Question

"Now tell us what 'twas all about,"
Young Peterkin, he cries;
And little wilhelmine looks up
with wonder-waiting eyes;
"Now tell us all about the war,
And what they fought each other for."
"It was the English," Kaspar cried,
"Who put the French to rout;
But what they fought each other for,
I could not well make out;
But everybody said,"quoth he,
"That 'twas a famous victory.

Read the lines given above and answer the question that follow.

Explain with reference to context.

Answer 1

These lines have been taken from the poem ‘After Blenheim’ which is an antiwar poem in the form of a ballad. Robert Southey wrote and published it in 1798. It centers on the most famous battle in the War of the Spanish Succession. Their curiosity aroused, the children ask him about the battle and why it was fought. The English routed the French, he says, in what later generations would call a great and famous victory. However, Kaspar is at a loss to explain the cause of the battle but he is complacent and says that everyone said that it was a great victory and that is all that mattered to him.