Andrew Kerr, Peer Commentary for Susan Quigley

4 October 1999: English 354/Finley

In her essay "On thin Ice," Susan Quigley provides a lucid commentary of

Edmund Blunden's poem "The Midnight Skaters." The essay is rich in literary

reference which Quigley brings into her interpretation of the poem. The essay

begins with Quigley's own insights into the poem. She elucidates the point that

Blunden no longer sees ice skating as an "idyllic pastime of country folk."

Rather she astutely notes that the skating pond is actually "fraught with deadly

danger." Quigley offers an interpretation of Blunden's "crystal parapet." She

associates the crystal parapet of ice with the sand bags of the trenches. She notes

that like the sand bags in the trenches the ice gives only thin protection from the

lurking grip of death: "The parapet that Blunden was most familiar with, that of

the sand bags, was literally the separation between the living and the dead--or

soon to be dead--of no man's land." The essay shows how death has seared

itself into the conscience of the soldiers and that it emerges even in the peaceful

pastoral scene of ice skaters on a pond. Quigley's references to Sassoon require a

previous understanding of the man and his work that some readers may not yet

have. She does a much better job setting up her references to Emerson in context

with Blunden and the poem by using actual quotes. She also provides some

historical information on Emerson. This allows the reader to understand her

reference without knowledge of Emerson or his particular referenced work.