Theme Of Loss In Birdsong

     The irony in the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” is that it is not sweet and fitting to die for one’s country when you have actually experienced war. Owen is describing how psychologically and physically exhausting World War I was for the soldiers that had to tolerate such a cruel suffering and not how patriotic and honorable it was. It shows the true life of a soldier, lying low, ill, endlessly marching through mud with bloody

In the first stanza of ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, the reader is instantly drawn in with “Bent double”. This gives the poem a feeling of immediacy which is then followed up by a detailed description of what is to come. “Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs/ Men marched asleep/ Many had lost their boots but limped on.” The reader is yet again, drawn into the graphic scene of war. The alliteration “Knock-kneed” emphasises the battle weariness of the soldiers and intensifies the way they depicted war. Owen creates rhythm throughout the stanza by littering the poem with pauses. He uses this technique in the line “All went blind; Drunk with fatigue; death even to the hoots Of tired”. Owen makes the scene more vivid by bringing in his own involvement to war with “we cursed through the sludge”, he uses the term “sludge” to help capture the agony which was being experienced by the soldiers.

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.

The Novel Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks is a story of various parts of one mans life, Stephen Wraysford. The first par of the book is a love story, when Stephen Wraysford is living and working in Northern France. The main text of the book is when Stephen Wraysford returns to Northern France again, this time as an officer in the British Army, during the First World War. This is the section in which Jack Firebrace features. The final part of the book is a recurring sub plot set in the seventies.

Part one of Birdsong begins in France 1910 which involves young Englishman Stephen Wraysford coming to Amiens to learn more about the textile industry and to stay with the Azaire family. This sets the context and is relevant as it is a period of industrial and civil unrest. The novel is written in the third person and Stephen’s presence allows for an outsider’s view of the family with him not stating his opinion and being neutral between sides.

By creating these nurturing, peaceful images of a beautiful countryside, Brooke evokes pride from his primary audience, which in turn creates a sense of nationalism. Furthermore, references to the themes of heaven and the afterlife create comforting images in the reader’s mind. Brooke describes a ‘pulse in the eternal mind’ for the ‘hearts at peace under an English heaven’, suggesting that those who die fighting for their country will find themselves in a heaven as idyllic as England. The paradisiacal images created by Brooke are a stark contrast to the gruesome images featured in Owen’s poem. Dulce et Decorum est is rich in similes that graphically illustrate the goriest details of war. The soldiers in the poem are described as ‘old beggars’ who are ‘coughing like hags’, which illustrates a loss of dignity, health and the innocence associated with youth. As the poem progresses, a soldier is the victim of a gas attack and is described vividly, with ‘white eyes, writhing in his face’ as ‘blood comes gargling from his froth-corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer’. Owen’s dark subject matter is further explored through his juxtaposition of ‘children ardent for desperate glory’ and soldiers marching like ‘beggars under sacks’. The use of these similes and images shocks the reader and conveys the ruthless reality of war.

Compare the ways Sherriff presents the main character of Stanhope in Journey’s End with Faulks’ presentation of Stephen in Birdsong

Owen similarly guides the tone of his writing very carefully, choosing the perfect words and punctuation to emphasize or stress certain aspects that he had in mind to be expressed. Owen also tries to give the poem a serious tone to it by exclaiming, Gas! Gas! Quick boys! But someone still was yelling out and stumbling As under a green sea, I saw him drowning (Gioia 782). He wants the reader to understand what serious obstacles the soldiers had to suffer through. War really was a time of pain and grief, not of glory. This idea is seen in Owens overall style of writing. He is rather honest and blunt about wartime. Basically, he wants his audience to feel the pain of what soldiers of any war had to go through. His final words are, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est/ Pro patria mori. (Gioia 783). The translation of those words says, It is sweet and fitting to die for ones country. He just wants everyone to know that it is in deed a lie to believe that war and dying for ones country should be rewarded and glorified.

The short stories “Gwilan’s Harp” written by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry all show the loss of something valuable, as a theme. Each of the characters in the stories experience loss of something special to them, such as, the loss of an harp, the loss of a caring son, and the unforeseen loss of a friend. In “Gwilan’s Harp” a young harpist named Gwilan has an irreplaceable flawless harp. Unfortunately the harp gets crushed, and Gwilan’s struggles with the loss of her most prized possession. In Isaac Singer’s “The Washwoman” the elderly washwoman tells the Jewish family which employed her, about the loss of her adult son, not by death, but by embarrassment of her profession. Lastly, in “The

Compare the ways death and escapism are presented in Journey's End & Birdsong. To what extent do you agree that Journey's End portrayal of death is more effective than Birdsong? The 1920s was a period of silence for the arts because of the aftermath of the war. Although some there were some plays in theatres, they were often failures, as no theatre manager would take a play with a moral or historical purpose. Therefore, Sherriff's Journey's End, performed in 1928, was perhaps a catalyst for the people of that time to be comfortable around the Great War.

Mark Fossie from the “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Troy Maxson from “Fences” are two different literary characters in two different types of literary work that have many similarities. The “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” written by Tim O” Brien is a fiction story. “Fences” by August Wilson is a play. Both of these literature works have a theme of loss, whether it is of the character himself or someone the character loves deeply. The loss can be a physical loss of the person through death or a mental loss of the person through a tough breakup that the character brought on himself. The “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” ends with Mark losing his sweetheart Mary Anne Bell to the Greenies and “Fences” ends with the death of Troy. Even

“Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem written by English soldier and a poet, Wilfred Owen. He has not only written this poem, but many more. Such as “Insensibility”, “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, “Futility”, “Exposure”, and “Strange Meeting” are all his war poems. (Poets.org) His poetry shows the horror of the war and uncovers the hidden truths of the past century. Among with his other poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” is one of the best known and popular WWI poem. This poem is very shocking as well as thought provoking showing the true experience of a soldiers in trenches during war. He proves the theme suffering by sharing soldiers’ physical pain and psychological trauma in the battlefield. To him that was more than just fighting for owns country. In this poem, Owen uses logos, ethos, and pathos to proves that war was nothing more than hell.

The First World War was a time of great loss of life and bloodshed. Wilfred Owen, a soldier fighting with the British Army, wrote the poem Dulce et Decorum est to describe, possibly to the public, the horrific consequences of taking part and fighting in the war. During the poem, he describes the aftermath of a poison gas attack, and the injuries sustained by a soldier whom had inhaled the deadly substance. Owen uses gruesome imagery to vividly show in verse the horrible death the soldier faces, in the trenches of France. The poem Dulce et Decorum est is widely regarded as one of the greatest war poems ever written, and is a fine example of an anti-war protest in the form of poetry.

I watched on in horror as my favorite bird Flow slowly died. We rushed her into the vet hoping they could do something. It was no use. She had hidden her illness for too long, now it was too late. A tumour about the size of a walnut but big enough to kill her. A single tear ran down my cheek as I kissed her on the beak for the very last

The short story "The Birds" was written by Daphne du Maurrier and was filmed and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It has a very interesting and suspenseful plot. The short story was well written and the film was well played, both are very similar. Although, they have a few differences the film and short story have the same mood and theme. Would the differences in the film and the short story affect the suspenseful and frightening plot?Alfred Hitchcock did an outstanding job filming the movie matching it with the short story. In both the short story and film flocks and flocks of gulls, robins, and sparrows join each other.