The poem "Channel Firing" describes a night when loud gunfire from military exercises stirs the dead in a country churchyard. The dead initially think the noises signal the Day of Judgment but are told by God that it is just another war. The poem reflects on the futility of war and questions whether humanity will ever become more peaceful.

1. English Final project By Marie Kim

2. Channel Firing Channel Firing is a poem written in the beginnings of the great war. Many people have enjoyed this poem ever since it was written for its simple message and truth.

3. My Reading of the Poem That night your great guns, unawares, Shook all our coffins as we lay, And broke the chancel window-squares, We thought it was the Judgement-day And sat upright. While drearisome Arose the howl of wakened hounds: The mouse let fall the altar-crumb, The worms drew back into their mounds, The glebe-cow drooled. Till God called, “No; It's gunnery practice out at sea Just as before you went below; The world is as it used to be: All nations striving strong to make Red war yet redder. Mad as hatters They do no more for Christés sake Than you that are helpless in such matters. That this is not the judgement-hour For some of them's a blessed thing, For if it were they'd have to scour Hell's floor for so much threatening... Ha, ha. It will be warmer when I blow the trumpet (if indeed I ever do; for you are men, And rest eternal sorely needed).' So down we lay again. `I wonder, Will the world ever saner be,' Said one, `than when He sent us under In our indifferent century!' And many a skeleton shook his head. `Instead of preaching forty year,' My neighbor Parson Thirdly said, `I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.' Again the guns disturbed the hour, Roaring their readiness to avenge, As far inland as Stourton Tower, And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.

4. Vocab that may be needed to know the contents That night your great guns, unawares, Shook all our coffins as we lay, And broke the chancel window-squares, We thought it was the Judgement-day And sat upright. While drearisome Arose the howl of wakened hounds: The mouse let fall the altar-crumb, The worms drew back into their mounds, The glebe-cow drooled. Till God called, “No; It's gunnery practice out at sea Just as before you went below; The world is as it used to be: All nations striving strong to make Red war yet redder. Mad as hatters They do no more for Christés sake Than you that are helpless in such matters. That this is not the judgement-hour For some of them's a blessed thing, For if it were they'd have to scour Hell's floor for so much threatening... Ha, ha. It will be warmer when I blow the trumpet (if indeed I ever do; for you are men, And rest eternal sorely needed).' So down we lay again. `I wonder, Will the world ever saner be,' Said one, `than when He sent us under In our indifferent century!' And many a skeleton shook his head. `Instead of preaching forty year,' My neighbor Parson Thirdly said, `I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.' Again the guns disturbed the hour, Roaring their readiness to avenge, As far inland as Stourton Tower , And Camelot , and starlit Stonehenge . Chancel: The front area of the church Glebe-cow: a cow put out on to pasture on church land Stourton Tower: a tower in Wiltshire, built in the honor of Alfred’s victory over the Danes (in UK) Camelot: King Arthur’s court, a legendary capital Stonehenge: mysterious circle of huge stones made by prehistoric people in Europe

5. Summary of Poem There is gunfire in the British Channel In a country church, the dead were woken because of the loud noise, and they think that it is their death day again. God tells the dead that it is another war The dead lay down to rest again and wonder when the world will stop fighting.

6. Poetry Devices Used Allusion rhyme tone metaphor imagery figurative language personification

7. Allusion A reference to a historical, mythical, place, event, movement, or a historical person The Last Stanza Again the guns disturbed the hour, Roaring their readiness to avenge, As far inland as Stourton Tower , And Camelot , and starlit Stonehenge . Stourton Tower- historical Camelot- Mythical Stonehenge- prehistoric

8. Rhyme- That night your great guns, unawares, Shook all our coffins as we lay, And broke the chancel window-squares, We thought it was the Judgement-day example one

9. Example 2 & 3 And many a skeleton shook his head. `Instead of preaching forty year,' My neighbor Parson Thirdly said, `I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.' Again the guns disturbed the hour, Roaring their readiness to avenge, As far inland as Stourton Tower, And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.

10. Tone- The voice of the poem The tone of Channel Firing is obviously sad they convey this feeling and voice with a lot of examples.

11. Example 1 stanza 4 -All nations striving strong to make red war yet redder means that all the nations of the start of World war 1 was prepared to kill each other

12. Example 2 My neighbor Parson Thirdly said, `I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer.' filled with regret for...

13. Example 3 Just as before you went below; The world is as it used to be

14. Figurative Language “ Making red war, yet redder” example one This basically means that they are making a bloody war, bloodier

15. example 2 The mouse let fall the altar-crumb, The worms drew back into their mounds, This just explains that the gunfire was louder than another for the animals to be shocked

16. Personification Roaring their readiness to avenge Guns do not ready to avenge, that’s just giving it a human characteristic

17. Imagery As you read this poem, you can suddenly hear gun fire and you can picture a night where all peace was disrupted... Why?

18. Imagery Hardy touches mostly upon one of the six senses, which is sound. examples Arose the howl of wakened hounds I blow the trumpet the guns disturbed the hour

19. Thomas Hardy Hardy was the son of a mason and studied architecture He also began to write fiction and published many books such as The Return of the Native After he married, his wife encouraged him to write poetry.

20. Hardy had always preferred poetry anyway, and he published quite a few poetry books too. Some of his books never got published because it was too simple and controversial

21. Understanding Hardy’s Style Hardy tended to write poems or stories about the reality of human nature and and analysis of the human condition. His writing style was very simple, but conveyed the meanings well. He also wrote a lot of war poems. Most of them have different ideas, so there is no clear-cut opinion of war.

22. Main Point of the Poem The main point of this poem is showing how stupid mankind is to have fights/wars It also tells the truth of war, of how horrible it is

23. Reference Webster, Loren. &quot;In a Dark Tim...The Eye Begins to see.&quot; 2001. 20 Jan 2009 < http://www.lorenwebster.net/In_a_Dark_Time/2001/10/09/channel-firing/ >. Smith, Keith . &quot;Thomas Hardy.&quot; 2001. universalteacher.org. 20 Jan 2009 < http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/poetry/hardy.htm >.

24. Link to visual presentation http://kisdiggesenglish.wikispaces.com/Mariek13

25. visual two since the 1st visual was too short, I made another visual :D