ANALYSIS + COMPARATION OF DULCE DECORUM EST AND BEFORE AGINCOURT
In the poems Dulce ET Decorum EST and Before Agincourt how do the poets portray war?
The poem before Agincourt is set in 1415: the Battle of Agincourt. It's written by the legendary Shakespeare and originates from the play Henry V. Dulce ET Decorum EST However is written by Wilfred Owen another successful war poet in 1917. Although Dulce ET Decorum Est is also set on the battlefield they both portray opposite views towards war, Before Agincourt Portrays war as a brave honourable act. However Dulce ET Decorum Est is the complete opposite, Wilfred Owen Gives an insight to the pain and suffering behind the frontline, the pain and suffering mainly due to the fact he wrote it while serving in the war.
Wilfred Owen was a middle ranking officer who fought in the Battle of Agincourt and came from a middle class background. Most of his war poetry was written in response to other propaganda poems written at the time. Owen's use of religious imagery portrays his religious upbringing and reflects his father's job: a vicar. During the war Owen met two other Soldier/Poets Seryfred Sasson and Jessie Pope. Sasson he met in a Military Hospital and his poems were in response to Pope's propaganda poetry.
Shakespeare however had no experience of war but was a very famous playwright. Surprisingly Before Agincourt wasn't written for Henry V, It was written two hundred years later to purvey the main historical events at that time, and Before Agincourt portrays war as an honourable act.
"If we are mark'd to die, we are enow to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer the men the greater the share of honour, God's will?"
In these opening Sentences he says destiny is death, It's their countries loss and if they live the fewer the men the greater the share of honour.
"I pray thee wish not one man more": He prays to god and is happy for what he has been given and believes in his men, not wising one man more. "By love, I am not covebus for gold, ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
"If we are mark'd to die, we are enow to do our country loss; and if to live, the fewer the men the greater the share of honour, God's will?"
In these opening Sentences he says destiny is death, It's their countries loss and if they live the fewer the men the greater the share of honour.
"I pray thee wish not one man more": He prays to god and is happy for what he has been given and believes in his men, not wising one man more. "By love, I am not covebus for gold, nor care I who doth feed upon me cost"; By this he is simply explaining he's not interested in riches.
However in the following sentences he explains he seeks nothing but victory, glory and honour. He says how he does not care for ripped clothes/boots: "It yearns me not men if my garments wear, such outward things dwell not in my desires but if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive.
A little further on he gives the soldiers the choice to leave. He offers a passport and crowns (money) to the people who are not prepared to risk their lives alongside him. However he lures them in with the vision of being glorified for their bravery on St Crispin's day and their name's never forgotten. "That He which hath no stomach to this fight, let him depart; his passport shall be made, and crowns put into his purse, we would not die in that man's company that fears his fellowship to die with us.
"He that outlives this day and comes safe home will stand on tip-toe when this day is named and rouse him at the name of Crispin. He that shall live this day and see old age, will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours and say: Tomorrow is St Crispin then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars, and say these wounds I had on St Crispin's day". In this Quote Shakespeare speaks of the future. He paints a picture of a feast and the soldiers ripping back their sleeves and presenting their scars and saying "these Wounds I had on St Crispin's day.
"Then shall our names be familiar in his mouth as household words, Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter. Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered" By this he meant their names will never be forgotten. Not one Crispin's day will go by when their names are not mentioned. Their story will be passed down generations from father to son until the end of the world and they'd be remembered.
"We few, we happy, few, we band of brothers;" Shakespeare uses this pattern of three and uses a personal pronoun for effect. "For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother be he ne'er so vile this day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhood's cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon St Crispin's day". By this Shakespeare implies when the soldiers return from war and tell their tales other men will feel worthless in comparison to the soldiers who will proudly show off their scars.
"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks," Owen speaks of the pressure and burden on the soldiers. "Knock-kneed, coughing like old hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs and towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots but limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all blind; drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of gas shells dropping softly behind": They ploughed through sludge towards the thought of rest, unconscious of their ripped clothes/boots so tired they looked drunk and also seemed to be deaf towards gas shell's dropping behind.
"Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! - an ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time" Owen speaks of how they fumbled around clumsily fitting the gasmasks just in time. However not everyone managed it quickly enough: "Din, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning"
"In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning" Owen describes himself as helpless, as if in a dream. He says how he lunged at him in a final plea for help. "White eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, Like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues." By this Owen implies an innocent young man went through all this pain and suffering in an attempt to gain some "glory".
To ardent for some desperate glory, The old lie: "Dulce ET Decorum EST Pro patria mori." Which translates as: "It is sweet and meet (decorous) to die for one's country".
,107 Words
Hassan Mahmood 11W
