Ball Turret Gunner Poem Annotation

The poet s own explanation of the poem was a ball turret was a plexiglas sphere set into the belly of a b 17 or b 24 and inhabited by two 50 caliber machine guns and one man a short small man.

Ball turret gunner poem annotation. 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. And second it isn t going to be a unicorns and rainbows kind of poem. Randall jarrell the death of the ball. The death of the ball turret gunner from my mother s sleep i fell into the state 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.

It was a manned turret as distinct from remote controlled turrets also in use. Hunched upside down in his little. Already a well known poet and professor jarrell had enlisted in the army air corps in 1942 but washed out of the flight part of his pilot s training program. The death of the ball turret gunner summary.

Six miles from earth loosed from its dream of life i woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below he revolved with the turret. Home poetry the death of the ball turret gunner. Jarrell who served in the army air forces provided the following explanatory note.

Hunched upside down in his. Jarrell was very aware of meter and form in his poetry so it is a good bet that he didn t write this poem in free verse lacking any set structure of rhythm or rhyme just by chance or out of la. A ball turret was a plexiglas sphere set into the belly of a b 17 or b 24 and inhabited by two 50 caliber machine guns and one man a short small man when this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below he revolved with the turret. Out of that new war in the air came the most anthologized poem of the war the only world war ii poem most readers know death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell.

The death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell. General notes on poem structure. The turret held the gunner two heavy machine guns ammunition and sights. 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.

From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. The death of the ball turret gunner randall jarrell. 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.