World War One, alone caused seventeen million deaths and twenty million injuries. Ho Thein, Bruce Dawe and Kenneth Slessor are poets that attempted to raise awareness about the horrors of war. These poets changed how society thought about war. Particular poems that raised awareness included Green Beret, Homecoming and Beach Burial. These poems share the themes of reality, suffering, dishonesty and death. After reading these verses, individuals were left feeling horrified, disturbed and many other negative feelings towards war.
Homecoming, Green Beret and Beach Burial were all sad, depressing poems. Homecoming shared similarities with Beach Burial as they both revolved around the theme of death, either sending dead soldiers home in green plastic
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It made me reflect upon how my life would have been like living in that era, constantly worrying I would get a telegram notifying me that my husband or brother had passed, or worse being unsure the rest of my life. It made me think about the impact of war, and how useless and silly it was to kill other humans. It also made me feel anguish towards the prime minister as he had the opportunity to praise those whom survived but instead treated them as they had done horror and deserved to be neglected. This poem emphasised that every animal and human are unique and deserved to be treated that way, not being put into plastic bags, like garbage. This poem made it clear that soldiers were being treated ‘like leaves from a wintery …show more content…
The young boy was left feeling sad and horrified, as he had lost his life support, and potentially given up the right to a full life. This incident made me feel shocked and confused, wondering why he chose his country over his father. This poem made me feel philosophical and reflective, it made me think about how the individuals mentioned in the poem would be feeling after. I imagined the mercenary would be feeling regret, other soldiers’ honour and the young boy would be left in a dark depressing place. It resulted in me visualising young children with no father’s once the war ended, and how many children wouldn’t get the choice. I envisioned growing up without my father, it made me feel horrified and sad. I pictured growing up without my father teaching me how to play football or tucking me into bed. This poem lead to insights which resulted in horror, but overall I feel sympathetic to the young boy who had to live the rest of his life without his father, knowing he had the
Many soldiers who come back from the war need to express how they feel. Many do it in the way of writing. Many soldiers die in war, but the ones who come back are just as “dead.” Many cadets come back with shell shock, amputated arms and legs, and sometimes even their friends aren’t there with them. So during World War I, there was a burst of new art and writings come from the soldiers. Many express in the way of books, poems, short stories and art itself. Most soldiers are just trying to escape. A lot of these soldiers are trying to show what war is really like, and people respond. They finally might think war might not be the answer. This is why writers use imagery, irony and structure to protest war.
Route March Rest by Vernon Scannell, Night Raid by Desmond Hawkins, The Battle by Louis Simpson - How do the poets communicate emotional or moving responses to war? What do these poems tell us about wartime life and the thoughts and feelings of civilians and soldiers? How do the poets communicate emotional or moving responses to war? The following essay will try to answer the question above.
...hor of the poem ¡§For the Fallen¡¨, Laurence Binyon, has also expressed the feeling of loss and alienation that comes along with war as he writes about those who fought in the Gallipoli campaign. Not only the alienation of soldiers, but the families who have suffered from their deaths:
With further experiences, new insights may lead to furthering our thoughts on a specific poem we are writing. A poem comes out when the world is ready for it. Dulce ET Decorum Est is a great example of this thought. This poem was directed at a specific individual to expose the horror of war, and prove that it is not sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. The poet spends a lot of his time reflecting on the haunting image of a soldier dying from poisonous gas. In fact, it seems the poet can’t forget the image of this soldier gasping for breath. The speaker of this poem states this in line 15 through 16 “In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” The poet must’ve felt it necessary to release his thoughts on this dying man to the world in order to expose the world to the horror of war. This was around the time when television footage of wars did not occur. The kids signing up or being drafted to be soldiers had no idea that war would be this ugly. In fact, everyone seemed to be telling them Dulcem Et Decorum Est. As a result, I realized that the world was ready and needed this
... wars and deaths of loved ones, or like those in a Greek tragedy, but the writer of this poem is so sincerely affected by sorrow and tragedy that it permeates his daily life, to the point where the death of a toad during the mowing of a lawn is seen as something moving and serious.
Poetry has been used for centuries as a means to explore emotions and complex ideas through language, though individuals express similar ideas in wholly different forms. One such idea that has been explored through poetry in numerous ways is that of war and the associated loss, grief, and suffering. Two noted Australian poets shown to have accomplished this are Kenneth Slessor with his work ‘Beach Burial’ and John Schumann’s ‘I Was Only Nineteen’. Both of these works examine the complexities of conflict, but with somewhat different attitudes.
Spring In War-Time by Edith Nesbit is a very moving poem. It describes nature in such a beautiful way, and then goes on to say how, to her, it is not beautiful anymore. She writes about her loss by saying things such as
I am going to compare the two poems “Dulce et decorum est” by Wilfred Owen and “Channel Firing” by Thomas Hardy. The poem by Hardy talks about the great German guns “Big Berthas” which fired across the channel at the nearest coastal villages, and how the noise of these guns is so terrific that it wakes the dead in their graves. “Dulce et decorum est” is a poem about a group of tired, worn out soldiers who are making their way back from the front line. They come under a gas attack and Owen describes to us the scene which is presented to him of a fellow soldier and companion “drowning” in his own mucus. Both poems portray a sense of helplessness to this exposure to the war!
In the poems, “In flanders field” by John McCrae, “Concord hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson and “Dulce et Decorum est” by Wilfred Owen, a common theme is showed. This theme in the three poems is the theme of remembrance. In “In Flanders Field” it is important that the reader remembers the sacrifices that were taken by the soldiers during WWI. In “Concord Hymn” it is important that we remember the soldiers in the revolutionary war that earned our freedom. In “Dulce et Decorum est” it is important that the reader remembers the horror that these soldiers had to go through in World War I. One may look at these poems and come to the conclusion that the theme is war and what it's about, but the theme really is remembering different aspects of war. In all three of these poems we see remembrance as a very important because
The Reality of War in Various Poetry Works Cited Missing The First World War was unlike any previous was Britain had ever fought. The horror of both the physical conditions and the reality of battle moved soldier and officer alike to express their reactions in verse. The soldiers' shock at the contrast between their experiences and their previous conceptions of war as described by the propaganda at home made many soldiers angry and bitter, which is reflected in all of these poems.
World War I was not the war people expected it to be. People were expecting to defeat the Nazis, then get home by Christmas. This was not the reality. In many cases, young boys lied about their ages in order to join the army, because they felt that they would return war heroes and be remembered for their efforts in the war. What they instead returned with was shell shock and amputated limbs. A war that most thought would last only 6 months, in reality lasted over 4 years. In those 4 years, over 8 million soldiers died and over 20 million were wounded (First World War, n.d.). During this time, many new poets appeared. Many were soldiers or civilians that lived near the fighting. There they saw the reality of war, which differed greatly from what they had grown up hearing about. Some poets based their poems on the battle itself, while others focused on the
Throughout the times war has effected people immensely both physically and mentally. All people deal with their circumstances differently to help cope with what they dealing with. Whether it’s a fatality in the family, or post traumatic stress disorder most people find a way to heal from injury or emotional damage. In Brian Turners poem, “Phantom Noise,” he writes about the constant ringing he hears from the war he served in. The poem expresses that Turner seems to deal with his emotional damage by writing poetry about what he feels, hears, and sees during the time he spent in war and in civilian life. Even though Turner is no longer in war it still effects him greatly each day. The overall tone of the poem is very solemn and makes the reader
I am going to compare and contrast the two poems ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘War Photographer’ by Carol Ann Duffy. They both give a view of war. Owen gives first hand experiences he witnessed whilst fighting in World War One and where he unfortunately died one week before the war came to an end. Carol Ann Duffy may be writing about the feelings of her personal friends who were war photographers, showing some of the horrors they witnessed.
“And the Bishop said: ‘The ways of God are strange!’.” Religion is one of the most noticeable themes that the World War 1 poets use. Death is another prominent subject of the poems written during the war. The home front is another theme in the poems. The loss of innocence is a major theme as well.
Lastly, the overall message of this poem is that people through modern times doesn’t think about the people suffering in wars, hey don’t care enough. It makes us question on how we should act and how this affects our lives. Should we care more and sympathise about those that are dying, those that are innocent and suffering? This poem was very successful in making me re think about my emotions towards the was and it definitely made me look at the war photographer in a better light as they put their lives at risk to keep us posted on what’s happening overseas. This was cleverly written and Duffy’s emotions really showed about how she is disappointed and frustrated on how we look at war and death.