Summary
Summary Stephen Spender - "A Stopwatch and An Ordnance Map" - Analysis
This is a summary and analysis of the poem "A Stopwatch and An Ordnance Map" by Stephen Spender.
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A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map was included in Spender’s ‘Poems ForSpain’, which was published around the same time as the defeat of the
Spanish republic during the Spanish Civil War. A number of British writers
made the Spanish cause their own and went to Spain to support the
Republicans. Among them was Stephen Spender, who took a keen interest in
politics and declared himself to be a socialist and a pacifist. In 1937 he went
with the International Brigades to The Spanish Civil War. He relieved his
experiences in his book ‘Poems for Spain’.
A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map focuses on the death of an unnamed man
and how his death is marked by his watch stopping at 5 o'clock. The poem
concerns itself with the harsh realities of war as well as the eternal bond of
friendship and comradery.
—------------------------------------------------------------
STANZA 1
The speaker begins by describing the death of a soldier in the Spanish Civil
War. His watch flew off his wrist as he died and it marks the time of his
unfortunate death - 5 o’clock. The poet uses a simile to compare the flying
watch to “a moon struck from the earth”. His death is so monumental that it
feels as though the earth has lost the moon. The man’s situation changes
drastically and immediately before he even has time to react. All this happens
under the olive trees. Historically, olive trees have been a symbol for peace
and friendship - dating back to ancient Greece. Here, it is symbolic of the
bond of friendship between the speaker and the soldier who died.
—--------------
STANZA 2
The war hasn’t stopped, so the soldier’s body continues to lie there. No one
was able to move his body. The speaker says that the man “stayed faithfully in
that place.” The poet depicts the dead soldier as continually present for his
comrades who are still fighting. It is as though he doesn’t want to leave them
behind.
But he is separated from his comrades by a bullet - the bullet symbolises
death. He is distanced from his living comrades. The bullet has divided them
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