Triumphal March by T.S Eliot

1. TRIUMPHAL MARCH
By T.S Eliot
1888-1965
Masuma Ahmed

2. PAGE 211 in The Oxford
Book Of War Poetry!

3. THE TITLE /märCH/
Verb; Walk in a military manner
with a regular measured tread.
Great Parade
Triumphal March
/trīˈəmfəl/
An adjective; Made, carried
out, or used in celebration of a
great victory or achievement

5. In Ancient Rome, when there was a triumph, there would
be a march through Rome with all the things they captured
from the enemy.
T.S Eliot used this idea but in a modern context

7. The general would wear a wreath
Cold, flat tone which had oakleaves around it.
Harsh material
Stone, bronze, stone, steel, stone, oakleaves, horses' heels
Over the paving.
And the flags. And the trumpets. And so many eagles.
How many? Count them. And such a press of people.
We hardly knew ourselves that day, or knew the City
This is the way to the temple, and we so many crowding the way.
So many waiting, how many waiting? What did it matter on such a
day
Are they coming? No, not yet. You can see some eagles.
Speech within poem Images of objects, flags, and
trumpets are seen in most marches

8. Julius Ceaser always used to
wear a laurel wreath.
He only started wearing it
because of the onset of his
baldness

9. Reference to Ancient
Sense of sound
Rome
And hear the trumpets.
Here they come. Is he coming?
The natural wakeful life of our Ego is a perceiving.
We can wait with our stools and our sausages.
What comes first? Can you see? Tell us. It is
Sense of sight

10. Absurd collection
Exaggeration—Statistics of weapons used
in modern warfare
5,800,000 rifles and carbines,
102,000 machine guns,
28,000 trench mortars,
53,000 field and heavy guns,
I cannot tell how many projectiles, mines and fuses,
13,000 aeroplanes,
24,000 aeroplane engines,
50,000 ammunition waggons,
now 55,000 army waggons, You can’t really march
with 11,000 field
11,000 field kitchens kitchens, but it shows
1,150 field bakeries the statistics of the
warfare

11. The poem mainly focuses on quantitative
features, although there is one qualitative feature
which is the leader. And can also be the temple
however there is little attention paid to this.

13. Still waiting for the
general to come
What a time that took. Will it be he now? No
Those are the golfclub Captains, these the Scouts,
Funny French
And now the société gymnastique de Poissy group
And now come the Mayor and the Liverymen, Look
There is he now, look:
Something dead
There is no interrogation is his eyes about him
Or in the hands, quiet over the horse's neck
And the eyes watchful, waiting, perceiving, indifferent.
O hidden under the dove's wing, hidden in the turtle's breast,
Under the palmtree at noon, under the running water
After the still point of the running world.
O hidden
Dove- symbol of peace
– Ref. to Nature Images of Nature (ref.)

15. Ancient
Now they go to the temple. Then the sacrifice.
Now come the virgins bearing urns, urns containing
Dust Ashes of dead people
Dust Big vases
Dust of dust, and now
Stone, bronze, stone, steel, stone, oakleaves, horse’ heels
Over the paving
Repetition

16. The continuity of the temple and triumphal
marches in Rome was in the temple of
Vesta, the temple of eternal light. After the
sacrifice, the Vesta “virgins” come bearing
the ashes of the dead referring back to “dust
of dust”. After this the march continues and
the parade is over.

17. Refers back to the quantitative detail of the
war
That is all we could see. But how many eagles! And how
many trumpets! Ref. to Ancient Rome
Modern Times (next
(And Easter Day, we didn't get to the country,
So we took young Cyril to church. And they rang a bell
And he said right out loud, crumpets.)
Don't throw away that sausage,
slide)
It'll come in handy. He's artful. Please, will you
Give us a light? Cigarette
Light
Hope ?
Light
Et les soldats faisaient la haie? ILS LA FAISAIENT

18. (And Easter Day, we didn't get to the country,
So we took young Cyril to church. And they rang a bell
And he said right out loud, crumpets.)
The ending of the finale is concluded with an ironic
substitute “Easter” spent in the country.

19. As the small light flares in to “Light Light” the
poem closes on a question

20. Translation:
French to English
Et les soldats faisaient la haie? ILS LA FAISAIENT
The soldiers created hatred. They created it.

21. The poem conceals hope in the form of light (symbol)
which is not perceived by the onlookers in the parade.
We can infer that the poet is trying to say, there is
always hope no matter what, even if you cannot
visibly see it.
NEVER LOSE HOPE!

23. The poem tells us about a march into a city celebrating victory in
war. T.S. Eliot tells the reader the cost of war, both in terms
of economics and human waste. He also tells us how it is human
nature to enjoy a type of entertainment; in this context the
march, and power while ignoring the disgusting details of what
is left behind. In the triumphal march an extraordinary array of
humankind's destructive weapons is on display (quantitative
detail). However in the meantime the citizens are in awe of the
objects on display (flags and trumpets). He also shows that men
and women die in war and become ash under the feet of those
who remain living.

24. The tone is quite cheery in the beginning, and is
a bit like a conversation, it also has a humour
tone where the poet exaggerates on the
quantity of the weapons and materials used in
war.

25.  There is no definite rhyme scheme, however
there are the odd rhymes such as; “ eagles”
“people”, “way” “day”
 Stanza’s also have no definite number of
lines, this could mean that there is no definite
answer to war
 Enjambment is used throughout the whole
poem, can suggest there is no stopping in
war, you just have to continue no matter where
you are

26. • Reality of war
• Nature
• Death