‘Come On, Come Back’Stevie Smith

Stevie Smith (19O2-1971), real name 'Florence', was born in Kingston upon Hull, but spent most of her life living in North London with her aunt, working for Newnes Publishing Company. She was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1969.

Although this dramatic poem is set in a ‘future war’, some of the references in the poem seem to point to previous

wars, including the Napoleonic Wars and World Wars One and

Two.

Austerlitz, now a part of the Czech Republic, was officially under Austrian

control in 1805 when Napoleon’s troops, in what became one of his greatest victories, defeated the Russian and Austrian armies

at the Battle of Austerlitz.

The town of Memel (now Klaipėda) came under German rule after the Napoleonic war, although it is a coastal town in Lithuania. After World War One, control of the area was disputed, but eventually settled in 1923 after the Memel Convention was

signed there by Britain among others, and an autonomous region called Memelland was created. In 1939, the territory was seized back by Hitler’s German forces and became increasingly anti-semitic, leading to its 1300 Jewish inhabitants

being expelled.

Stevie Smith's war is both ancient and modern: she evokes images from the Napoleonic age, but also

the modern world in which chemicals are used to

harm or kill people. Her poem was written in the 1950s, and she will have

known all about such things as Zyklon-B, the gas used on the Jews in Nazi

death camps.

You should compare this poem with other poems about the same themes: sadness and loss: 'Futility', 'The Falling

Leaves', 'Poppies'; death: 'Out of the Blue', 'Mametz Wood',

'Hawk Roosting'.

Left by the ebbing tide of battle

On the field of Austerlitz

The girl soldier Vaudevue sits

Her fingers tap the ground, she is alone

At midnight in the moonlight she is sitting alone on a round flat stone.

This is a strong metaphor — when the ‘tide’ goes out it leaves random objects stranded.

The image of the waves crashing against each other and coast symbolises the violence of

the battle.

'Austerlitz': the poet imagines a future battle on an old battleground.

Austerlitz is now in the Czech Republic, but in 1805 it was in

Austria. It was here that Napoleon and his French troops defeated the

armies of Russia and Austria.

The unusual combination

of her being a girl and a soldier is unsettling

— it sounds like a contradiction. This

poem invites thought about at least two issues. One is the

traumatic effects of war. Another issue is

whether or not women should fight

as soldiers. The number of women in professional armies is very small and many

soldiers don't welcome women in what they see as an

essentially male environment. Few

armies allow women to fight on the front line on the ground, though there are

women who think they should.

Alliteration emphasises the moonlight and creates

an eerie setting.

The word ‘alone’ is repeated for emphasis. The poet wants the reader to

sympathise with Vaudevue, a young female soldier who has just returned

from a battle at Austerlitz.

Graded by the Memel Conference first

Of all human exterminators

M.L.5.

Has left her just alive

Only her memory is dead for evermore.

She fears and cries, Ah me why am I here?

Sitting alone on a round flat stone on a hummock there.

The imaginary conference on killing suggests how seriously war is still taken in the future, In the

poem, Stevie Smith imagines that the ‘Memel Conference’ has

graded ‘M.L.5’ as the ‘first/Of all human exterminators’. Smith

leaves the language deliberately ambiguous, but there are arguably reminders of the

extermination camps used by the Nazis in World War Two.

'Memel': the German name for a coastal town in Lithuania. Stevie Smith imagines it as the location of a Conference assessing

methods of exterminating human beings. Memel came under German rule after the Napoleonic Wars and Nazism became

popular in Memel. When the Nazis were elected to govern it in 1938 the Jewish population began a mass exodus. Lithuania

handed Memel back to Germany without resistance.

This is a chilling, clinical, impersonal word.

Although she has survived, she has

been badly injured and has lost her

memory. so she's feeling very

confused and disturbed. The

fourth, fifth and sixth line of this stanza creates a

disturbing description of how

shocked and traumatised she is.

A 'hummock‘ is a little hill.

The line lengths are a mixture of short and long, which creates a rambling,

conversational feeling, and makes the story seem even more unpredictable. There is

some random rhyme, half rhyme and internal rhyme which is sometimes

unsettling because it is unexpected. It makes the reader confused, just like Vaudevue.

A made-up name for a chemical.

Rising, staggering, over the ground she goes

Over the seeming miles of rutted meadow

To the margin of a lake

The sand beneath her feet

Is cold and damp and firm to the waves’ beat.

The words ‘staggering’ and the

‘seeming miles’ emphasise

Vaudevue's struggle and confusion. The

use of alliteration of the letter ‘s’ suggests

a sinister atmosphere.

The ground is difficult to walk over — this

contrasts with the sand at the end of the stanza.

The physical qualities of the sand contrast with Vaudevue's vagueness.

The sand is unsteady beneath her feet is ’firm’ unlike her uncertainty and

perplexity of her situation.

Quickly – as a child, an idiot, as one without memory –

She strips her uniform off, strips, stands and plunges

Into the icy waters of the adorable lake.

On the surface of the water lies

A ribbon of white moonlight

The waters on either side of the moony track

Are black as her mind,

Her mind is as secret from her

As the water on which she swims,

As secret as profound as ominous. 

‘plunges‘ means to suddenly throws herself forward but

suggests a sudden decision and movement. One of the

characteristics of Stevie Smith's poetry is an unexpected choice of words - such as 'adorable' in the

next line. This adjective makes the lake sound innocent and appealing

A smooth, peaceful image which sounds

tempting to an injured soldier.

Ice baths are often used for

healing.

This may be a reflection of the moon on the water but sounds unreal and dreamlike.

Emphasises the damage that has been

done to Vaudevue. She doesn't know

what's happening or what she's doing.

The word ’profound’ refers to something deep and thoughtful. The word

‘ominous’: suggests that something bad is going to

happen.

Vaudevue is so distressed that she suddenly strips off and jumps into the

lake.

Weeping bitterly for her ominous mind, her plight,

Up the river of white moonlight she swims

Until a treacherous undercurrent

Seizing her in an icy-amorous embrace

Dives with her, swiftly severing

The waters which close above her head.

Repeating the word ‘ominous’ makes

the sense of doom stronger.

The oxymoron of ‘icy-amorous’ adds to the eerie atmosphere. The word ‘icy’ suggests cold, isolated and possibly painful. The word ‘amorous’ is usually linked

with love. The word ‘embrace’ is usually used in a positive

way. The image suggests that she is being held in death’s

arms therefore personifying the undercurrent.

The words ‘seizing her’ again personify

the undercurrent that kills her.

Alliteration emphasises the speed of what is happening. There's a double meaning to

"severing" — the undercurrent cuts through the water, and also cuts off

Vaudevue's life.

The narrative voice is very impersonal, even though

what happens in the poem is very dramatic. The reader

might feel sad about Vaudevue's death even though the narrator is

detached

An enemy sentinel

Finding the abandoned clothes

Waits for the swimmer’s return

(‘Come on, come back’)

Waiting, whiling away the hour

Whittling a shepherd’s pipe from the hollow reeds.

An enemy soldier finds Vaudevue's clothes next to the lake and waits for her to come

back. Vaudevue doesn't come back though because she is already dead.

‘Come on, come back’ is the title of a war song.

Repeating the title song reminds the reader of all who have been lost, not

just Vaudevue. Key words are also repeated to give the poem a cold, deathly

feel.

Alliteration of the letter ‘w’

emphasises the time passing

slowly.

In the chill light of dawn

Ring out the pipe’s wild notes

‘Come on, come back.’

 

Vaudevue

In the swift and subtle current’s close embrace

Sleeps on, stirs not, hears not the familiar tune

Favourite of all the troops of all the armies

Favourite of Vaudevue

For she had sung it too

Marching to Austerlitz,

‘Come on, come back.’

The mention of ‘Austerlitz’ reminds the reader of the

beginning of the poem when Vaudevue had survived the

battle. There are several references throughout the poem to places associated

with past wars. The refer to war are both historic and futuristic, suggesting that war and its casualties are

universal and time.

There's a sense of irony that Vaudevue and her enemy have the same favourite

song

There are no brackets around the song title this time, it's as if the music's getting louder.

. The fourth line suggests enemies have some things in common and therefore she

again highlights the futility of war.

The short, sad drama creates a powerful poem of terror, despair and

loss. The imagined song, 'Come on, come back' (words which have links

with each stage of the drama), suggests one of those sad and

haunting tunes ('Lili Marlene'? 'The Londonderry Air'? 'September Song'?) which everyone knows and everyone shares - including 'all the troops of all the armies', many of whom will never

'come back'.

The events in the poem are told in chronological order, starting just after Vaudevue fights in the

battle at Austerlitz. The last three lines of the poem link back to this

battle, creating a circular effect.

The poem ends sadly as the reader knows Vaudevue won't come back because she's

dead.