Laurence Binyon Poem

The author of “Anthem for Doomed Youth” leads his reader through his personal struggle and frustration of war. Owen has an abrasive approach when describing the death all around him and clearly expresses his anger with the “hasty orisons” for the dead. He speaks directly of battlefront in the first octet and then includes the home front in the second half of his sonnet. Owen’s purpose is not a commemoration of fallen soldiers. Rather, he divulges the disgust and disappointment of war. Like McCrae, Wilfred Owen paints a picture of the multitude of deaths. Back at the home front, “…each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.” We can construe that the author is not simply talking about preparing for bed in the evening, but rather lowering the blinds in a room where yet another dead soldier lies, as an indication to the community and out of respect for the soldier. There is a lack of “passing-bells for these who die as cattle….no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs.” Owen writes as though he feels that there is indifference among the death of his fellow soldiers.

In this free-verse war poem, the idea of 'journey' extends itself to cover both the physical and emotional aspects of the subject matter of the poem. Repetition and word

Often, personal experiences are what influence a poet’s writing. Since the 1600s and up until World War One, poets have been heavily impacted by the glorification of war, as well as the catastrophic losses the world has suffered from. Poets such as Richard Lovelace and Lord Tennyson glorified the sacrifices soldiers made for their countries and honored them. While poets like Mary Borden and Wilfred Owen expressed their outrage towards war because they have witnessed the brutality and wickedness of it. In the two poetry collections, diction is the main factor in establishing the tone and theme of each poem.

The idea of loss is explored diversely in the poems ‘Conscript’ by FA Horn and ‘The Photograph’ by Peter Kocan. Where ‘Conscript’ conveys the loss of a soldier on the battlefields of World War II and his physical demise, ‘The Photograph’ conveys the loss of a World War I Australian soldier and the grief his family endures with the passing of time. Although the two poems are set in different wars, the poets similarly reinforce the devastation, as well as the emotional and physical impact associated with war.

The soldiers who had attended the war were shown to have died brutally, like “cattle”, yet when reaching the home front, it is seen that they are laid to rest in a much more civil and dignified manner. The concept of this can be seen as an extended metaphor throughout the entire poem, with the battle front seen as a world filled with violence, fear and destruction, where as the home front is perceived as a place marked by order and ritual, a civilized world. The second sonnet opens with “What candles may be held to speed them all?”, invoking a more softer and compassionate tone towards the audience, more specifically through Owen’s use of a rhetorical question. It captures the readers’ attention, engaging them to feel empathetic and notice the shift of energy from anger and bitterness to a sadder and more somber tone. Owen’s use of descriptive language, as simple as it seems, such as ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ provokes the audience to view the horrors of the war as if they had been placed onto children, because in reality the ‘men; who had signed themselves into war to fight in glory for their country had really only just been boys themselves.

During times of war, it is inevitable for loss to be experienced by all. In the poems “The Black Rat” and “The Photograph” written by Iris Clayton and Peter Kocan respectively, the idea of loss is explored through an omniscient narrator recalling a soldier’s involvement in warfare. While Clayton writes of a soldier’s abrupt loss of hope and how this experience negatively affects his life, Kocan explores how the loss of a loved one affects a family sixty years later. While both poems incorporate similar techniques in imagery and narration, the time setting for each poem is different as “The Black Rat” is set in Tobruk, Libya during World War 2 and “The Photograph” is set during World War 1.

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.

Within his poem he describes some of the struggles of war. He states, “Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue”(709). He describes the overwhelming exhaustion that war takes on the human body. The body continues to fight on and survive. He continues with, “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”(709). This description allows us to realize that even when the body was at complete exhaustion, as described earlier, the men stay vigilant at all times in order to stay alive. At any moment death could be at their doorstep and they must be ready to combat it. Not all men were able to react as quickly as need be in wartime, as described by, “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.”(709). He is unable to do anything for his dying brother, friend and fellow soldier. This is the most important glimpse into what soldiers face in the field of battle that stays with them for the rest of their lives. At points within the war, many were faced with the realization that somebody very close was dying right in front of them and there was nothing they could do to assist them. This poem can serve as the missing link for the reader to, attempt, to imagine what

During World War I, a collection of poems were written by soldiers serving in the war. The poems include If I Should Die by Rupert Brooke, In Flanders Fields by John MacRae, Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, and On Passing the New Menin Gate by Siegfried Sassoon. The poetry differs in opinion on the war and dying for one’s country from soldier to soldier, with If I Should Die and In Flanders Fields romanticizing heroic death and glory, and Dulce Et Decorum Est and On Passing the New Menin Gate showcasing the gritty truth of war and the feelings of the soldiers who experience it.

The Next War is a poem by Wilfred Owen written during World War One, and The Charge of the Light Brigade is a poem written during the Crimean War based on a charge in which misinterpreted orders led to over 150 of 600 killed or wounded. The two poems hold different ideas, techniques and themes. The main themes presented in both poems revolve around the subject of death, common techniques such as personification and imagery are used to enhance our understanding of the war against Death. Owen and Tennyson also share contrasting ideas on a soldiers will to fight which is expressed in these poems. The differences and similarities between the two poems show the audience the reality of a soldier’s mind when at war.

War is not heroic. War is sickness, struggle, and death. This is the message that poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen wanted to instill in his people back home. Those back home talked of glory and national pride and rooted for their soldiers, however, they were unaware of the horrors these soldiers witnessed and experienced. The soldiers and their people back home were not only separated by distance but by mental barriers, which Owen showcases in his poetry. Owen’s use of personification in “Anthem for Doomed Youth” degrades the soldiers to objects to show how the war dehumanized them to intentionally create a disconnect between the audience and the soldiers.

This poem gave me some understanding on what WWI soldiers had to endure during combat; it clearly point toward death of sounds, death of speaking, and death of silence. The tone is gloomy and the barbed wire signifies a continuous method for defending their territory. Lines 6-8 clarify the disheartening

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.

War is destructive of youth and innocence. There is a change in mood where the first stanza talks about the despair when he is in the trenches. In the third stanza we move to the poet’s anger about the way that people at home feel

The second stanza speaks of how it so often slips our mind that war does not only affect the men who are in direct combat. The young women too, suffer greatly in silence. Though so removed from the grime and blood of the battlefield, one cannot imagine the excruciating pain of having to part with their loved ones, with the knowledge that 'the holy glimmers of goodbyes ' might as well be goodbye forever. Every moment of the day, they agonize over the terrifying thought that their loved one has been shot or injured. There is no way of telling - and the guessing game is exhausting. There is no more joy or excitement in life as each 'slow dusk ' drags by, their only reason for existence condensed into a single purpose - receiving news from the battlefield. Often time, their agonizing wait ends in a heartbreaking death. This is signified from the line 'the drawing down of blinds '.