Stanzas (When a Man Hath No Freedom to Fight for at Home) Literary Elements

The narrator is an interesting character; he is ostensibly praising courage and bravery, but there is a harsh edge of irony to his voice, making this poem rather ambiguous.

The poem generally alternates between anapestic tetrameter and anapestic trimeter, with multiple variations and exceptions.

The image of a man charging into battle while dreaming of the glories of Greece and Rome only to anticlimactically get "knock'd on the head" is a striking image, vaguely functioning as a metaphor for the unrealistic expectations people have of war.

Assonance: "To do good" (ln 5)

This poem is full of irony. Byron's tone is slightly earnest but largely sarcastic, as evidenced by lines such as "Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome, / And get knock'd on the head for his labours", as well as "Then battle for freedom wherever you can / And, if not shot or hang'd, you'll get knighted." It can also be seen in the seemingly innocuous phrase "is always as nobly requited," meaning that even if you sacrifice yourself for the good of someone else, they probably won't do the same for you.

War poetry, commentary, anti-war poetry

Early nineteenth-century England

Light, ironic, ambiguous

Protagonist: the man who is wise enough to discern when is a correct time to enter a war. Antagonist: either his foolishness or the forces he is fighting against.

The major conflict in this poem is in the mind of the reader when he decides whether or not to engage in a war for the benefit of someone else. Byron is subtly encouraging him to sway one way on the issue.

Byron concludes the poem by saying that, if you join the war, "if not shot or hang'd, you'll get knighted." This concluding line emphasizes the terrible risk to one's own life for the small reward of a title, perhaps undermining the argument for engaging in the war at all.

When Byron writes the line "Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome," it paints too glorious a picture - it's out of keeping with his ironic tone. This grandiosity foreshadows the anticlimax of the next line, which reads, "And, if not shot or hang'd, you'll get knighted."

"And, if not shot or hang'd, you'll get knighted."

This is an understatement of the rewards of engaging in war; the flippant reference to knighthood serves to dismiss the rewards as not worth the risk.

Byron alludes to the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, which, by legendary tradition, were full of heroes one might look up to for models of glory.

"Neighbors" is metonymic for "those in surrounding countries or other situations."

N/A

"To do good to mankind is the chivalrous plan / And, is always as nobly requited;"

This is clearly ironic hyperbole; since man is inherently selfish, chivalry and selflessness are not always nobly requited.

"Knock'd" and "shot" are somewhat onomatopoeic as descriptions of undesirable things that could happen to a person in battle.