Death Of The Ball Turret Gunner By Randall Jarrell

The death of the ball turret gunner.

Death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell. 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. The world goes. More randall jarrell sign up for poem a day receive a new poem in your inbox daily. 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.

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. 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. Jarrell who served in the army air forces provided the following explanatory note. Randall jarrell wrote his poem the death of the ball turret gunner in 1945 having recently returned himself from serving in the army air force during world war ii.

Hunched upside down in his. The death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell about this poet poet and critic randall jarrell was born in nashville tennessee. The poem is only five lines. Hunched upside down in his little.

Themselves the trap aging but without knowledge of their age kept safe here knowing not of death for death oh bars of my own body open open.