In Of the Great White War and Base Details, the poets write about

In Of the Great White War and Base Details, the poets write about

age and youth in times of war. Explore the feelings that the poets

express and the ways in which they communicate these feelings to you.

To answer the question above, I first have to get a vague idea of what

both poems are about. It is obvious to see that both poems are about

war and explore issues of youth and the aged. In my opinion both poems

are anti-war and are against youth being sent to fight, and the way

that the youth of England was abused by older or more powerful people

to keep themselves safe and that is what I will be trying to explore,

among other things, in this essay. I will analyse both of the poems

individually as well as making comparisons throughout, as well as some

final comparisons and a summary of the points in the conclusion.

I will start with 'Of the Great White War'. In the poem the writer

expresses his hypocrisy of the older generation. Examples are

throughout but one is shown on line nine of the poem '(the aged)

mouthed fair phrases one upon the other upon the supreme sacrifice'.

That line alone has many examples of hypocrisy and half-truths. The

use of 'Mouthed' as a description of how the aged talked about the war

and the death of young men is designed by the writer to give the

impression of falseness and lies. It is said without meaning or heart

as if the speaker is not actually saying it, just pretending to as a

routine or a duty. The saying of 'one upon the other' yet again is a

way of making the aged men's words seem false and piled on top of each

other without meaning. Describing the words as 'fair phrases' adds a

sarcastic tone to the whole sentence, and 'phrases' reinforces the

fact that the words are not meant to be true and are just phrases,

things that are said as an everyday thing without thought. Finally the

author talks about the 'supreme sacrifice' replacing death, as that is

what the sacrifice was in the end. I think he disliked the term as he

uses it in a negative sentence as he most likely felt it glorified

death, and he disliked the attitude of old people as even though they

talked about the glorious deaths and sacrifices, they were hypocrites

not willing to die themselves.

The poet also in the poem expresses his anger at young people being

sent to die throughout the poem. An example of this is on lines five