Make Up Post: Eulogy

In Eulogy Brian Turner describes the suicide of twenty three year old Private Miller. Turner takes a tragic event and paints it in the most picturesque and relaxing light possible. Instead of talking about why Miller might have been on the banks of the Tigris planning on ending his life in the first place he talks about the tower guards eating their usual sandwiches and the seagulls lazily drifting on the river. Even the description of the gunshot is gentle and musical in nature "The sound reverberates down concertina coils the way piano wire thrums when given slack." 

The tone Turner uses in the poem is quietly wistful, despite it being clear that the poem is about a tragic occurrence. This alone gives the poem a very dark and disassociated feel. I think the way Turner describes the peace and quiet of the aftermath of Miller's suicide is indicative of a powerful connection and sympathy for Miller on Turner's part. When reading the poem it sounds like Turner has personal understanding of what it's like to be so torn up and in so much pain that taking your own life feels like a serious option. The poem does a good job of conveying that no matter what you do, the world is going to keep on going. For soldiers locked in conflict, this doesn't feel like the case, and some never recover from the trauma they suffer. In Miller's case, which sadly is not far from the norm for modern soldiers, his burdens simply became too much to carry. Suicide was the only way he could find peace within his own head.

"if only for this moment the earth is stilled,
and Private Miller has found what low hush there is
down in the eucalyptus shade, there by the river"