Destruction In Saki's Birds On The Western Front

As the various battles of war pause in Saki’s “Birds on the Western Front”, the air settles allowing the torn up landscape to emerge from the sounds of gunfire and clouds of dirt. Transpiring through the settling dust are the wounded soldiers and panicked birds both attempting to survive in the rare moment of peace. These events take place near a “stricken wood” (Saki 547) destroyed by the course of war. The imagery depicting the landscape throughout the paragraph provides insight on the destruction and sorrow caused by the war.
Initially, Saki describes the “stricken wood” (547) as ravaged to the point where it looks as if “the artillery of an entire Division had suddenly concentrated on” (547) it leaving only fallen branches. The imagery of what was once a great forest illustrates that the war has devastated and ruined the landscape. The war was not waged on the forest, yet the war led to its destruction exposing how war ruins the landscape upon which it takes place. Throughout the paragraph, the repetition of …show more content…
At first a small bird around the wounded soldiers confuses them (547) because they see no reason for an animal with wings to stay. Yet, these soldiers do not consider the possibility of this bird having young ones nearby for which it must care. Even if they knew, the soldiers would expect this bird to desert its young as opposed to protect and care for them. The suffering of the soldiers is so great that they can only think of escaping the war zone. Similarly, before the war a magpie in a forest would have meant nothing. However, now a single magpie flying low echoes an old superstition: “one for sorrow” (547), showing how the war has skewed the meaning of life. Both the oddity of the bird’s maternal behaviour and the magpie’s flight in the war zone echo of how the war has brought upon new norms such as destruction and