No Men Are Foreign, Class 9 English Poem

Introduction to the poem

The title- ‘No men are Foreign’ means that the no men belong to another country. The poet wants to say that all men are same, all men are equal.  He wants to promote the concept of universal brotherhood. In this poem, the poet wants to tell us that everyone in this world is same. All people, all men are same – they eat, live, die the same way. Everyone gets the bounties of nature like, sunshine, land etc in equal measure. We can also say that it is a peace poem.

Poem and Explanation

Stanza 1

Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign

Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes

Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon

Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.

Beneath: under

Strange: unknown

In the first line the poet says that no men are strange, and no country is 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. We will feel every country as our own land when there will be no borders, everyone will be free to move around. The poet wants to say that the entire Earth is one and all the people who live on this Earth belong to one human race. Then he says that inside the uniforms worn by soldiers of different countries, the human being is the same. God has made all of us in a similar way. All breathe in the same way. Then he says that 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.

Stanza 2

They, too, aware of sun and air and water,

Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d.

Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read

A labour not different from our own.

‘They’ refers to those people who belong to other countries. We call them foreigners and discriminate them and fight with them also. The poet says that nature has given all the bounties to all people also just like he has given to us. Everyone gets sunlight, air and water in equal measure which means that God does not differentiate between people from 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. Further, he adds that the way we starve during wars and winter time is the same for those belonging to other countries. Even they don’t get food at that time.  So, he wants to say that foreigners who belong to another country and we, both are same. And then the poet says that even their hands are same as ours, they work very hard just like we do. He is giving all these examples to covey to the reader that there is no difference in us and the people belonging to another country.

 

Stanza 3

Remember they have eyes like ours that wake

Or sleep, and strength that can be won

By love. In every land is common life

That all can recognize and understand.

 

The poet asks the reader to remember something. He says that we should keep in mind that the people of another country, whom we think to be our enemies, have been bestowed by God with similar appearance like us. God has given them eyes like ours which open when awake and close when we are asleep. Similarly, he has given them strength which we can win through love. Then he says that in every country, in every land there is one common thing, that is life. Life means all the things that are living. And if we can recognize them and if we can understand their feelings and realize that they are like us, then there will be no fights or wars between us.

Stanza 4

dispossess: dislodge; deprive Let us remember, whenever we are told

To hate our brothers, it is ourselves

That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.

Remember, we who take arms against each other

The poet says that we should remember that whenever someone tells us to hate a person from another country, to think him as our enemy, and whenever we think someone to be our enemy, then we deprive ourselves, we cheat ourselves, and we condemn ourselves. He says that we should stay away from such negativity. We should not consider anyone to be our enemy. During a war, both the parties must bear the loss. And that is why the poet says that war is not in our favor. He says that whenever we pick any weapon against someone, we should remember one thing

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