The Uniform Poem & PTSD

The Uniform That Never Comes Off

            In the poem, “The Uniform” by Marvin Bell, it possessed the literal meaning of the effects of war through the memories of a veteran. The deeper meaning beyond the words on the page reflect how the physical scars of war do not compare to the mental and emotional wounds left bleeding by the life you managed to hold onto, escaping from the battlefield.  The line in the poem which resonates the strongest in the reader is how a “wounded eardrum wasn’t much in the scheme of things” (line 28), reflecting how deeply the pain of war haunts the veteran.

            “The Uniform” possesses enough flow to guide the reader through the speaker’s memories of the war and his attire.  The speed of the poem itself is slow yet meaningful, with a hint of casual tone to allow the reader to relate better; making the speaker seem down-to-earth and not aloof, which might make empathy a little more difficult.  With a more subtle underlying tone of passion and power in the words, this alludes to the speaker trying to connect with someone on a personal level, perhaps someone he cares about.  However, it does change slightly towards the end when it sends of a more humorous yet sarcastic vibe, perhaps reflecting that the speaker has accepted his trauma but refuses to let it rest inside.  This flow and movement compliment with the style and form of the poem, being in free verse, allowing Bell to morph the meaning into the diction.  Overall, the ton and tempo of the poem evokes empathy and care from the reader, carrying the message along easier.

            To all poems, there is a very strong literal meaning and a figurative one.  In “The Uniform”, the more literal meaning is an account of a soldier listing off some of his memories he has from the war he lived through.  From the textual evidence such as the mention of the “rifle bolt” (line 22), the “motor” (line 16), and “cigarette filters” (line 24) alludes to the timeframe of World War II (WWII).  Then when the reader’s mind delves deeper into the poem, the figurative meaning is how veterans suffer greatly from the distress of the war and how it haunts them.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the condition doctors give out to veterans who suffer from the ghosts of war returning each night or through their day, which is what the poem is trying to portray.  This underlying meaning becomes clearer when Bell tells us that the speaker’s wounds weren’t the only things that affected him in the last line of the poem.

            A poet makes use of the English languages’ beautiful literary devices.  A few of them, which appear in the poem, are imagery, metaphor, simile, didactic poetry, and personification.  One of the most crucial literary devices used is imagery because the speaker conveys visual stimulus by allowing the minds of the reader to picture the “rack of wheels down [his] chest” (line 4) and “the crushing steel pot” (line 21), which deepen the effect that the veteran’s memories have on the audience.  Then the speaker appeals to our tactile senses as well as our organic ones in the lines, “a wounded eardrum” (line 28) and how the veteran “[felt] behind [his] head, across [his] shoulder blades” (line 25).  The real metaphor throughout the poem comes through in how the speaker compares aspects of his memories to other things, further enhancing the images within the readers’ minds; which are paired with lines reflecting personification.  Then didactic poetry is used by Bell in how the message of the poem tells the audience of a message or moral of how internally rotting PTSD has on veterans.

            In the world we live today, wars don’t have to occur.  With all the new technology and advancements in peace, wars are rare.  However, once we bring our boys home, few know how the war followed them home.  No one else can see it, no reporters are sending out awareness, and not many talk about it.  Bell has attempted to share this concept to the world through poetry, and after researching PTSD, every six men in every ten suffer, every five women out of ten suffer, and one in every five veterans have it.  This affects the readers because of war’s commonplace in society; people have veterans in their family or as friends, which can ‘hit home’ for most audiences.  The poem really opens up the minds of those suffering and allows the audience to accept and truly empathies with their pain.  Bell is almost calling his audience to be moved into action with his diction and imagery.

To address a topic as difficult and moving as veteran trauma after war, Bell equips himself with the right tone, literary devices to make it powerful, and a strong structure to generate an emotional reaction from the reader, allowing the meaning of the poem to sink in.  With all this in place, the reader takes away some of the burden our veterans possess as well as acceptance for human struggles and human nature.  However, Bell posses a question towards the end, inferring from the speaker’s pain: is war necessary?  When does the wars really end, if ever?