Volume 10 169
states, with the exception of Sparta, whose citizens
also went by the name of Lacedaemonians.
Lines 20-24:
Only now, at the poem’s end, is the name re-
ferred to in its title revealed, the riddle answered.
True, that information is implicit in the informa-
tion conveyed in the immediately preceding lines,
but the name itself, Alexander, does not appear un-
til line 22. The revelation comes in an almost off-
hand way, drenched in even more contempt and
sarcasm than has heretofore characterized the sol-
dier’s speech: “This is a joke / Between me and a
man / Named Alexander, whom / All of you ba-
bas / Will hear of as a god.” The term “ba-bas”—
an example of the poetic device known as ono-
matopoeia (a word whose meaning is indicated by
its sound and which replicates the sound of the
thing it represents)—shows that the narrator of the
poem and his fellows are shepherds, and its use by
the soldier demonstrates his sense of his own su-
periority to them.
That sense of superiority is also seen in the sol-
dier’s characterization of the outcome of the Bat-
tle of Granicus as a joke between him and Alexan-
der the Great. Even as the soldier talks about
Alexander with disdain, mocking his aspirations to
godhood, he puts himself on a level with Alexan-
der as if he, too, might have an equal claim to god-
hood if he cared to assert it. Encyclopedias inform
readers that the Greek mercenaries who fought on
the side of the Persians in that battle were led by a
Greek named Memnon, and that Memnon escaped
the slaughter of his troops at the close of the bat-
tle. Readers have ample evidence to assume that
Dugan expects them to make the connection and
identify the anonymous soldier as none other than
General Memnon himself in the act of deserting his
men in a decidedly ignominious fashion.
Yet the poem does not become mired in its
dense underlay of history. On the contrary, just as
General Memnon is being carried past the ob-
servers on the riverbank, shouting out private jokes
and allusions his listeners cannot understand, so,
too, Dugan seems to be saying, is the stuff of his-
tory ceaselessly flowing by daily lives, its warn-
ings ignored or understood incompletely. Knowing
that history repeats itself, and that Alexander the
Great, for all his brilliant conquests, was dead at
the age of 33, and proud Memnon remembered only
because of his link to Alexander, Dugan finds lit-
tle to emulate in the soldiers of the world. Nor does
he cast his lot with the shepherds. Rather, Dugan
sees himself, in his poetic calling, as partaking of
both, yet belonging to neither. By no means is this
a source of solace or self-congratulation. Readers
should bear in mind that Dugan, a veteran of World
War II, was himself 33 years old when he wrote
this deceptively slight poem, a poem distinguished
as much by the unsparing ironies of its unfolding
implications as by the rigorous intelligence and dis-
ciplined artistry evident in its every line.Themes
“How We Heard the Name” tells the story of a brief
meeting between a soldier of a defeated army and
a group of shepherds. Floating down the river past
the watching shepherds, the soldier makes mock-
ing jokes at his own expense and theirs, and off-
handedly mentions the name of the victorious gen-
eral responsible for his defeat, Alexander the Great.Human Condition
Dugan examines the place of human beings in
history, and the place of history in time. What he
sees causes him simultaneously to smile and wince,
for while he perceives a kind of cosmic joke in the
actions and aspirations of human beings (including
himself). It is a joke at the expense of readers, and
himself, just as the drunken soldier of the poem
sees the result of the Battle of Granicus, with all
its bloodshed, as a joke between himself and
Alexander.
In the poem, Dugan presents soldiers and shep-
herds. The first group are men of action, driven by
ambition, who seek to leave an enduring mark on
history. Alexander the Great is the archetypal man
of this type, for he set out while in his twenties to
conquer the world. By the time of his death at the
age of 33, he had succeeded to a remarkable extent
in doing just that. Indeed, there are a mere handful
of names in all of history as or more widely known
than that of Alexander (one of them, Jesus Christ,
also died at the age of 33). The second group of
men, to which the poem’s narrator belongs, are men
of peaceful pursuits. They live humble lives, let-
ting the events of history, set in motion by men of
action, pass them by like the waters of a river or
clouds in the sky.
Dugan finds little to choose between the
drunken posturings of the soldier and the willful,
even prideful, ignorance of the shepherds. Yet as a
poet, he knows that he shares qualities with both.How We Heard the Name