I recently came across a poem called “The Trains” by the famous Australian writer Judith Wright in 1915 at the time of Gallipoli World War 1. The poem is about war and how it is interwoven in human lives. As you know there are many countries in the recent times who are suffering due to war we often hear news about, but we rarely think about it. About how the horrendous acts of war can change the lives of innocent people and children forever. Due to this sole reason I was truly intrigued by “The Trains”. It gives the reader an insight to the lives of the sufferers by beautifully describing the pending dark days before the war approached in 1915. I was more drawn to the “The Trains” after I read “A War Song to Englishmen” by William Blake. Both the poems have the same topic but they provide different views about it. “A war song to Englishmen” can be described as a call for war, whereas the “The Trains” can be considered as a piece that persuades human beings to stop committing acts that can destroy the human lives for a long term. The titles for both the poems are ironic. One might read “The Trains” and think it’s probably a poem that describes the trains, as it sounds cheerful but it’s only after you read the poem that you clearly understand the context of it. As jovial as it may seem at the first glance, once read the tone of the poem totally changes. “A War Song to Englishmen" also has the same jovial feel to the title even though the actual poem has a dark atmosphere. Interestingly when you first read it, it seems very simple and a spirit lifting poem, but there is a catch, the more you read it the more you find out its true meaning. It is very important for a poet to use descriptive poetic techniques that create an image in the reader’s mind. This is why William Blake relied heavily on the poetic techniques such as rhetorical questions, irony, repetition, personification and juxtaposition to convey his message and set the tone for the poem. ‘Prepare your hearts for death’s cold hands, prepare’, the personification and the repetition used by Blake here creates a strong and intimidating image of war. The personification used in this stanza paints the image of death as a powerful real person. The poem also
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.
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
War is a dreadful way to solve an issue and it affects everyone. This paper discusses poems by Wilfred Owen, John McCrae, and ee cummings. The poems names are “Dulce Et Decorum Est”, “In Flanders Fields” and “I sing of Olaf glad and big”. The purpose of this paper is how war can ruin people's lives.
Wilfred Owen can be considered as one of the finest war poets of all times. His war poems, a collection of works composed between January 1917, when he was first sent to the Western Front, and November 1918, when he was killed in action, use a variety of poetic techniques to allow the reader to empathise with his world, situation, emotions and thoughts. The sonnet form, para-rhymes, ironic titles, voice, and various imagery used by Owen grasp the prominent central idea of the complete futility of war as well as explore underlying themes such as the massive waste of young lives, the horrors of war, the hopelessness of war and the loss of religion. These can be seen in the three poems, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and
The topic of death is either suppressed or masked in both poems. Both poems are very strong and powerful pieces, which allows readers to connect to the issues being told. Throughout “London”, Blake not only implies the difficult times that London went through during the Industrial revolution, but also how many died during this
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.
World War was often known as the war to end all wars. This was the nickname given to this conflict due to ferocity and enormous casualties. The damage done during the time period left a dent in society as it harmed millions psychologically, emotionally and physically. This dent resulted in a post-war era filled with numerous literary pieces expressing the toll of war on a person. A perfect example is the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, and the poem, “Piano after War” where they convey philosophical ideas resulting from brutal conflict. Despite Remarque’s novel and Brook’s poem having similar themes, the authors differ in the way they reveal these themes.
A poem which demonstrates the futility and tragedy of war is “home-coming”. “Home-coming” is written by Bruce Dawe in 1968. It is an anti-war poem protesting against the Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War in 1960s. In “home-coming”, the continuous loss of lives and the grief of family is clearly the main point of the poem. Bruce Dawe relies on the use of simile, repetition, metaphor and punctuation to allow
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
Life in the trenches during WWI was miserable. There seem to be no words that could truly match the horrific experience, but soldiers tried to conjure images using literature to come close to their experience. As stated in The World’s History, Europe had not warfare on such a scale since the Napoleonic wars (Spodek 664). Even watching the American Civil War from afar could not have prepared Europe and the young men that served for the devastation WWI brought. The poems described the war as a collection of numbed men, simply waiting to die, “lines of grey, muttering faces.” Men who had joined to serve their country had now become disillusioned with the nobility of dying for their country, wondering if the suffering both in and out of the trenches
“In his poetry, Wilfred Owen depicts the horror and futility of war and the impact war has on individuals.”
Poems using strong poetic technique and devices are able to create a wide range of emotions from the readers. Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively uses these poetic techniques and devices to not only create unsettling images about war but to provide his opinion about war itself with the use of themes within his poem. The use of these themes explored Owen’s ideas on the futility of war and can be seen in the poems: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility and The Next War. The poems provide unsettling images and belief of war through the treatment of death, barbaric nature of war and the futility of war.
How would you feel to have a father, mother, sister or brother taken away because of the treachery war .Good morning Mrs Naidoo and fellow classmates, today I will be analysing Christopher Wallace-Crabbe’s Australian War poem Other people and how it highlights how it has impacted the reader in offering insights on the Australian context. This poem discuss the futility during the First World War and war in general. I find this poem ‘other people’ is interesting because it foreshadows the darker side to war.
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.