A Study Guide for Randall Jarrell's "Losses"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Randall Jarrell's "Losses," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535827669

Book preview

09

Losses

Randall Jarrell

1945

Introduction

Losses, by American poet Randall Jarrell, was first published in Jarrell's second collection of poems, Little Friend, Little Friend, in 1945. In that year, World War II ended, and the poems in that collection are war poems. The title refers to the code that bomber crews used to call in fighter planes over their radios. The speakers in Losses are the young airmen who made up the American bomber crews in the war, flying their B-17s, B-24s, and B-29s over Europe and Japan in an effort to destroy the enemy's ability to continue the war. The title refers to the many deaths that resulted from these bombing raids, not only of the airmen themselves but also of the people in the cities on which the bombs fell. Jarrell is considered the finest American poet to write about World War II, and Losses, with its unusual presentation of the way the young airmen think and feel about the tasks they have been called upon to perform, is representative of his work in this area.

Author Biography

American poet and critic Randall Jarrell was born on May 6, 1914, in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of Owen and Anna Campbell Jarrell. The family lived in California from 1915 until Jarrell's parents separated in 1925 and his mother returned to Nashville with her two sons. Jarrell showed an interest in writing and drama while at school, after which he attended Vanderbilt University, majoring in psychology and graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1936. He then enrolled in a master of arts program at Vanderbilt. During his years at Vanderbilt, Jarrell studied under Fugitive