The Story of Uriah
The Story of Uriah - meaning Summary
Transfer, Bureaucracy, Fatal Irony
The poem narrates the fate of Jack Barrett, a British soldier reassigned from healthy Simla to harsh Quetta and dying soon after. It frames his death as a consequence of indifferent military bureaucracy and ill-considered transfers, mixing dark irony and gallows humor. The speaker imagines posthumous reckoning for those who send men to dangerous posts, highlighting colonial administrative callousness toward ordinary soldiers and their distraught families.
Read Complete AnalysesJack Barrett went to Quetta Because they told him to. He left his wife at Simla On three-fourths his monthly screw. Jack Barrett died at Quetta Ere the next month's pay he drew. Jack Barrett went to Quetta. He didn't understand The reason of his transfer From the pleasant mountain-land. The season was September, And it killed him out of hand. Jack Barrett went to Quetta And there gave up the ghost, Attempting two men's duty In that very healthy post; And Mrs. Barrett mourned for him Five lively months at most. Jack Barrett's bones at Quetta Enjoy profound repose; But I shouldn't be astonished If now his spirit knows The reason of his transfer From the Himalayan snows. And, when the Last Great Bugle Call Adown the Hurnai throbs, And the last grim joke is entered In the big black Book of Jobs. And Quetta graveyards give again Their victims to the air, I shouldn't like to be the man Who sent Jack Barrett there.
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