"Poem [To Margo Heinemann]"
This poem is essentially an autobiographical love-letter, written by the narrator (who is meant to resemble Cornford) and his lover (who is meant to resemble Cornford’s activist girlfriend Margot Heinemann). The poem describes how the narrator is at war and it is only his love for his girlfriend that keeps him sane. The narrator fears the shadow of death and urges his beloved to remember the strength of their love. The narrator clearly believes that death is coming for him—specifically in Huesca. As a result, this poem can be perceived as a “last letter” from the narrator to his girlfriend. She embodies his hope and love. The poem concludes with a plea from the narrator. If he should die, the narrator wants his love to “remember all the good” she can.
"Full moon at Tierz: before the storming of Huesca"
This is another poem written by John Cornford about his time spent on the battlefront. In this poem, Cornford recounts the strange ideas of past, present, and future. He describes the past as a glacier—moving ever closer to a nearby mountain. As time passed, it inched closer and closer to the mountain wall before crashing and disintegrating. The glacier and mountain are likely metaphors for the moment at which we transition from the past to the present. Cornford then describes the present as “a cataract” that breaks down banks “event at its source.” In this stanza—the second stanza—the cataract allusion is likely a metaphor for the clouded way we tend to stumble through the present, never fully aware that we are, in fact, living in the present. In this stanza, Cornford refers to the present as the time during which history forms in our hands. In other words, the present is a tumultuous time—one in which we must literally live in the moment. The final stanza discusses the future. Cornford refers to the future as a set of intersecting lines. He argues that future is a much more abstract concept, as it has no image, no tangible existence. He explains that we are all the future. We have no choice but push onward—to follow the twisted and uncertain road that will guide us into an equally uncertain future.
"Sergei Mironovitch Kirov" is a poem about prominent Bolshevik leader from the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Kirov was unexpectedly assassinated in 1934 in one of his offices. Many blame Joseph Stalin and the NKVD for Kirov’s death. As a result, this poem is essentially a testament to the last moment of Kirov’s life—just before his unexpected death. Cornford comments on the fact that nothing in life is certain, nor safe. He suggests that each day is simply an upset and overturning of the day before. This all refers to the fact that Kirov was not expecting the assassination. He had no clue that his days were numbered—no clue that is life would end on that fateful day in 1934. Cornford then comments on the frailty and violence of humankind. He notes that birth—our very entrance into this world—is bloody and traumatic. He suggests that humankind is a destructive and cruel species, one that destroys others. He then concludes the poem by questioning what precisely it was that sealed Kirov’s fate. Though we may never, Cornford attests that Kirov’s shadow will grow “longer as time recedes.” In other words, his death will not have been in vain and his actions and death will live on in infamy.
