Extract I
i)Kasper was the old man. His grandchildren Peterkin and Wilhelmine were with him. They were sitting in the sun before their cottage door.
ii)Kasper shook his head with a sigh to reflect his disappointment at the war that took place years ago only to devour innocent lives.
ii)The skull was found beside the small stream where Peterkin was playing. The skull belonged to one of the many innocent people who lost their lives in the tragic war. The poor fellow became a victim of the war.
iv)The skulls were a common sight there. Many of them could be found in the garden or in the field that Kasper used to plough.
v)The victory of England in the war of the Spanish Succession (1702-1715) is referred to here.
Duke of Marlborough and Savoy’s Prince Eugene were responsible for this victory.
Extract II
i)The cause of the war in which many innocent people were killed is being discussed here. Peterkin and Wilhelmine were innocent grandchildren of old Kasper. Peterkin was questioning his grandfather, Kasper.
ii)The adjectives ‘young’ and ‘little’ are important to highlight the innocence and purity of Peterkin and Wilhelmine. It is through their innocence that the poet , has condemned the war.
iii)‘wonder-waiting eyes’ is used for Wilhelmine, who was expecting to know the cause of the war from her grandfather. The figure of speech used here is alliteration.
She looked up with such eyes because she could not comprehend the cause of the war. It filled her with wonder. She anticipated to get a favorable answer from Kasper.
iv)The battle was fought between the English and the French forces. Peterkin was not given a satisfactory reply. Kasper did not know the cause of the war but still referred to the victory as great. It shows that a common man’s ignorance and complacency about the cause and purpose of war.
v)Kasper was a farmer. He was loving grandfather as he spent time with his grandchildren and tried to answer their queries. Kasper was an old man, who was disappointed with the outcome of the war. However, he was complacent about the cause of war and had accepted the loss of innocent lives as the inevitable price of victory in the war.
i)The country referred to is Blenheim, which is the English name for the German village of Blindheim, situated on the left bank of the Danube River in Bavaria in Southern Germany. It refers to the death and destruction caused by the war.
ii)The speaker tells that during the war his father lived by a stream at Blenheim. As a result of the war, his father’s house was burnt which forced him to flee with his wife and child, Kasper. They were thus rendered homeless.
iii)‘Childing mother’ is a phrase used for a mother expecting a baby. The poet specifically refers to the deaths of childing mothers and newborn babies to underline not only the horrors of war but also the irony of a famous victory.
iv)The speaker has been conditioned by the perpetrators of war in such a way that he readily accepted the loss of innocent lives as the price for victory in the war. I pity for the speaker as he sighed at the sight of a poor fellows skull but his conditioning was such that he justified war.
v)After Blenheim has a scathing criticism of the horrors of war. it shows that international diplomacy, politics and war are matters which are cut off from the lives of common men. In an outburst of praise for the heroes who won the war Old Kasper reveals the typical inability of an ordinary citizen to grasp the reason why the war took place.
Extract IV
i)They refers to those who must have reported the entire battle scene and its after effects to Kasper.
ii)The sight was shocking because the war was won at the price of thousands of lives. The sight of many thousand bodies lying rotting in the sun was gruesome.
iii)The tone is ironical and sarcastic. The poet wants to question the utility of waging a war, which causes destruction of both human lives and property.
iv)Old Kasper appears to be a farmer by profession. He lived in a cottage in a countryside, where there was a stream nearby and he mentioned that he used to find many skulls while ploughing the field. This indicates his profession.
v)The devastation caused by war is reflected through the following: The presence of skulls all over the field, Kasper’s family rendered homeless when Kasper’s father’s dwelling was burnt, The deaths of expecting mothers and newborn babies, The gruesome sight of dead bodies lying on the battle field and rotting.
Extract V
i)Duke of Marlbro was an English General. He was the Commander of British forces in the War of the Spanish Succession. He was praised because he defeated the French forces.
ii)Prince Eugene was an Austrian General, born in France. He is referred to as ‘our good Prince Eugene’ because with Marlborough, he defeated the French at Blenheim.
iii)Wilhelmine did not approve the praise that Duke and Prince Eugene received because she considered their act of killing innocent people in the name of victory was wicked.
Yes, her comment is appropriate as it is the common man who has to suffer where the politicians and the rulers escape and idly boast of wars.
iv)The poem disapproves of any war as it brings with itself death, devastation, loss and grief. The poet conveys that great victories are rendered useless when everything else is lost.
v)The poem is relevant as it has a universal appeal. The poem is timeless and can be read irrespective of the time it was written. It is the common man and innocent children who suffer in a war. Modern politicians dismiss the deaths of innocent people in war by referring to them with the impersonal phrase: collateral damage.