life of the
able to witness the beautiful things in life ‘sycamores’
such a ‘sycamores’
Who were stone: we saw sycamores
Repetition of the ‘s’ sound, is the use of sibilance. This creates the
‘hissing’ sound in ones mind and it has very ‘snake-like’ connotations.
This links in to the biblical references of the this stanza, the evil snake
that tempted Eve. This juxtaposes with the ‘Virgin and Child’.
Three aged mages Does this make reference to the three
wise men?
Scattering gifts of gold.
But when the wind blew, there were autumn
odors
Sensual- reference to smell in this stanza.

12. Excellent use of imagery throughout the
poem: ‘shadowed trees’ and ‘scattering gifts Also, constant reference to
of gold.’ nature, which can be
compared to Birdsong by
Sebastian Faulks.
The ‘shadowed trees’ could act to foreshadow the
deaths of the soldiers, later on in the poem.
And the shadowed trees Young
Had the dapplings of young fawns. deer.
Contrast between the ‘shadowed trees’ and the ‘young fawns’
this gives the impression that out of darkness (shadows) comes
light (youthfulness/growth). This also gives a sense of hope.

13. This stanza can be compared to a
small extract from ‘The Testament
of Youth’ by Vera Brittain by which
It’s almost as though, there have
she describes the Western Front as:
been so many deaths that its no
‘Littered with the festering remains
longer personal. It’s just another
of THOUSANDS of corpses.’ This is
one added to the masses of
a way in which John Peale Bishop
dead.
portrays the true horrors of the War,
to the reader.
And each day one died or another
Died: each week we sent out thousands
That returned by hundreds
Quite ironic as Britain
claimed to be this big,
strong and powerful
country and yet the death
toll was unimaginable.

14. End stopped, creates emphasis on the
methods in which the soldiers were
killed.
Wounded or gassed. And those that died
We buried close to the old wall Is a former
province of France
Within a stone’s throw of Perigord
Under the tower of the troubadours.

15. Gives the impression that he may have
thought the War to be completely pointless,
hence the repetition of ‘courage’ gives the
understanding that the courage that the
young men had, should be used for
something WORTHWHILE- indicating that
the War was not.
And because we had courage;
Because there was courage and youth
Ready to be wasted; because we endured
And were prepared for all endurance;
Again, this can be linked to another extract from Vera Brittiain’s
‘Testament of Youth’ by which she also compares the War to
having ‘achieved nothing’, similarly to how John Peale Bishop
describes it as a waste of ‘courage and youth’

16. The use of colons and semi-colons
creates the impression that he is
listing all of what he and the rest of
the soldiers were led to believe for the
sake of the War. The idea that they
were given false pretences.
We thought something must come of it:
That the Virgin would raise her Child and smile;
The trees gather up their gold and go;
Again, this poem is stocked with the
theme of religion. This line highlights
Personification of the trees, the
the idea that the soldiers had faith in
idea that even the trees had lost
God, but this faith did not help,
faith and wanted to ‘gather up’ and
because if God did exist why would he
‘go’
allow these thousands of young lives
to be wasted? To be killed
unjustifiably.

17. The repetition of ‘something’ gives the
impression that what it is is unknown. That
the soldiers all had this courage, but didn’t
understand what it should be used for. All
they knew is that it was for ‘something’.
That courage would avail something
And something we had never lost
Be regained through wastage, by dying
By burying the others under the English tower.
The long vowel sounds created when The fact that the soldiers are being buried
saying these words: ‘wastage’, ‘dying’, under the ‘English tower’ is incredibly
‘burying’ are quite drawn out, which could ironic for me. The reason for this is
reflect the deaths of the masses of soldiers because it is England that has ruined
and the long length of time which the War them. It is England that has resulted in
lasted. the death of these innocent young
soldiers. It is England that has destroyed
the lives of so many of their families and
yet they are being buried under the
‘English tower.’

18. The levels of authority were a critical part of War. So
whilst thousands of young men are out on the
frontline defending their country and fighting for their
lives, whilst the colonel is sleeping.
The colonel slept on in the bed of Sully
Under the ravelling curtains; the leaves fell
And were blown away; the young men rotted
The idea that nature has now metaphorically
consumed the life of so many dead soldiers. But
also physically, the idea that the dead bodies are
now ‘rotting’ into the soil and they will soon just
be apart of the scenery.

19. The mood takes an eerie
The ‘shadow’ could act symbolically to portray tone. The feeling of death is
how the soldiers have been forgotten. They prevalent.
have died in the ‘shadow’ of so many others,
that theirs becomes quite insignificant. The ‘silent streams’
could represent the
coldness of the War- the
Under the shadow of the tower harsh realities.
In the land of small clear silent streams
Where the coming on of evening is
The letting down of blue and azure veils
Over the clear and silent streams
Delicately bordered by poplars.
‘Delicately’ could The ending stanza of the poem proves to be incredibly
indicate the fragility of significant. This is because John Peale Bishop leaves us with
life itself. the understanding that despite the horrors of War and the
devastating impact it has- life will still continue. He displays
this to us through the use of nature: the streams will still flow,
night will still fall and the poplars will still grow.