Randall Jarrell - Poetry

Randall Jarrell was an excellent language teacher who once stated, “If I were a rich man, I would pay money for the privilege of being able to teach.” He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1942 to 1946 and while serving, he wrote and published a volume of poems. His writings seem to reflect his experience in the military as well as the classroom.
In his poem “Losses,” Jarrell writes about war and death that war brings. He also states that death that comes by way of war is like any other death. He also talks about being in an airplane and coming to death by way of plane crash and how it wouldn’t be an accident, but a mistake. He gives a few details as to the air planes, and the medals they receive, their maps, and the cities they destroy. He is showing how death by war has a lesser importance because these types of deaths are looked at as being casualties.
The poem “The Death of the Ball Turrett Gunner” made no sense to me. I do not know what his intent was with it. They only thing I can make of it is it refers to death again. However, “The Girl in the Library” shows how a girl is in a library and has fallen asleep. The narrator shows her depth of sleep and what she may be dreaming about. The writer sees the sleeping girl as making an excuse for herself stating that she isn’t really asleep and she is really just sitting there studying. I think overall he is saying that her time in the library is insignificant. I am not sure why he thinks this way, unless he feels as a woman, her real place in life doesn’t focus on getting an education, but that she should be focusing on something more because her dreams of a real education is just a ridiculous thought. I think this poem is mainly a focus on how woman shouldn’t dream too much, because as a female, her dreams should only be just dreams because some things are just an impossible concept for women.