The Ball Turret Gunner Poem

The death of the ball turret gunner is a five line poem by randall jarrell published in 1945.

The ball turret gunner poem. The father of t s. The poem is only five lines. Think of it this way. More about this poem the death of the ball turret gunner by randall jarrell about this poet.

Hunched upside down in his. The death of the ball turret gunner summary. And second it isn t going to be a unicorns and rainbows kind of poem. 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.

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. Garp the main protagonist in john irving s fourth novel the world according to garp 1978 is a severely injured ball turret gunner. The death of the ball turret gunner is a fantastic example of what poetry is capable of. The death of the ball turret gunner by 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. 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 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.

When this gunner tracked with his machine guns a fighter attacking his bomber from below he revolved with the turret. From my mother s sleep i fell into the state and i hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. 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 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.

Six miles from earth loosed from its dream of life. It is about the death of a gunner in a sperry ball turret on a world war ii american bomber aircraft.