Divergence into Tradition: Whitman’s Successful Conventionality in “O Captain! My Captain!”

In contrast Owen's poem attacks the idealistic and romantic view put forward by Brooke. He argues against the ideals of heroism and self-sacrifice. He is more concerned with all the men going into war thinking that it is heroic and glorious when actually it is horrible and that millions of men die every day. The poem which I prefer between Rupert Brooke's The Soldier and Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum Est is Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum because it describes the war as I believe it is and it is very descriptive on how the gas attack happened and how all the men felt. So I like Wilfred Owen's Dulce Et Decorum overall

“O captain! My Captain!” is written by Walt Whitman in 1865 in which is that the 16th president of the U.S., Abraham Lincoln, was shot to death. People at that time fell in deep sorrow for his death, Whitman also mourned the president Lincoln by writing a poem. So, overall mood in his work is very depressed, and have much esteem for the president in it. First of all, the poem is very exquisite and dramatic.

Although both Dulce et Decorum Est and The Charge of the Light Brigade are about battle and the death of soldiers, they portray the experience of war in different ways. Tennyson´s poem celebrates the glory of war, despite the fact that, because of an error of judgement ('Someone had blundered´), six hundred soldiers were sent to their death. Owen´s poem, on the other hand, might almost have been written as a challenge to Tennyson´s rousing and jingoistic sentiments. He presents the horror of senseless death in the trenches and shows us how the famous line from the Roman poet Horace, 'it is sweet and becoming to die for your country´, is a lie. We are told that Tennyson wrote 'Light Brigade´ in a few minutes after reading the description in The Times of the Battle of Balaclava in 1854.

Biography of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe is a man who is considered to be a true American genius of our time, and by many, the personification of death. His works have been collected and celebrated for over a hundred years from this day. He was a man who’s dreary horror tales captured and frightened the minds of millions. Poe differed from most other acclaimed writers though. The readers of his work do not admire him because they fall in love with his characters or because his writing touches their hearts.

Despite his patriotic view, he has repeated the danger of an early death in his poem, proving he is fully aware of war's horrors. Owen has shown war as being gruesome. His poem describes the war through the senses, which allows readers enter the shoes of Wilfred Owen, and understand war's tragedy. He believes that 'sweet and proper to die for your country' is a lie, unlike Tennyson. Alfred Tennyson's poem was based on a newspaper article that has made the poem biased and patriotic.

The History of The Old Lie and Poetry of Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori' is a Latin saying that was expressed by the roman poet Horace. It means 'It is sweet and fitting to die for your country'. When Owen wrote his poetry based on his experience of the Great War he did not agree with this saying; he wrote poetry that was full of horror yet told the truth. Therefore he called this saying 'the old lie'. Owen called it this because war was no longer skilful like it once was in roman times fighting face to face close combat, war was now full of gas shells, bombs and long distance shots.

Compare Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, and Before Agincourt by William Shakespeare. Before Agincour and Dulce et decorum est ======================================== I have chosen to compare two poems for this piece of work, and they are Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, and Before Agincourt by William Shakespeare. Both look at War as the main subject, but express very different views on it. Wilfred Owen has written a very powerful poem about a man dying from a gas attack during the First World War, whereas Shakespeare writes a rhetoric poem about the honour and pride found in battle. ¡Dulce et decorum est¡, and ¡Before Agincourt¡ are two poems so incredibly far away, in meaning, from each other, that it is very difficult to compare them.

He tries to make it seem sensational, and plead to the younger generation by making it come across as heroic. In comparison to Brooks poem Owen describes images related to dying for your nation as cruel, painful and upsetting but Brooke views it as something extremely honorable and something to be proud of. Personally I feel that if you happen to die in the line of battle it is in fact a heroic death. While Brook's poem describes his views of war from an outsiders perspective, Owen's Poem gives an outstanding description of war as he experienced it firsthand. Brooke sees that laying down your life during the line of duty for your country is honorable and heroic, and while you engage the first stanza you will see that Brooke writes: "the rich dead”(1).

This poem is an extended metaphor; the fallen captain the writer mentions is Abraham Lincoln. That being said Lincoln is the captain who has “fallen cold and dead”, “On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln's death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died” (Freidel,Sidey). Whitman speaks of a “fearful trip,” and by this he means the civil war. Lincoln and Whitman both thought that the preservation of the union was a supreme reason for fighting the war, in fact Whitman served as a volunteer nurse in army hospitals during the American Civil War.

Many people relate this poem to Walt’s feelings towards Abraham Lincoln. He was a father figure to the country when the country was going through a hard time by attempting to abolish slavery. They were finally reaching the end of the fight and were so close to having it over and suddenly the healthy Abraham Lincoln drops dead due to being shot. It was unexpected and it shook the nation. This poem is considered an elegy, also known as a mourning poem.