Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns fire out they think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives, a quote by Siegfried Sassoon. Good morning/afternoon Mr Lambkin and peers. I stand before you to talk about Siegfried Sassoon, an English man who was brought up in a wealthy family on a private country estate. He is a man, who uses his own experiences of war to compose poems, poems reflecting his thoughts and emotions of the horror and futility towards war.
The two poems ‘The Hero’ and ‘Does It Matter?’ best represent the horror and futility or the war. The two poems show Siegfried Sassoon’s view on war and how useless it is and also displays the consequences of war for the ones who made it back home. The poems aim to make the audience feel guilt and educate them about the reality of the war.
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This poem utilizes rhyming couplets allowing readers to visualise a neat and formal setting. Futility of the war is also evident in this poem because it shows an incapable man fighting, and eventually dying a coward, leaving his mother all by herself back home. “Jack fell as he would have wished, the mother said” in this quote the mother uses a common euphemism for dying in war as ‘Jack fell’ this usually means an honourable soldier’s death, one who has fallen in action. The first and second stanza of this poem could in fact be a separate poem but in the third stanza it all comes out and shows that the Officer didn’t like Jack’s attitude and his cowardice throughout his short lived war experience. Another representation of futility is “He thought how ‘ Jack’, cold-footed, useless
Both poems show the effects war has on witnesses even when their time in the conflict is deemed to be over. The extreme nature of war and the equally strong emotions and trauma that stick with survivors are conveyed in both of these
Disparity of power in society is often created in the chaos of wars, in which it leads to abuse in power and loss of identity in individuals. Through the anti-war poem Homecoming by Dawe, responders have discovered and gained an insight on the power of war, which has impacted and led to the degradation of the ‘homecoming’ soldiers in ‘they’re…them’, as an anaphora illustrates the bitter attitude of the persona, merging and exhibiting Dawe’s dismissive perspective of war. The dominance of conflicts has impacted on the soldiers the most as it is denoted in the free verse lines, reflecting the unstructured senseless tragedy of war that stimulated their powerlessness. On the same hand, Dawe continues with his critical view of militarism in confronting
Many war pieces express a distinct sense of truth, hatred, and anger that can be found in the style, tone, and imagery they possess. Incredible images are created in ones mind as war writings are read and heard. Works written by such writers as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Tim OBrien really reach out to the audience by way of the authors choice of words and images that they use in their writing. These talented writers create very touching and heart-felt images as they write about the true occurrences, problems, feelings and emotions that soldiers encountered throughout times of war. It is by way of these
Good morning, Mr Colyer and fellow classmates. Today I am going to discuss and analyse how societal attitudes to war have changed over time. First, we must explore the idea of a hero. What is a hero? It is a concept that has evolved over time to conform to the ideas and thoughts of the authors that have existed and written over the centuries. The concept has constantly changed and shaped it to fit their views, and left us with an amalgamation of ideas and thoughts and viewpoints on what heroism actually is. The differences in views are clearly shown in the two contrasting poems that were made in time periods only a few hundred years apart. King Henry V’s ‘Once more unto the breach’ speech in famous playwright Shakespeare’s play ‘Henry V’, portrays war as noble and illustrious, while Wilfred Owen, a soldier and poet in World War One, describes the war in ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ as senseless and inhumane, writing 318 years later.
As America find herself in today’s “War on Terrorism,” one can easily find a number of similarities between today’s situation and the war in Vietnam. As the Taliban steadily loses control and power over Afghanistan, it becomes exceedingly important to discuss potential replacement governments. Afghanistan is, like Vietnam in the 50’s and 60’s, a very volatile country full of a variety of people speaking different dialects and practicing different religions. It is very important, then, that the government that is installed is one that is capable of maintaining some type of control or authority over its diverse people.
In war ,many terrible tragedies occur, leaving many people scarred and in grief and who can never forget the nightmare of war.This paper will discuss“ In, Flanders fields by John Mccrae’s,Dulce et Decorum EST by Wilfred Owen and I sing of Olaf glad and big by ee cummings.This paper will be discussing the different points of views that poets have about war and how it shapes our own opinion ,of it because none of us have experienced war firsthand and have only heard about the nightmare from those who have survived and lived to tell us their story.
Poetry is a powerful expression of human experience that can impact political actions and have major repercussions on a global scale. Siegfried Sassoon was a poet that realized the true power and capabilities of poetry and what it could accomplish. Sassoon used his gift of poetry to advance humanity’s views on war and help them better understand the terrifying imprint it left on the world.
The overall message in this poem is a drill sergeant educating young soldiers and preparing them for the harsh reality of war. He is not playing ‘Mr. nice guy’, he is being tough and strict to give the soldiers no easy way out.
Literature and poetry are a reflection of society. The words are reflected in numerous feelings that we can almost touch and can be deeply felt in its reach. Most poets expressed their perception and emotion through their writings. Unfortunately the art and poetry describes one of the worst things that human can do to one another. The legalized murder called "war." Hence, this type of self-reflection called "poetry" has help create new fundamental ideas and values towards our society. In this essay, I will discuss the issue of the "War Poetry" during the "Great War" along with comparing and contrasting two talented renowned poets; Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967).
It is known that the First World War was one of the most lethal conflicts in history. Attack a poem written by S. Sasson and Anthem for Doomed youth written by W. Owen are both poems that touch on the sensitive topic that is the War and its hidden veracities that manifests in various forms. Not only were both of the writers inspired by the same matter, but they were in fact, friends. This is very important because similarities are established within the two poems, as one inspired the other as a form of therapy from the consequences of the war on mental health. The writers through their talent uniquely incorporate their viewpoints and personal experiences that is ultimately projected onto their poems, whilst still maintaining a level of resemblance from one another.
The Soldier is one of numerous poems written at the beginning of war (before ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’) to attract naive young men who believed enrolling in war would be an exciting adventure allowing them to travel the world. Brooke welcomes death in his sonnet and expresses that he feels privileged to have been raised in England, believing it was a blessing.
Throughout Wilfred Owen’s collection of poems, he unmasks the harsh tragedy of war through the events he experienced. His poems indulge and grasp readers to feel the pain of his words and develop some idea on the tragedy during the war. Tragedy was a common feature during the war, as innocent boys and men had their lives taken away from them in a gunshot. The sad truth of the war that most of the people who experienced and lived during the tragic time, still bare the horrifying images that still live with them now. Owen’s poems give the reader insight to this pain, and help unmask the tragedy of war.
The poem starts with similar word choices as ‘The Soldier’ but written in the perspective of the mother. The mother tells his son that when he dies he will be in a place of ‘quietness’ and free from the ‘loss and bloodshed’. This reinforces the fact that the battlefield was full of horrors and death. The poem then moves onto how ‘men may rest themselves and dream of nought’ explaining that the soldiers do not have to fear for their lives after their death. This illustrates how they feared for their lives and had negative connotations.
When faced with the countless problems of war including death, disease, sorrow, and loss, soldiers develop and intense bond between one another as they seek support in one another. A brotherhood is formed among these soldiers who rely on one another for protection and companionship amid a time in their lives where they are faced with the constant threat of death and violence everyday of their lives. But what happens to them after the war? In After the War, poet brings awareness to how the war-torn soldier attempts to reestablish their self in a society they have been isolated from for so many years through use of free verse and repetitive phrases, which further reinforces the theme throughout the poem.
The poet Siegfried Sassoon saw that war was destructive and it should not happen because it was a waste of human life, Sassoon described the horror of war unsparingly, also, his poems were often based on actual incidents. Wilfred Owen focused his poetry on the particulars of war and the men involved: dirt, muddle, boredom etc, Owen often wrote about the horror of war and the dignity of men. He deeply felt a sense of the appalling wastefulness of war, casualties and the human spirit. The similarities between these two poets are they both tried to record realistic horrors of the war; to have it stopped. They were both angry at the war’s brutality, they were also showed very compassionate studies of the circumstances of fighting men.