My Friend Attacks My Friend!
poem 118
My Friend Attacks My Friend! - meaning Summary
Taking Sides, Violent Impulse
The speaker watches two friends fight and impulsively adopts a role in the skirmish, shifting from supporting to satirizing. Martial imagery and ironic tone compress social conflict into an exaggerated, almost comic battle. The final lines escalate to a hyperbolic, misanthropic fantasy of annihilation and escape, revealing frustration with interpersonal hostility and a wish to end the spectacle rather than repair it.
Read Complete AnalysesMy friend attacks my friend! Oh Battle picturesque! Then I turn Soldier too, And he turns Satirist! How martial is this place! Had I a mighty gun I think I’d shoot the human race And then to glory run!
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