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The history and purpose of war poetry
The history and purpose of war poetry
The history and purpose of war poetry
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Comparing Dulce et Decorum est and Charge of the Light Brigade
In this essay I will be comparing two war poems. The poems, Dulce et
Decorum est, by Wilfred Owen and Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred
Lord-Tennyson came from different generations; Owen's is written from
his own experiences during the first world war; Lord-Tennysons poem
was written from the safety of his own home during the Crimean war.
The only real similarity between the two poems is that they were both
written about the battlefield. Owen's poem is a heartfelt plea against
military propaganda, while Tennyson's poem is propaganda.
To understand these poems more, we must look at the poet's lives:
· Wilfred Owen led a rather comfortable life as a tutor until he
enlisted in October 1915. Owen was an Officer in the 2nd Artists
Rifles Officers Training Corps and was recommended for the Military
Cross. Probably one of Owens most poignant memories of the war was the
subject if this poem, the death of a fellow soldier and friend in a
brutal mustard gas attack. On November 4th 1918, Owen tragically died
in a German Machine gun attack, just seven days before the armistice.
His parents received the news of his death on November 11th, while the
bells were ringing out the end of the war.
· Alfred "Eccentric" Lord-Tennyson began writing at the age of 8 and
had written most of a blank verse play by the age of 14. Tennyson
became the poet laureate in 1850 and finally accepted a baronetcy and
became Lord-Tennyson in 1884, after numerous offers. Being the poet
laureate he was expected to write about the Crimean war, and he did.
The result of this is Charge of the Light Brigade...
... middle of paper ...
...use it expects no answer, only the knowledge
that their glory will never fade. The ending to Dulce et Decorum est
is very powerful. You could just read the end of it and understand
what the poem is about. It addresses it's intended audience and uses
Latin very cleverly to create a very hard-hitting, saddening final
line.
"The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori."
Personally I think that Dulce et Decorum est is the better of the two
poems. It addresses war realistically and tells the truth and the raw
details of war. It has a clear pace and the words really cut through
you. I dislike Charge of the Light Brigade for its treatment of war.
It makes it sound like an all right event, when it is much the
opposite. Although I do admire the way Tennyson has made such an awful
thing sound almost romantic.
The first poem we are going to look at is ‘The Charge of the Light
“Dulce et Decorum Est” shows how one soldiers need to survive indirectly causes another soldiers death. From the very beginning of the poem the reader sees how the war affects the soldiers. Fighting in the war has aged the soldiers, the once young men now “bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags” trudge through the warzone (Owen 1-2). The men, completely drained f...
All exceptional poetry displays a good use of figurative language, imagery, and diction. Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" is a powerful antiwar poem which takes place on a battlefield during World War I. Through dramatic use of imagery, metaphors, and diction, he clearly states his theme that war is terrible and horrific.
In this essay you will notice the differences and similarities between ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ was written in nineteenth century by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In contrast, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written in the twentieth century by Wilfred Owen. The main similarity we have observed is that they both capture war time experiences. However, the poets’ present these events using their own style, and the effect is two completely different observations of war.
The two poems have a strongly anti war message in both the victims. of war are the young men who’s lives are wasted. ‘Dulce et decorum Est’ uses the description of a gas attack to show how horrific the attack was. reality of war is. Owen describes the victim as "a sham."
Wilfred Owen is a tired soldier on the front line during World War I. In the first stanza of Dulce Et Decorum Est he describes the men and the condition they are in and through his language shows that the soldiers deplore the conditions. Owen then moves on to tell us how even in their weak human state the soldiers march on, until the enemy fire gas shells at them. This sudden situation causes the soldiers to hurriedly put their gas masks on, but one soldier did not put it on in time. Owen tells us the condition the soldier is in, and how, even in the time to come he could not forget the images that it left him with. In the last stanza he tells the readers that if we had seen what he had seen then we would never encourage the next generation to fight in a war.
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke, and Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen are two poems which were written during the First World War, and both being written about this conflict, they share the same theme of war poetry. However, the two poems deal very differently with the subject of war, resulting in two very different pieces of writing.
Through the use of dramatic imagery in Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” Owen is able to recreate a dramatic war scene and put the reader right on the front lines. The use of language is very effective in garnering the readers’ attention and putting the dire images of war into the mind. He emphasizes that war is upsetting and appalling at times. There is nothing sweet about it. He only strengthens his argument by the use of strong descriptive words and vivid figurative language. The utilization of these techniques gives the poem a strong meaning and provides the reader with a vivid portrayal of the events that took place during this grisly occurrence.
Similarly, Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” describes a soldier who witnesses the death of his comrade from poisonous gas. Using imagery and irony, Owen presents a blunt contrast between the propaganda practiced for recruitment and the truth behind the suffering endured by the soldiers. While presented in different formats, both literary works criticize the romanticism of war, arguing that there is no glory in the suffering and killing caused by conflict.
The fourth and final stanza makes the speaker’s argument very clear: it is not sweet and honorable to fight and die for the fatherland. The structure of the poem allows the speaker to relay his experience and finish by summing up his argument by saying if anyone else saw what he saw, then “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest / To children ardent for some desperate glory, / The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est” (25-27). The speaker blatantly establishes his argument, the saying Dulce et decorum est is simply patriotic propaganda to get young innocent men to fight for the fatherland, or in other words, a despicable lie that sends innocent youth to their graves.
Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" was written during his World War I experience. Owen, an officer in the British Army, deeply opposed the intervention of one nation into another. His poem explains how the British press and public comforted themselves with the fact that all the young men dying in the war were dieing noble, heroic deaths. The reality was quite different: They were dieing obscene and terrible deaths. Owen wanted to throw the war in the face of the reader to illustrate how vile and inhumane it really was. He explains in his poem that people will encourage you to fight for your country, but, in reality, fighting for your country is simply sentencing yourself to an unnecessary death. The breaks throughout the poem indicate the clear opposition that Owen strikes up. The title of the poem means "It is good and proper to die for your country," and then Owen continues his poem by ending that the title is, in fact, a lie.
The two poems, 'Dulce et decorum est' and 'Who's for the game?' are both very different war poems. Although they were both written about the First World War, they both had different purposes. The poems have aspects in which they are similar, but they also have very big differences.
Although war is often seen as a waste of many lives, poets frequently focus on its effect on individuals. Choose two poems of this kind and show how the poets used individual situations to illustrate the impact of war.
Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” makes the reader acutely aware of the impact of war. The speaker’s experiences with war are vivid and terrible. Through the themes of the poem, his language choices, and contrasting the pleasant title preceding the disturbing content of the poem, he brings attention to his views on war while during the midst of one himself. Owen uses symbolism in form and language to illustrate the horrors the speaker and his comrades go through; and the way he describes the soldiers, as though they are distorted and damaged, parallels how the speaker’s mind is violated and haunted by war.
The poem "Dulce et Decorum est" was written by Wilfred Owen during World War One, and is probably the most popular war-poem ever written.The title is part of the Latin phrase 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori' which means 'It is sweet and right to die for your country'. Wilfred Owen saw the war first-hand and this poem is about a gas attack that he witnessed. Throughout this poem Owen gives the sense of anger and injustice through the use of many different poetic techniques.