All Quiet On The Western Front Poem Analysis

Meghna Thomas

Ms. Schultes

English 2H, Block G

5/24/18

The Dehumanization of War in the Cinema Poem and All Quiet on the Western Front For centuries, the violence of war has dominated the lives of individuals, forcing them to repress their feelings and to sacrifice their basic human qualities in order to develop animal-like instincts, simply as a means of survival. Along with this process of dehumanization, the violence of war has stripped individuals of their identities. During the First World War, which occurred between July 28, 1914, to November 11, 1918, numerous works of literature emerged, illustrating destructive effects of the war on its soldiers. Various poets, such as Robert Graves, Isaac Rosenberg,

For instance, the poem “When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead” by Charles Hamilton Sorley depicts how the violence of war has completely depleted the soldiers from their inherent human natures and has transfigured these individuals into mere shadows of the identities that they had lost during the war. Furthermore, Sorley’s poem connects to the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, as both works illustrate the manner in which war forces individuals to abandon their senses and identities, and deprives them of their empathy, compassion, and hopes. Therefore, the literary works, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and “When You See Millions of the Mouthless

Primarily, the cinema poem based on “When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead” by Charles Hamilton Sorley, conveys, utilizing an unsentimental approach, how the First World War has ultimately dehumanized and stolen the identity of its soldiers. The poem depicts a dream encounter between the survivors and the murdered soldiers during the First World War. Essentially, through his poetry, Sorley attempts to instruct readers not to honor, praise, or mourn for the dead, for the war has dehumanized the soldiers to the point in which tears and words have lost all meaning and significance in their lives. Implementing his own experience in the war during the Battle of Loos, Sorley writes his poem in a stark, infernal style, in order to demonstrate the realities of war and its brutalizing effects. For instance, when Sorley writes, “nor honour. It is easy to be dead” (line 8), he causes readers to feel shocked by his blunt word choice, as he rejects the idea of humanity. Through this line, Sorley highlights the juxtaposition between the living and the dead, with the repeated dismissal of what society may demonstrate as proper or humane in response to the dead. In order