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Comparing Dulce et Decorum est and Charge of the Light Brigade

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Comparing Dulce et Decorum est and Charge of the Light Brigade

In this essay I will be comparing two war poems. The poems, Dulce et Decorum est, by Wilfred Owen and Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord-Tennyson came from different generations; Owen's is written from his own experiences during the first world war; Lord-Tennysons poem was written from the safety of his own home during the Crimean war. The only real similarity between the two poems is that they were both written about the battlefield. Owen's poem is a heartfelt plea against military propaganda, while Tennyson's poem is propaganda.

To understand these poems more, we must look at the poet's lives:

· Wilfred Owen led a rather …show more content…

He died in1892 of Gout surrounded by his family.

Just from looking at the authors of these poems we can see how and why these poems differ.

The first real difference is that Owen writes directly about what he sees. In Dulce et Decorum est there are no charges or heroics, just the reality of human suffering and the truth about war. To convey the suffering of these men Owen uses good effective imagery in his poem:

"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge".

These few lines set up the poem for us. We see that the men are tired, weary and sick, yet they have to carry on. We also see where these men are. We see a picture of these men trudging through a trench full of water and mud, many sick and all exhausted. By doing this Owen at once captures his audience, who all want to know what fate awaits these poor men. Owen continues to write about how the men are suffering from lethargy throughout this first stanza.

In the first stanza from Charge of the Light Brigade, we have none of these feelings. The image that is in our minds is one of bravery. We see no dead men, no men who are dying. We see an army on horseback, in clean suits. This poem is like a clean version of the war.

"Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of death

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