A Critique of War: "First Fight than Fiddle" goes beyond "Casabianca"

War is a controversial issue in some parts of the world. This fact is well illustrated in the present with conflicts such as the constant fighting between Israel and Palestine. These wars cause significant destruction and suffering yet they still occur because of the passions involved in fighting. As a result, an effective solution will have to address these natural human passions and steer them away from use in battle. Furthermore, hope for a better future can encourage fighters to put down their weapons. These issues are addressed in the poems “First Fight then Fiddle” and “Casabianca”, which both provide a critique of war. However, “First Fight then Fiddle” more effectively leads the reader to avoid war by providing a message of hope and a positive solution to strife through music. In contrast, Casabianca offers no such hope and even seems to suggest a path towards glory through heroic self-sacrifice in an unavoidable war.

In the opening octet of “First Fight then Fiddle”, the distinction between music and fighting is initially blurred. The phrase “Muzzle the note” combines music and gun terminology. Likewise, “Bewitch, bewilder” portray aggression that can be applied to a musical performance as well as war. These lines seem to describe war-music, which is the type of music that can inspire passion in the fighters. Likewise, the structure of the poem indicates that music precedes fighting. The octet about music occurs before the sestet about fighting in contradiction to the order presented in the title. This structure indicates that the desire for music is a motivation for fighting just as much as fighting precedes the opportunity to play music. The author clearly believes that such a melding of music and war leads to pain with the phrase “hurting love”. This is not unlike “Casabianca” which also focuses on the negative consequences of fighting. In this poem, the destruction of war, symbolized by the fire, is more explicitly made clear. Descriptions of the fire, which “wrapt the ship in splendour wild,” portray the consuming ferocity of war. Also, the line, “fragments strewed the sea,” portrays war’s ultimate destructiveness in a gritty way as those fragments could be young Casabianca as well as the ship. Although “Casabianca” has more explicit negative imagery of fighting, such imagery alone is not enough to make an effective anti-war message. Rather a good critique should offer both a message of hope and a solution that steers human passions away from fighting.

“First Fight then Fiddle” offers a new type of music as a solution to war. In the latter half of the octet, the author begins to separate music and war. The line “Devote The bow to silk and honey,” portrays music in softer, sweater terms. At the same time, the following line, “Be remote A while from malice and from murdering,” shows that such kinder music can actually lead away from fighting. Clearly, the author is trying to steer the reader away from war music and the idea that music is a legitimate reason for war. She is also offering music as a potential solution to fighting. This idea is more explicitly stated in the last two lines of the poem: “For having first to civilize a space Wherein to play your violin with grace.” Here, the author offers hope for a “happy ending” by literally breaking the pattern of strife in the sestet. Furthermore, the rhyme scheme separates these two lines from the rest of the poem since “space” and “grace” do not rhyme with the closing words of the other lines. Again, the author is implying that the solution offered in the last two lines will break away from the pattern of war for the sake of music. However, the author alludes to the fact that the solution has not yet been implemented. Preceding the last two lines, the phrase “Rise Bloody” is an order to rise out of fighting and into music for peace. The word “bloody” is a reference both to the fighting of the past and present and serves as a reminder that the fighting still has not ended. As a result, the author gives the reader a sense of urgency to implement her solution. Ultimately, the musical solution is highly effective because the author takes the device (music) previously entangled with war and turns it into a cause of peace. Such a message allows the reader to keep remain passionate for music and use this passion for peace.

On the other hand, “Casabianca” offers no such resolution and even ruins its own critique by presenting noble imagery of war. First off, the poem ends on a very downbeat note with the fragments of Casabianca and the ship strewn in the sea. The reader can only come out with the conclusion that war is bad, something that the reader should already know. Without a solution, the reader might just accept war as an unsolvable situation. The reader’s position is exactly paralleled by Casabianca’s position. He initially cries out to his father “If yet my task is done?” He continues to plead for the order to abandon the ship and escape from war. However, there is no answer to his cries similar. Both the reader and Casabianca are left with no answer and no solution to escape the war. Furthermore, the poem glorifies Casabianca and the opportunities for bravery in war. The young boy is described as “beautiful and Bright” and as “A creature of heroic blood”. His beauty is further enhanced by the image of “his waving hair.” At the same time, the fire illuminates the boy for the reader to visualize his beauty and bravery. Furthermore, the “wreathing fires” suggests a memorial for the boy. As mentioned earlier, fire is a symbol for war. Thus, war has allowed Casabianca to be glorified and immortalized at the cost of his life. The alternative scenario implies that escaping war to preserve life is unworthy of mention. Had the boy simply decided to abandon his post, there would be no glory, memorial, or elegy. He would have simply been forgotten along with the other sailors who fled. As a result, the poem glorifies the human passion to appear brave and glorious in war despite the problems that result from the misuse of these passions. Also, the glorification of Casabianca’s beauty and bravery in combination with the lack of a solution to war could cause the reader to latch onto the dangerous message that war is unavoidable and that death at the hands of war is noble. Such reasoning will only propel people to die gloriously in war instead of trying to avoid strife by diverting human passions to peace.

Ultimately, “First Fight then Fiddle” is a highly effective critique of war precisely because the author made it her agenda to divert the reader’s passions away from war. The author also went beyond “Casabianca” by doing more than just describing the negative aspects of war. As a result “First Fight then Fiddle” provides a solid model for avoiding war and leading to peace. With the issue of war remaining a prevalent one, more people should give this poem a careful read. Due to the fact that the anti-war message is cleverly codified rather than explicitly stated, the reader will need to read the poem several times to extract the full meaning. However, the author’s agenda will hopefully become completely clear after the reader has taken time to dissect the structure, language, and content of the poem. Hopefully after uncovering the message of “First Fight then Fiddle,” the readers can discover how to better put their passions towards peace instead of war.