The poet Wilfred Owen was one of many poets who were against war. He reflected this idea of anti-war in his poems, one of his poems called “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, mirrors most aspects of war all put together in this short still deep poem. An example of that would be when the speaker stated,” What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?”(1) The speaker asks is there any sound that marks our soldier’s death other than the sounds of church bell’s which are mostly rung to represent somebody’s absence? Clearly, the speaker sets anger as the tone of the poem through this question to show that soldier’s death is unremarkable.. The speaker compares the soldiers to a “cattle” which illustrates that soldiers are treated more like animals with no feelings and also shows how they are killed indiscriminately in war. Finally the line ironically contains an iambic pentameter which is a natural rhythm for such dark, grim, dull subject. The two novels, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, and All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, both present a similar idea of how soldiers are killed out there in the front comprehensively and the dehumanization of war towards its soldiers. The first novel is set during the Civil War, and it focuses on the psychological aspects of one soldier named Henry Fleming and how his naive thoughts about war constantly change through the course of the novel. The second novel presents the life of a soldier named Paul Baumer and his
War is a scandalous topic where peoples’ views differ as to what war is. Some people see it as pure evil and wicked while others think that it is brave and noble of what soldiers do. Looking at poems which had been written by people affected by war help show the messages which are portrayed. The two sets of poems which show different views of war as well as some similarities are “the Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden. Both these poets use linguistic devices to convince the reader of their view of what the war is. Tennyson and Lovelace show how war is worthy
While great wars, murders, and crimes continue to pervade our society today, the atrocities of the past seem to loom over these in the present and reopen years’ old wounds that threaten to turn into scars. This is especially true of the Northern Ireland conflict. Although a timeline may tell a person that the conflict lasted from the 1960’s to 1998, supposedly ending with the Good Friday Agreement, the turmoil and healing in Northern Ireland is nowhere near its finality. Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet born a mere 20 years before the conflict began, was deeply affected by the conflict and the impact it had on himself and his family. Many of Heaney’s poems reflect upon the “Troubles”, which no doubt influenced many of his other pieces, but generally did not make any explicitly aggressive statements of a political nature toward the Northern Ireland conflict or other incidents; he merely saw himself as a poet who reflected on what he witnessed and lived through. However, Heaney himself stated that “All of us probably had some notion that a good poem was ‘a paradigm of good politics’, a site of energy and tension and possibility, a truth-telling arena…” (Jensen 18). He believed that there was an element of politics involved with writing poetry. However, he continued to say it was “not a killing field” (18). In other words, he did not believe that it was his duty as a poet to be political. His own words defied him in the writing of one of his poems “Punishment”, which is about the
Weigl has dug deep into his recollection of the war to produce work that can be thought of as artistically beautiful. It’s his aim to find the means, despite everything he’s endured, to transcend misery in his poetry. This is done on purpose and allows Weigl to employ a style in his poetry that’s dependent on the sound of words, to express an image so openly that the verses depict a genuine emotion that doesn’t pose as an insult to readers. Underneath the rubble of his misfortune there is a level of integrity on display that readers can appreciate. Weigl likes to view the world objectively and so does his poetry in a very responsible and accountable manner.
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.
War poetry displays an accurate representation of the sensations felt during the horrid times of battle. In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, D.B. asks Allie, “who was the best war poet, Rupert Brooke or Emily Dickinson” (140). The question proposed can be answered with many different opinions, as the individual's knowledge and understanding of each poet will impact their decision. In contrast to Rupert Brooke, Emily Dickinson is clearly the superior war poet as she portrays soldiers and the idea of death in an insightful manner, which causes the reader to go beyond their comprehension of the words to recognize the full potential of the poem.
Since the emergence of written history, many fables regarding war have encompassed a significant portion of prosodic literature. Two of the foremost war poets of the 19th and 20th century—Emily Dickinson and Rupert Brooke—have both written about profound implications of war on society and also upon the human spirit albeit in two very different styles. The book, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, theorizes through Allie, that Emily Dickinson was indubitably the superior war poet. Furthermore, when we analyze their works as well, we realize the invariable fact that Dickinson’s work delves into war with a much more holistic approach as well. She not only honours the soldiers for their valiant efforts, but also deftly weaves notions of liberty and civilian duty in regards to war as well as compared to Rupert Brooke who carried a romanticized imagery of martyrs within his poetry. In summation, Emily Dickinson is a superior war poet for her incisive analysis of death, and human nature in correspondence to war as compared to the patriotic salvos of Rupert Brooke’s poetry.
Poets frequently utilize vivid images to further depict the overall meaning of their works. The imagery in “& the War Was in Its Infancy Then,” by Maurice Emerson Decaul, conveys mental images in the reader’s mind that shows the physical damage of war with the addition of the emotional effect it has on a person. The reader can conclude the speaker is a soldier because the poem is written from a soldier’s point of view, someone who had to have been a first hand witness. The poem is about a man who is emotionally damaged due to war and has had to learn to cope with his surroundings. By use of imagery the reader gets a deeper sense of how the man felt during the war. Through the use of imagery, tone, and deeper meaning, Decaul shows us the
It’s amazing how much Sandburg has managed to convey with such a short poem, especially when one considers the level of repetition which actually reduces the absolute number of lines to about 6 lines. There are other lessons to be learnt from this. By his choice of battles, Gettysberg, Ypres, Verdun etc Sandburg refers to battles that involved great carnage. Battles with a death toll or casualty rate so high that it is unthinkable that we should speak of them as dispassionately as he does. But the use of the names is far more effective in conveying this point than having to spell it out in detail. He can get away with the dispassionate tone and make it “fit” the poem without seeming forced by adopting the unusual view point of having the grass as the observer and the first person speaker. Not only does he cloak the grass with personality but he simultaneously creates a narrator who is present throughout time and who is accordingly in a position to observe the folly of man through history. Other than the merest hint of a rhyme across Waterloo / Verdun, this poem is devoid of rhyme. Why? Rhyme closes lines, links lines together, gives the work a sense of completion and wholeness which is
Good poets inspire and motivate us. Poetry seeks to express truths through its diversity and significance cultural ideologies. To all year 12 English teachers at Brisbane School of Distance Education, today I am here to discuss and illustrate to you the values of two poems that are worthy of study in the Senior English poetry course. While the 21st century is certainly challenging for the Youth of today, many remain sheltered from the hefty and challenging themes and ideologies that poets are more than willing to tackle. The destruction and futility of war and lost youth are ideologies present in the Modern Era and a study of these poems provides opportunities to promote understanding and empathy. The chosen poems expose students to a range
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.
In Ernest Hemingway's short story, "Soldier's Home", and Carl Sandburg's poem, "Grass" both emphasizes ideas about war and the aftermath of it. Although both works describe war they are very different. Hemingway and Ernest use different techniques to convey its' message to its readers using such devices as repetition, point of view, and personification to appeal to its readers. Among the many similarities between these two works, they are different in expressing its thoughts on war. When many people think of war they fail to realize the aftermath and the impact it could have on a person, many people easily forget these heroes that have served in the war and fought risking their lives, similarly, both works share these thoughts, however, the authors use different techniques in conveying their message.
causes the poem to flow, and thus lightens up the dark and serious issue of war. The lines "But ranged as infantry, And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place." are easy to read; however, their meaning is extremely
“The actual soldier, North and South, with all his ways, his incredible dauntlessness, his superb strength and lawless gait, will never be written. No future age can know, but I well know, how the war resided in the unnamed, unknown rank and file, and the brunt of its labor of death was volunteered” (Whitman, www.dentistry.com/cwrt/cwrtlink.html). This view of Whitman’s clearly illustrates that he believed that he understood the emotional and psychological aspects of the soldiers well enough to probe deeper their minds in order to find a truth yet untold. It is these strikingly different imageries that set the mood for the poem: that of an unobtainable peace that cannot be grasped but for a fleeting second. The next lines of the poem take the contrasting landscapes and add a human element into the poem in order to symbolically represent not the presence of human beings, but their emotion and thought. The fifth line, "The numerous camp-fires scatter'd near and far, some away up on the mountain", I believe not only gives the reader an image of the scene being depicted in the poem, but also is representative of a typical soldier's feeling and psyche during the war. Numerous journal accounts reveal that often during the time of war, the soldiers' thoughts would "scatter" with things both near and far to them, with images of returning home, of peace, and of seeing their loved ones for the