American Literature / Unit 17 AML 1616 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Randall Jarrell and "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner"
Captions available
The idea
Jarrell studied under Ransom, Tate and Warren at Vanderbilt, roomed with Lowell at Kenyon, and served as a control tower operator in the Army. His best-known poem appeared in Little Friend, Little Friend in nineteen forty-five, written from inside a bomber's gun position.
In practice
A war poem spoken from the turret.
Where people slip
He was also a feared critic of poetry.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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