With reference to two poems from the anthology, compare and contrast the respective portrayals of war.
In this essay, two poems will be compared and contrasted on their views of war. The two poems to be analysed will be ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘Base Details’ by Siegfried Sassoon. These two poems appear incredibly similar at first because the poets are both satirists who convey the war as being both horribly gruesome and stupid. They satirise generals and high command officers in particular for the hypocritical way the officers live. The way the poems are written is also very similar in style. So what is the point in this comparison? There are some differences in terms of the length of the poem, quantity of imagery, quantity of satire etc. There are some similarities between use of imagery, sound and structure but also some differences meaning we can explore the horrors of World War 1 in more depth.
Both poets use imagery very well to get across simple messages of the problems with war. Metaphorical language is used often so this will be analysed in detail with other factors like similes being analysed too.
We can see that Sassoon’s poem is much shorter than Owens’s so there is more imagery in ‘Exposure”’. However, in the second line of base details, “I’d live with scarlet majors at the base” we can see the use of a metaphor. The word ‘scarlet’ suggests that the majors have blood on their hands which symbolises how they sent young men out to die - which is something Sassoon satirises. Secondly, “And when the war is done and youth stone dead,” uses a metaphor to describe the young soldiers. The word ‘stone’ is a metaphor which implies and exaggerates the fact the soldiers have no chance on the front line. This line makes the ...
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...id structure and some skilful writing makes for an insightful read.
Now that the analysis has finished, do these poems represent war well and are they similar? The pair of compositions doesn’t show the war off well but they uncover some hidden truths of the war and when they were read after the war, they may have been quite scary to analyse. As for similarities and differences? The two poets got on well and had the same ideas. It is clear they rip apart the systems in place in the war. However Owen persists at how poorly the soldiers were treated while Sassoon concentrates on how the officers were treated – well. These pieces of poetry are extremely good and represent a very hard time for England. It is a shame not more people wrote down their thoughts through poetry because it is a sharp and piercing way of telling something.
Works Cited
wikpedia
thesauras.com
As you can see, upon looking at both pieces of writing from a different angle, there is always the opportunity for different interpretations. It is certain that a deeper analysis will give even more possible themes and common topics. Now that you have seen how each of these can be read in more than one way, hopefully you can read other pieces of poetry, attain different meanings for them and have greater love and knowledge for poetry in general.
War and its ramifications for those who are unfortunately entangled in it, is an issue that has fueled both political discussion and literary exploration throughout the previous century. Underived, authentic accounts of the experience and effects of war, from those who have served in it, can be especially enlightening for the majority of society who have had the fortune of not being intimately familiar with war. Through the examination of poems and stories written by soldiers, who were inspired by their involvement in conflict, one can obtain a greater understanding of this gruesome aspect of life, without having to directly experience it. Similarly, soldier turned poet, Bruce Weigl, has contributed his perspective on war through his literary
Autobiographies, diaries, letters, official records, photographs and poems are examples of primary sources from World War One. The two primary sources analyzed in this essay are the poems, “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen and “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae. Primary sources are often personal, written from the limited perspective of a single individual. It is very difficult for the author to capture their own personal experience, while incorporating the involvement and effects of other events happening at the same time. Each piece of writing studied describes the author’s perception of the war. Both of the poems intend to show to grave reality of war, which often was not realized until the soldiers reach the frontlines. The poems were both written at battle within two years of each other. However, the stark difference between the two poems is astonishing. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” gives a much different impression than “In Flanders Field” despite the fact that both authors were in the same war and similar circumstances. The first two lines in “In Flanders Fields” “…the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row.” are an image o...
... before even beginning the poem, we are presented with half the truth, also regarded as a lie, similar to how the speaker was drawn into the war, through a lie. “Suicide in the Trenches” is blunt and lacks the art that Owen has orchestrated with his title. Sassoon’s title while it explains the poem in few words, does not give the reader something to look forward to with its rather melancholy introduction. The irony of Owen’s title and the journey he takes us on to reach the end of his poem where the reader comes to a conclusion about the title is the feature of his poem making it stand out as compared to the poetry of his contemporaries.
Although the aftermath of World War I was devastating to many, it did bring the literature world some of the most important work of the modernist era. Many of the writers were directly or indirectly affected by the war and their writing certainly showed this. Each writer’s work shows a view of the war from a different perspective. However, what they most have in common is they way they paint the war in a negative light. T.S. Elliot writes his poem The Wasteland to show the after affects of the war on everyone while Sassoon write They to show the after affects on the soldier. In the essay, these writers and their poems will be discussed to show how they similarly reacted to the event of World War I in reference to the themes of their poems and how differently they use those themes.
Siegfried Sassoon on the other hand in his poem ‘hero’ seeks to reveal the facade and sad irony of the traditional image of the ‘war-hero’. Sassoon joined the army himself motivated by patriotism, but after his first-hand experiences he expressed his views on the ‘gritty realism’ of war through his writing. One of his most applauded pieces of work is his poem ‘the hero’ in which he touches upon a matter close to his heart; the wide gap between the public perception of the soldier fighting for his country and the stark reality of life in the trenches.
As a poet, Wilfred Owens wants to show the effects of warfare from the viewpoint of a soldier during a War. Owens uses his own experience as a fighter to capture the reader’s attention and get across his point. He often uses graphic imagery and words to depict his thoughts about war. Wilfred Owens, poems, “Dulce et Decorum est” and “Anthem for doomed youth” talk blatantly about the effects of warfare on the soldiers, their loved ones, and those who make an ultimate sacrifice by making a statement about the efficacy of war.
Many war pieces express a distinct sense of truth, hatred, and anger that can be found in the style, tone, and imagery they possess. Incredible images are created in ones mind as war writings are read and heard. Works written by such writers as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Tim OBrien really reach out to the audience by way of the authors choice of words and images that they use in their writing. These talented writers create very touching and heart-felt images as they write about the true occurrences, problems, feelings and emotions that soldiers encountered throughout times of war. It is by way of these writers words that the bloody truth of war is heard, rather than the glorified victories heard which overlook the pain that soldiers went through.
Since the war broke out, World War I has been a topic of major controversy. Not only were millions of lives lost, but the war led to new laws against specific types of unethical warfare. During the war, Siegfried Sassoon was one of many that wrote with hopes to bring an end to the entire conflict. In his poem “’They,’” Sassoon uses satire to effectively express his frustrations with the aimless deaths in the wars.
Compare and contrast the attitudes to war as reflected in for the fallen and the send off. 'For the fallen' and 'The Send-off' are poems written demonstrating attitudes towards war. Whilst banyan conveys an idealised, romantic picture of war that depicts the soldiers as heroic and courageous, Owens attitudes towards war are more pessimistic in nature. Owen uses appearance versus reality to show the corruption and misery of war. Binyan and Owen convey their attitudes through the language, structure and poetic devices they employ The attitudes to war in 'for the fallen' are patriotic and romanticised.
Overall, both poems are very strong and emotive. The fact that both of these poems are autobiographical gives us the opportunity to see what life is like in other peoples situations and how they seem to be out of passion for anything. The types of situations they go through are very different to each other but at the same time very similar.
They both try to get across the truth and reality in there poems. The World War One period made writers like Sassoon and Owen write in this style. Unlike Tennyson they put across all the negative aspects and stuck close to the point. Although Britain won World War One writers from this period wrote in a negative manner.
Overall, both poets have been victorious over their foe. They have managed to successfully create a satirized poem using some if not all weapons against the foe. They have also been triumphant in leaving a message for the bystanders of the battle, whether it is change in attitude and life or avoidance of certain characteristics that may overtake our lives.
The speaker faces a near death experience as the two men shot at each other only lucky that he survives after he kills his opponent. It is by chance that the speaker walks away unharmed and maybe the reason why he feels sorry for the dead man. However, it is ironic that the speaker regrets having killed the other man yet the dead man also wanted to kill him. The speaker should be happy that he escapes death and not regret as he justifies himself in stanza 3, where he apparently says that he killed the man because he was his enemy. Moreover, contrast comes in where the speaker gives the reason in a way that even he feel that it is not convincing as he pauses between the reasoning( " I shot him because-" Lines 1and 2), ( GALE section 6). Given stanza four, however, the speaker interestingly say that he had no motive for killing any person in the war and regrets shooting the man again arguing that maybe he was on the military list without his consent just like himself. The use of the war image in this context symbolizes what the survivors of war face after defeating their opponents through killing. At the end of the poem, the writer creates another image of war through the speaker's justification of killing the dead man. The poet reveals that wars are interesting in so