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Summary

The poem „No Men Are Foreign‟ begins and ends with the same
line- „Remember no men are strange, no countries foreign‟ as the
poet wants to emphasize on the fact that all the people living on
this Earth are the same and that we have created distinctions by
erecting borders and fences, different languages, etc. While we are
alive, we walk on the same Earth and upon our death, we will lie in
our graves in the same earth. He draws another similarity that we
all enjoy good food during peace and starve during war and in
winter time. We all have similar hands which we use to do a lot of
hard work. All of us have eyes which remain open when we are
awake and close when we are asleep. He reminds the reader that
whenever we hate someone, we cheat and hate ourselves. Also,
when we pick up weapons against someone, we pollute the Earth
and make it impure with the huge mounds of dead bodies strewn
on it.

KEY POINT

 This poem is based on the idea that we are the children of the
same father God
 As such we should believe in the universal brotherhood of
man.
 The earth is the common property of the mankind.
 We should not think that we are the citizens of this or that
country.
 We should give up feelings of narrow nationalism.
 We should think that we are citizens of the world.
 In war all countries suffer and in peace prosper. Therefore if
countries suffer and in peace prosper. Therefore if we hate
others we deceive ourselves.

Literary Devices

i. Rhyme Scheme - The entire poem is written in free verse. There is
no rhyme scheme in the poem.

 The literary devices used are as follows –

ii. Alliteration: The repetition of a consonant sound in two or more
closely placed words is called alliteration. The instances of
alliteration in the poem are -