Option #1/Literary Analysis of WWI

First Balkan War

The First Balkan War, a part of three wars, featured the Balkan Empire( see map at bottom of page) and Ottoman Empire. This war started because the Balkan countries, who were being controlled by the Ottoman Empire, wanted to free themselves from Turkish control. The countries that formed and alliance were: Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Bulgaria. On October 8, 1912, Montenegro declared war on the Turks (Ottoman Empire) and was joined by their allies. Eventually, Turkey was driven back and the Balkans took over much of the Ottoman Empire’s land for their own, thus ending the war and Turkish control on the Balkan Empire.  

http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/easteurope/firstbalkan.html

Balkan Winter

by Susan Ioannou

Ten years old,
inside the snow-crusted window, watching
over your neighbours’ red-tiled roofs
you hear it
zing-zing
flashing in frost-bright air

Beyond the emptied laneways, the mountain
rises, ice-hung vineyards thinning
higher and higher
—white quickens
black, as the slopes swarm.

black, as the slopes swarm.
and drop like that
black, as the slopes swarm.
these echoing pops and cracks
dot the snow red.

Frozen into the window, watching
you will not flatten against the wall
but count the flashes of tracer fire
zing-zing
shattering tiles on your neighbours’ roofs.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/susanio/balkan.pdf

This poem relates to the Balkans War, because it is describing the hardships and difficulties of living in this particular war. For example, When Ioannou states in the beginning, “watching over your neighbours’ red-tiled roofs” and then at the end she says, “Frozen into the window, watching shattering tiles on your neighbours’ roofs.” By this she means that war can change everything in an instant and what seems like a beautiful neighborhood can be reduced to rubble in the course of a few hours. Relates to the First Balkan War, because it shows how the war caused so much destruction.  Another example of the hardships during this war is when Ioannou is saying, “Beyond the emptied laneways, the mountain  rises, ice-hung vineyards thinning higher and higher.”  I think that by saying this she is foreshadowing that something bad is going to happen and everything around realized it. One reason this relates to the war is because the war, fought mostly in the winter of 1912 and 1913, was very mysterious and snuck up on you very quickly. This poem relates to the First Balkans war, because of its mysterious connotation and its way of getting right to the point.