19 pages • 38-minute read
my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell
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The Unspeakable Nature of War
The word “war” never comes up in Brooks's sonnet, yet war remains the central theme as “my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell” is a part of a series of poems about war. Sticking to this specific sonnet, the absence of the word “war” suggests that war is unspeakable or too horrifying to put into words. Of course, before heading off to war, the speaker is articulate and can use words to order the things in his life, like bread and honey. After the soldier tells the things, “Be firm till I return from hell” (Line 4), the speaker pivots to war, and the faculty for precise language disappears.
Hell stands in for war because hell describes a place that defies human understanding. It's a place no living human can bear witness to because it belongs to the mysterious realm of the afterlife. Brooks mixes hell and war to bolster the unfathomable horror of such an experience. It's as if the soldier is heading off into a demonic, nonhuman world. The only word spoken here is “Wait” (Line 7)—a term that highlights the interminable torment of hell. The “puny light” (Line 8) and “devil days” (Line 9) further the dark, satanic picture of war. Indeed, war is not a visible sphere capable of clear representation: it's hellish because there are no words to accurately represent what this soldier sees and endures.
The Meaning of Time
The theme of time occurs in the sonnet’s title, “my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell.” The verb “wait” and the preposition “after” connect to time. “Wait” indicates the speaker can’t attend to their “dreams” and “works” at this moment in time. The soldier's hopes and activities—the things he wants to pursue and accomplish—are on hold. Now is the time for something else—“hell”—and “after” the soldier spends time in the hellish war, if he still has “such legs” and “such heart” (Line 11), time can “resume” (Line 10), and the speaker can “remember to go home” (Line 12). Then, it’ll be time for the speaker to attend to his “dreams” and “works.”
Through the theme of time, Brooks illuminates the difference between the soldier’s life at home and while fighting in the war. At home, the soldier can be a human. He has control and can organize things to his “will” (Line 2). He is not in a precarious state or worried about losing his legs or heart. Conversely, the soldier's time in the war leaves him powerless. He can’t eat, fulfill his wants, or communicate clearly. At war, wordlessness and haziness define time. The soldier hears only “Wait” (Line 7), and the “puny light” (Line 8) hampers visibility.
Time outside of war means honey and bread—sweet foods that link to spiritual sustenance, as many passages in the Bible use honey to represent positivity. In Exodus 3:8, God promises to liberate the Jews from slavery in Egypt and shepherd them to “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Time inside war links to religion, but not in a good way. War summons the specter of Satan, God’s enemy, as the speaker hopes he’ll be ok after “the devil days of” his “hurt” (Line 9) are through.
Although it feels like time goes from the speaker at home to at war to back at home, the timespan may be less expansive. Perhaps the entire poem takes place during the time the soldier holds the honey and stores the bread. In this interpretation, the speaker doesn’t go to war in the poem but imagines how war will be and the best outcome once the war is over. Here, the theme of time relates to the soldier’s psyche and ability to construct the horrors of the war he’s about to confront.
Good Change and Bad Change
In Brooks’s sonnet, there’s good change and bad change. The positive change must wait, as this involves the soldier transforming his lot in life by attending to his dreams and works. Of course, the soldier can’t focus on his hopes and labors yet because his life is about to change, as he’s heading to war or hell. This is a bad change, and the change in environment compels the soldier to try and crystalize his pre-war life. He tells the “little jars and cabinets” (Line 2), “Be firm till I return from hell” (Line 4). The speaker doesn’t want them to change because any change they undergo won't be caused by him but by something negative—his experiences at war. The speaker wants them to stay the same so when he gets back he can resume changing them to his “will” (Line 2).
What scares the speaker is that he’ll change in such a way that he becomes “insensitive” (Line 13) to the honey, bread, and things he cared about before the war. Through the theme of war, Brooks discusses the theme of how change can be detrimental. The war can hideously transform the speaker—it can leave him without legs or a heart. It can also compromise his purity and capacity for love. Thus, the speaker doesn’t want the war to change him because, if it does, it means it has made him coarser. The speaker wants to stay the same during the war. In Brooks’s poem, it doesn’t seem like war can produce a benevolent change in a person. War can only change a person for the worse.
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