Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Party on the Way to Rome," Christopher Howell offers a haunting exploration of the brutal consequences of conformity and the silent complicity that often accompanies it. Through the lens of a single traumatic event—a violent assault on a fellow sailor—the poem reveals the harsh reality of militarized masculinity, prejudice, and the suppression of individuality. Howell’s narrative, blending the mundane with mythic allusions, examines how societal expectations and fear enforce obedience, exposing a chilling portrayal of human frailty and the consequences of a culture built on silence and shame.

The poem opens in the “rouge of the night lanterns,” an image that paints the ship in a surreal, almost theatrical light, as though the events unfolding are part of a grim, staged ritual. Howell observes a group of sailors who “rise, one trailing a blanket,” moving covertly to a bunk. This blanket, cast over their unsuspecting victim, becomes both a tool of suppression and a symbolic shroud, obscuring the individual beneath it and reducing him to an object of violence. The attackers’ language—“How’s this you fucking faggot shit!”—reveals the underlying prejudice driving their actions, a hatred fueled by intolerance and a desire to impose conformity through cruelty.

The speaker, a fellow sailor who witnesses the assault, reveals the collective silence of those on board: “Most of us little more than boys, taken off to war in the usual way, lay listening.” The phrase “taken off to war in the usual way” suggests a loss of autonomy, as if they were all simply swept up in a process beyond their control. These young men, “little more than boys,” are trapped in a militarized environment that enforces obedience and conformity, leaving little room for compassion or moral questioning. By emphasizing their youth, Howell underscores the vulnerability and impressionability of these men, who are conditioned to suppress empathy and conform to the group’s violent impulses.

After the assault, Chuck, the group’s leader, notices the speaker watching and “could not clear his face of angry, shamed confusion, a man caught between what was and what was wrong.” This moment of eye contact between the speaker and Chuck reveals an internal conflict in Chuck, suggesting a glimmer of self-awareness or regret. However, his inability to fully confront or acknowledge his guilt demonstrates the powerful hold that societal expectations have over him. Chuck’s expression of “angry, shamed confusion” is emblematic of a man who is trapped between his actions and his conscience, struggling with the dissonance between his humanity and the brutality he feels pressured to exhibit.

The victim’s reaction—“You let them do it, you just let them!”—captures the anguish of betrayal, both by his attackers and by those who witnessed the assault but did nothing. His accusation is directed not only at the individuals who hurt him but also at the larger culture of silence and complicity that allowed the violence to occur unchecked. The compartment is described as “quiet as a burned out church,” a powerful image that evokes both a place of abandoned sanctity and a space emptied of meaning or redemption. This silence, this absence of empathy or solidarity, becomes the ultimate indictment of a culture that values obedience over compassion.

Howell then introduces the figure of the MAA (Master at Arms), who arrives “taking his time” and shining his flashlight “among us.” The MAA’s indifference, his “shrugging, promising Justice,” reveals the hollow nature of authority within this environment. His cursory inspection and half-hearted promise of “Justice” reflect a system more concerned with maintaining order than addressing the harm inflicted on individuals. The flashlight, meant to illuminate truth or expose wrongdoing, ultimately reveals nothing, leaving the victim isolated and the perpetrators unpunished.

In a significant shift, Howell invokes the myth of Aeneas, the Trojan hero who famously left Dido to fulfill his destiny. Aeneas, witnessing “the distant smoke he knew was Dido burning,” felt her pain but remained resolute, unswayed from his path. Howell’s comparison of Aeneas’s journey to that of the sailors suggests that the sacrifices made in the pursuit of “empire” require a suppression of empathy and personal attachment. In this context, the path of Aeneas becomes a metaphor for the “free right life” that these sailors are striving for, a life defined by loyalty to duty and empire, where personal bonds and ethical considerations are subservient to a larger, impersonal goal.

The victim, however, represents a different path. He dared “not to sail from whatever called him master of the undivided self.” In loving men openly, he defied the societal and military norms that demand conformity. His courage, his refusal to “sail from” his true self, stands in stark contrast to the repressed and fearful lives of his peers. Howell portrays him as someone who is authentic in his emotions, possessing a self-integrity that “was more than you could say for the rest of us.” This statement from the speaker acknowledges the failure of the silent witnesses, whose acquiescence in the face of injustice reveals a lack of moral courage.

Howell’s "Party on the Way to Rome" serves as a powerful commentary on the toxic dynamics of militarized masculinity and the cost of conformity. Through his detailed narrative and mythological allusions, Howell critiques a culture that sacrifices empathy, individuality, and moral responsibility for the sake of order and obedience. The poem’s final line, acknowledging that the assaulted man “had loved men,” becomes a profound indictment of the very society that condemns him. His capacity for love, juxtaposed against the cruelty and silence of his peers, underscores the humanity that survives in him despite the brutality inflicted upon him.

In the end, Howell’s poem reveals the heavy toll of dehumanization within systems that prioritize power and control over compassion and understanding. By aligning the victim’s integrity with the mythic figure of Aeneas, Howell elevates his resistance to an act of heroism, a testament to the courage required to live authentically in a world that demands submission.

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