"The Death of the Ball Turrett Gunner" by Randall Jarrell

'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner' From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from Earth, loosed rom its dream of life. I woke to the black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose. 'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner' by Randall Jarrell is a poem about a …

…war (line 4). The theme to this poem emerges in the last line with almost a plea that he not be forgotten. When he says 'they washed me out of the turret with a hose' he implies that there is nothing left including the memory of him and the war goes on. Moss 3 Works Cited Jarrell, Randall. 'The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner.' The Harper American Literature. Ed. Donald McQuade. New York: Harper Collins , 1996. 2594.