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    A Study Guide for Phyllis McGinley's "The Conquerors"
    A Study Guide for Phyllis McGinley's "The Conquerors"
    A Study Guide for Phyllis McGinley's "The Conquerors"
    Ebook36 pages27 minutes

    A Study Guide for Phyllis McGinley's "The Conquerors"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Phyllis McGinley's "The Conquerors," 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateAug 26, 2016
    ISBN9781535835893
    A Study Guide for Phyllis McGinley's "The Conquerors"

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      Book preview

      A Study Guide for Phyllis McGinley's "The Conquerors" - Gale

      1

      The Conquerors

      Phyllis McGinley

      1960

      Introduction

      Phyllis McGinley’s poem The Conquerors, which was published in her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Times Three in 1960, deals with a topic that she did not often write about. Known in her time as a suburban housewife poet and a writer of light verse, McGinley most often wrote about domestic topics, things that happened in the home, in the suburbs, things that happened, as she was to say, outside her window. The topic of The Conquerors, however, influenced by the destruction caused by World War II, is the weapons that are employed in fighting and killing and massive and epic battles or wars.

      McGinley, in the book The Writer Observed, describes the difference between her so-called light verse and the poems with more weighty material. In the book, she states that she has arrived at a distinction between the two: the appeal of light verse is to the intellect and the appeal of serious verse is to the emotions. And so it is with this poem, The Conquerors, that McGinley appeals more to the intellect than to the emotions when she asks readers to look at the absurdity of war. The main thrust of the poem is even more specific: she asks that Americans in particular, with their pride soaring over the creation of their newest weapon of destruction—the atom bomb—look within themselves to re-examine their conscience. In an attempt to bring the American consciousness out of its misguided use of scientific discovery and to inspire Americans to regain a sense of morality with regard to human life, she mocks those who might boast of killing masses of people with one small bomb. Her poem reminds Americans, or anyone who reads it, that there is nothing to be proud of in any kind of war. She does this in a deceivingly light tone, however, almost to the point of making her readers laugh. But this does not diminish the message. It is just McGinley’s way of delivering it.

      Author Biography

      Phyllis McGinley was a poet who, no matter what subject matter she focused on, would seldom, if ever, hear her poetry referred to as anything other than light verse. Born on March 21, 1905, in Ontario, Oregon, and writing her first poem at

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