Analysis of Poem Lament by Gillian Clarke I didn't understand these particular stanzas... Stanza 3 "For the ocean's lap with its mortal stain....

For Gillian
Clarke's poem "Lament," the stanzas shown useand metaphors to describe the realities
of what occurred in the Gulf War. ( is very subjective, speaking to different people in
different ways. These are my perceptions only.)

"For the ocean's lap
with its mortal stain" refers to the blood of those killed that fills the water. (See note
below.)

Gillian Clarke comments on her poem in the following lines:

€˜Lament is an , an expression of grief. It can be a sad, military
tune played on a bugle. The poem uses the title as the start of a list of lamented people,
events, creatures and other things hurt in the war, so after the word €˜lament, every verse, and
11 lines, begin with €˜for."For the ocean's lap with its mortal stain" refers to the
blood of the dead in the water.

"For Ahmed at the
closed border" may simply refer to someone who cannot return home because of the
war.

"The soldier in his uniform of fire" brings to mind a soldier
who is on fire, perhaps the result of a the crash of a vehicle, or being hit by mortar
fire.

"The gunsmith...armourer, The boy fusilier" (soldier who
carries a light musket...gun) all refer to those responsible for making the trappings of war, or
using them. The poet laments (mourns) for them.

"The farmer's sons, in
it for the music" may refer to young men who lived in the country and wanted to be a part
of something bigger, drawn perhaps by radios other soldiers carried, or even for the idea that
people might sing of their exploits as has been done in the past for soldiers.

"For the burnt earth and the sun put out" could speak to the bombing of the
earth that has scorched its surface, and the rising smoke from this that blocks out the sun
because it is so thick.

"The scalded ocean and the blazing well"
brings to mind the terrible heat from missile fire that destroys wells, and the ocean's surface
because Kuwait (where this fighting takes place) rests on the shore of the Kuwait Bay/the
Persian Gulf).

The last line refers to vengeance, and the sorrow the poet
feels for death caused by a need for it; she also mourse for the loss of language, or the loss
of voices to speak the language, perhaps the loss of the opportunity to find words of peace to
stop the fighting.