free write

After watching the videos of ball turrets, the poem had the same meaning to me. I already knew somewhat what the turrets were like and how cold and unpleasent they were. I still read the poem and think of how crappy of a job it is, but how brave the men who did it were.


I think the biggest reason Randall Jarrell had the motivation to write a poem like this, is because he really wanted to be a pilot but failed to qualify. So the next best thing he could do if he couldnt fly was to write and study flying. He did work as a control tower operator which gave him constant exposure to planes and flying.


Knowing the authors backround information would be very helpfull to have if I were to write a close reading paper about the poem. Thats because if you know the authors backround then you know his major reasons for writing the poem.