Ball Turret Gunner Explained

The death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell is a poem that speaks of both the roughness of war and sometimes the all too real worthlessness of life. Permanently fixed and unable to be retracted there was no hiding from enemy attack. We know two things right away about the death of the ball turret gunner first we aren t going to miss the new episode of glee because it was assigned for homework reading seriously this thing is only 5 lines long.

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It was characteristic of jarrell to see the soldier as a sacrificed child and he relates this to maximum effect in.

Ball turret gunner explained. The death of the ball turret gunner summary. If you had to write something in prose dealing with the complexity and emotion of big subjects like life death and war it would take you way more than 5 sentences to get it done. The death of the ball turret gunner from my mother s sleep i fell into the state. It is about the death of a gunner in a sperry ball turret on a world war ii american bomber aircraft.

It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use. The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights. The death of the ball turret gunner is a five line poem by randall jarrell published in 1945. The death of the ball turret gunner is a fantastic example of what poetry is capable of.

The ball turret gunner was one of the most dangerous assignments in world war ii. Ball turret gunners on b 17 bombers were protected only by a glass bubble jutting out from the bowels of the plane. From my mother s sleep i fell into the state the academy of american poets is the largest membership based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting american poets. The death of the ball turret gunner is a conceit or extended metaphor.

A ball turret was a spherical shaped altazimuth mount gun turret fitted to some american built aircraft during world war ii the name arose from the turret s spherical housing. A ball turret gunner is one of the most dangerous jobs of any airborne crew member. Upon squeezing into this plexiglas dome the gunner has little or no room to maneuver. And second it isn t going to be a unicorns and rainbows kind of poem.

From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Randall jarrell s poem the death of the ball turret gunner can be found in many anthologies and is his most well known work published in 1945 it drew directly from his own involvement with military aircraft and airmen during ww2. Hear the story of how william carter was drafted into wwii and became a b 17 ball turret gunner. The ball turret was a feature of the bomber aircraft a b 17 or b 24 made of plexiglass and set into the belly of the plane.

It was an enclosure that at any time could become an airman s. Think of it this way.