Owen forces the readers to recognise the soldier’s sacrifice due to the war fueled by the propagandist lies. Owen utilises second person to address the stay at home patriots and those who would encourage young men to give up their lives for their country. The ironic tone addressing “my friend” conveys his anger as he holds the government accountable for what he and so many others had to endure and claims that if only they were to witness the atrocities of war then they would realise the extent of the ‘old lie’. Through the use of the word “boys”, its connotations of youth and innocence, emphasises the corruption of the government. Owen’s vivid imagery allows the reader to foresee the lies the government has addressed, which has lead the mass murder of innocent young soldiers.
Both poets swirl around the idea of death in the name of ones country, in this case England in the World War 1 era, but this example serves different purposes in the two poems. Owen uses a graphic example where he remorsefully describes the death caused by a gas attack, exposing to his readers that war is an ugly, brutal and detestable encounter. Yet Brooke uses a different approach, and expresses that not only is it every man’s duty to fight and die for his country to preserve perfection, but once dead, the ashes shall physically enrich the already ‘rich’ soil “In that rich earth, a richer dust concealed”. And all ‘English’ values that the motherland bore will live on in one form or another. This way Brooke tries to convince that there is a deeper meaning to what lies on the surface of war.
Homer drives home the bleakness and hopelessness of war with his final book. When thinking of a war, the first thought to pop into one's head is most likely death and suffering, not great triumph and glory. For a great majority of the Iliad, however, Homer writes about the winning of glory, and the pride taken in killing a foe. This gives war an entertainment value, and makes it seem that it is a good opportunity to be fighting in a war. This is not the case whatsoever.
Too smart, too compassionate, too everything… above it” (O’Brien 45). O’Brien’s decision to stay in the United States and fight in the war is an act of choice instead instinct. However, war robs its participants of personal choice by rendering them unable to control their actions. In war, soldiers are instead controlled largely by raw emotion, and therefore instinct as well. For example, O’Brien reflects on his experiences with death in “Ambush,” describing the kill as “automatic… to make him go away – just evaporate… [he] had already thrown the grenade before telling [himself] to thr... ... middle of paper ... ...ar, O’Brien was able to turn his pain into a life purpose by immortalizing his loved ones.
In Hedges' first chapter of the book titled, "The Myth of War," he talks about how the press often shows and romanticizes certain aspects of war. In war there is a mythic reality and a sensory reality. In sensory reality, we see events for what they are. In mythic reality, we see defeats as "signposts on the road to ultimate victory" (21), Chris Hedges brings up an intriguing point that the war we are most used to seeing and hearing about (mythic war )is a war completely different than the war the soldiers and journalists experience ( sensory war), a war that hides nothing. He states, "The myth of war is essential to justify the horrible sacrifices required in war, the destruction and death of innocents.
Although the poem was written before television was invented, he was able to portray the battle as it would be shown on film. Tennyson's potent imagery and use of repetition makes the reader visualize the urgency of the headlong charge into 'the valley of death'. 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' was wr... ... middle of paper ... ... Tennyson's rather impersonal 'six hundred'. He wants us to imagine that we are actually there on the battlefield so we get an idea of what it was like. This poem is the closest we will get to experience such atrocities and if we had, Owen tells us in the final lines, then we would not try to glorify war any longer.
The Portrayal of War in Lord Byron’s The Destruction of Sennacherib, Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est and Tennyson’s The Charge of The Light Brigade We have studied three poems on the subject of different views of war. ‘The Destruction of Sennacherib’ and ‘The Charge of the Light brigade’ were written pre 1914 whereas ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est was written post 1914’. Dulce et decorum est, was written by Wilfred Owen, and is meant to portray the harshness of the first world war. This was mainly to combat writers such as Jesse Pope, who portrayed the war as “a game”. Lord Byron’s the destruction of Sennacherib, was written pre 1914, and he used secondary evidence (2nd book of chronicles chapter 32 in the Old Testament) to structure his poem.
Remarques use of carnage imagery truly expounds the ruthless eradication of innocent soldiers and the distortion of a man's psyche that comes with it. By and large war is the enemy itself as it causes men to rearrange their mindset and tests their mental capacity. A traumatic event at the very least war takes men and molds them into beings with more animal instinct than human inclination. Remarque's novel All quiet on the western front perfectly demonstrates how war can affect a man's psyche when tested give a kill or be killed ultimatum. Without the help of carnage imagery and unique symbols the themes
He is ruthless and he murders those who come... ... middle of paper ... ...m to hate the world and soon make the Media Luna into a desert. He is willing to continue his cruelty but he knows that it will ultimately get back to him, it will cost him and most importantly, he will have consequences. The deaths that were caused in his world ruined him, ruined his want to feel emotions or change. The deaths in his childhood and adulthood made him indifferent to the emotions that he was feeling. Ultimately, the father and son, truly depict Nietzsche's Theory of the Übermensch as they feel that they are superior, almost as if they were god.
He than says “The Hun is at the gate” Meaning that the Germans are coming. If we don’t go out and meet them they will attack us. He also curses the Germans by calling them Huns. The Huns were originally an ancient tribe who ravaged and plundered every where they went. By calling the Germans, Huns Rudyard Kipling suggests that they are the same and present a danger to all so we hav... ... middle of paper ... ... the stupidity of the war and uses sarcastic phrases such as ‘It must take guts to drop those bombs on defenceless people who had no chance’ to emphasize the unfairness of the war.