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NO MEN ARE FOREIGN – JAMES KIRKUP, , James Kirkup:, , , , , 23rd April, 1918 – 10th May, 2009, An English poet, translator and travel writer, He wrote over 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays., , Summary:, , , , , , , In the first line the poet says that no men are strange and no countries foreign. So he is, attempting to remove the borders from the earth which have been erected to separate, different countries. Then only no country will be foreign. The poet wants to convey the, message that the entire earth is one and all the people who live on this earth belong to one, human race. He says that beneath all the uniforms worn by people of different countries,, the body of the human being is the same breathing the same air given by nature. All the, soldiers are our brothers – we all walk upon the same ‘mother earth’ and upon our death,, shall lie in the grave in the same earth. The poet says that there is no difference between, the body of a citizen of one country and the citizen of another country, only the clothing, created by men is different., “They” in the second stanza refers to those people belonging to other countries. We call, them foreigners and discriminate them and also fight with them. The poet says that nature, has given all the bounties to all people just like he has given to us. Everyone gets, sunlight, air, water in equal measure which means that god doesn’t differentiate between, people of different countries. We all do farming during the time of peace, when there is, no war. We live a relaxed life and eat the things given to us by nature. The way we starve, and suffer during war and winter’s time is the same for everyone. The poet aims at, showing that we suffer and prosper together. We have the same hands as they with which, we work very hard to earn our daily bread., The poet requests the readers to remember that the people of other countries, whom we, think to be our enemies, have been bestowed by god with similar appearance like us., They have eyes like ours which open when awake and close when we are asleep. Apart, from physical similarities we also have emotional strength which can be won by love. He, advises love as the remedy of war. He also says that each land, whether we have visited it, or seen with our own eyes or not, has life. Life springs in every corner of the earth. These, lively things want to live and strive and laugh. They don’t wish for war or death. The, poet urges to understand and recognize this. If we can recognize and understand their, feelings and realize that they are like us, then there will be no fights or wars among us.

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, , , , In the fourth stanza the poet says that we should remember that whenever we are told to, hate a person from another country, to think of him as our enemy then we deprive,, condemn and cheat ourselves. Killing another human being is not the solution to our, problems. When we are in a state of war, both the countries lose many human beings - no, side wins, everybody in a war loses. The poet tells us to remember this whenever we, decide on picking up the arms., In the final stanza the poet tells us to keep in mind that whenever we pick weapons, against any person, we make the earth dirty because weapons kill people and their death, bodies which fall on the earth make it dirty. With war we disrupt our natural balance,, disrespect god and make the earth impure. Whenever war happens dead bodies lay on the, barren ground and there is fire everywhere. The poet provides us a horrific picture of war, and warns us against it. The fire of war which erupts, the smoke which comes out, and, the dust which fills the air – it is so dirty that it pollutes and outrages the purity of the air., As a result we should never engage in war., , Notes:, , , , , , , , The poem was published in 1966., The poem talks about the impact of war on the life of people., The poem calls attention to the fact that humans are all the same, despite the differences, in race, geography or language., The poet emphasizes the fact that people of different countries have same physical,, mental and emotional experiences. They are in no way different even though they wear, different clothes and speak different languages. When we hate others and wage war, against them, we defile our own earth., Kirkup makes a comparison to the similarities in the human body between people who, live at different places to state that all are equal. Except for the man-made division in the, name of border and fences, or languages or ethnicity, all of us basically live the same life.