‘Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them’
Just as in each line we meet the word ‘cannon’ just as the soldiers meet their flying shells at each turn. This shows how brave the soldiers were because they got shot in all directions.
Tennyson uses a diameter line arrangement in his poem:
Can----non----to / right----of----them S=Stressed
S N S N S S N S NS NS=Non stressed
Tennyson, in his poem uses a dactylic rhythm in his poem. The falling of the rhythm could represent the devastating loss of the soldiers.
In stanza five, Tennyson uses the word ‘hero’ to describe the soldiers which classifies the soldiers as heroes because when the soldiers went to the enemy’s territory they never gave up.
Tennyson uses the rhymes ‘blundered,’ ‘thundered,’ ‘sundered,’ ‘wondered’ and ‘hundred’ but the word ‘hundred’ is a false rhyme. So the blunder in the rhyme scheme could represent the blunder made by the commander, the commander made his soldiers go the wrong way and made a wrong decision.
Tennyson in stanza six begins with a rhetorical question, ‘when can their glory fade?’ the effect that this quote has on the readers is that Tennyson is trying to say that the glory of the soldiers will and should never fade.
The poet writes in his poem ‘honour the charge they made!’ Tennyson here tries to tell the readers that the soldiers were ready to sacrifice their lives for their country and also the soldiers fought bravely throughout the war. therefore Tennyson is ordering his readers to remember these soldiers and to cherish and honour their names and also the soldiers are remembered together as very brave.
The poet favours war in this poem because he talks about the soldier’s bravery and he also does not criticise the person who was responsible for the blunder the poet glorifies war and the soldier’s courage, even though lives have been lost.
The poet was not there at the time to see the battles because he does not use first person to suggest that he witnessed these accounts first hand. The tone is commemorative and it does not sound like he is recounting the events as if he was there to witness the events.
The poet glorifies war and does not show the reader any bad side of war because he is not critical, he does not even criticise Lord Raglan for his blunder but instead, he tells us that the soldiers obeyed the order, so they are brave.
Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire on 18th March 1983. Owen was encouraged to write poetry from an early age by his devoted mother. He could not afford university education, so decided to go abroad to teach English in France. Owen volunteered for the Army in 1914 when the First World War broke out. After training he became an officer and was sent to France at the end of 1916, seeing service first in the Somme sector. The following year, Owen took part in the attacks on the German Hindenburg Line near St Quentin. When a huge shell burst near him, he was shell-shocked and sent back to England.
The horrors of battle quickly transformed Owen and the way he thought about life. He was treated in Craig Lockhart hospital which is in Edinburgh. Doctors there specialized in shell shock and it was a terrible experience for Owen, who spent hours surrounded by other distressed patients. Patients were encouraged to return to their pre-war interests, so Owen decided to look over his old poems and begin writing new ones. Owen was very impressed with Sassoon's poetry, and when Sassoon arrived at the hospital in August 1917, Wilfred Owen decided to meet him. Sassoon encouraged Owen in his poetry, telling him to 'Sweat your guts out writing poetry.' Sassoon offered help and guidance when Owen began to write new poems based around his war experiences. It was under the influence of Sassoon that Owen began capturing his vivid visions of the war in the form of poetry.
One of Owen’s famous poems 'Dulce et Decorum Est' is an example of a poem written through his own eyes, based on his own experiences and views of the war, we know that he witnessed the first world war because in the poem it says ‘I saw him drowning’ this is in first person so this shows that Owen was there fighting the first world war. However Tennyson doesn’t use any first person quotes in his poem so from this we can presume that he was not there fighting the war unlike Owen who was because he uses nasty and horrific imagery to give the reader the exact feeling that he wanted.
This poem uses three stanzas and a rhyme scheme throughout the whole poem. The pattern of the rhyme scheme stays constant in all three stanzas the pattern is AB, AB, CD, and CD in the first eight lines it says:
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, A
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, B
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs A
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. B
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots C
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; D
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots C
of gas-shell dropping softly behind. D
As you can see from above it shows that there is a constant rhyme scheme. Owen probably tries to keep the rhyme scheme constant because just as the rhyme scheme stays the same likewise, Owen’s opinion of war will stay the same. Owen’s opinion of war is bad and unlike Tennyson’s opinion of war is good.
‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ means sweet and honourable it is. The title is clever because it is ironic because the images that Owen tries to show are not honourable. Owen probably uses Latin because Latin is a very noble and honourable language however the images Owen portrays are far from noble and dignifying.
In the first stanza the speed of it is very slow because Owen makes it a long stanza and depicts many images throughout the first stanza, he makes it slow in order for the reader to take in the images and reflect over them
The first quote 'Bent double,' is an image which shows that the soldiers of the first world war were very exhausted and that they have no energy left in side their bodies also it shows that the soldiers were in a lot of distress. Owen probably tells the readers that the soldiers are tired because of all the weight they have to carry (e.g. Heavy bags.) whereas, in Tennyson’s poem all the soldiers are full of energy and all ready to go to war.
The simile ‘Like old beggars under sacks,’ suggests that the soldiers had no dignity left in side them and the soldiers have been reduced to something less than men and they are suffering terribly this shows the readers the image that the soldiers lived like tramps and poor people whereas in Tennyson’s poem all the soldiers are not suffering terribly, the soldiers knew that they were going to die but they still went on to war with light cavalry (less armour).
The line ‘Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge.’ From this line we know that the poem was based in the First World War because of the word ‘sludge’ and the trenches are like sludge’s because it was in the First World War which was in very muddy conditions because of all the mud that was dug out from the ground. The poet uses the simile ‘coughing like hags’ to show that the soldiers were coughing like old women and also it shows that the soldiers have lost all self respect, the soldiers could be coughing because of the smoke from all the bombardment that took place around the soldiers, they have also been reduced to something less then men and they are suffering terribly. The image that is created by the poet is very old women, steadily walking through the heavy mud whereas, in Tennyson’s poem it does not really describe the areas were they went to war.
The poet describes the ‘haunting flares’ as scary flames because they, the soldiers are psychologically broken down, they don’t have self control over their senses whereas,
so as the bombs are dropping behind they are very scared and fearing another attack.
The verb ‘trudge’ is used to make the reader’s attention to the matter that the speed is slow, this shows that the soldiers have less energy and strength left in their bodies. This creates the image that they had to work extremely hard throughout the First World War whereas in Tennyson’s poem it only says the soldiers went to one battle, lost and came back so it was not to much hard work for the soldiers this was less hassle than owen’s poem.
The alliteration ‘Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,’ shows how tired the soldiers were from all the fighting they have done and also the soldiers could not sleep at night because of all the noise of the bombings from the enemies. They probably lost their boots because they have lost their discipline and authority whereas, in Tennyson’s the soldiers were ready to get to war no matter what the situation was because they would obey every command.
The quote ‘But limped on,’ shows a very slow moving image and the reader thinks that the soldiers are injured. However, it also shows that readers that the soldiers are not going to give up. They will keep fighting till they die. This is the same with Tennyson’s poem all the soldiers would not give up.
The metaphor ‘Drunk with fatigue;’ suggests that their whole bodies have been consumed with tiredness and they are staggering along. This quote could show the readers that the soldiers must be so tired that they cannot think for themselves. This creates the image that the soldiers are so tired that they cannot stay in line like a real army should, a real army should march in straight lines with power whereas, in Tennyson’s poem the whole army charged with bravery and love for their country.
‘Deaf even to the hoots of gas-shells dropping softly behind.’ This show the readers that when the soldiers were marching they could not hear the shells and bombs dropping behind them also some of the soldier have been at war for such a long time that they have become deaf as an a . The poet uses the word ‘softly’ to represent the bombs, he is being ironic because bombs cannot hit things softly.
In the second stanza, Owen has a massive change in mood, the pace of the second stanza speeds up than the first stanza. This is because the rhythm in the second stanza is quicker than the first one and this is because there is a lot of action in the second stanza than the first one.
The direct speech 'Gas! Gas! Quick boys!' shows the reader the speed of this stanza. Their repetition heightens their sense of alarm and panic. The second stanza becomes more ecstatic.
There is a frenzy because the soldiers are trying to get on the flimsy gas masks. 'Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,' shows the image to the readers that the soldiers are in a hurry, it is very important to the soldiers that they put there gas masks on. Also, this creates the image that the soldiers had to move very quickly. This speeds up the second stanza even more.
The alliteration 'But someone still was yelling out and stumbling.' Tells the reader that there is just one person left who did not manage to put his helmet on. This creates the image that the soldier was so tired that he could not find his helmet on time to put it on whereas in Tennyson’s poem when the soldiers charged to the enemy’s territory none of the soldiers retreated straight away they keep on fighting until they were so injured that could fight no longer
Owen was there to witness these events because in the poem it says ‘I saw him drowning.’ This is in first person so this shows that Owen was there fighting the First World War whereas in Tennyson’s poem there is no first person pronoun in his poem so this shows that Tennyson was not there to witness the things that happened in the Crimean.
The poet uses the simile 'As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.' This shows the readers that the soldier who did not manage to put his gas mask on was suffering terribly. This also show that the soldier did not drown in a green watery sea but a green smoky area and also Owen saw someone dying because of the green smoke it was like the soldier was drowning. But in actual fact he was gasping for air but he could not because he had inhaled the gas.
The poet then uses the words ‘He plunges at me,’ this shows to the readers that the soldier comes running to the voice in the poem (Owen) and tries to make one last chance of staying alive whereas, in Tennyson’s poem if the soldiers died they would die in honour for their country.
The emotive verbs ‘guttering, choking, drowning.’ Are used to tell the readers how horrifying the dying soldier death was whereas Tennyson in his poem does not show any describe the death of anyone individual soldier rather he collectively refers to the army falling.
In the last stanza the poet invites us to see the horror of war because he wants us to have a bad image of war, the poet describes his dreams as ‘smothering’ this shows the readers that the poet cannot get rid of his nightmares of his experience in the First World War.
As the gassed soldier was dying the other soldiers ‘flung’ him into a wagon. This shows that when the other soldiers die the same thing will happen to them and the only thing that the other soldiers can physically do or have time for is to toss him into a wagon they did not even try to help him because they knew that they could not do anything to help the dying soldier this shows that if a soldier died they would not be remembered whereas, in Tennyson’s poem if the soldiers die they would be remembered forever.
The poet then describes how the dead soldier appearance was after he was dead. The alliteration ‘watch the white eyes writhing in his face,’ this shows that the other soldiers could see the pain that the dead soldier went through.
The simile ‘his hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;’ this image created by the poet is that the face of the dead soldier has suddenly been transformed from a young face to a very old and aged face. The rest of the description is horrific imagery because everything seemed to be like cancer and bitter as cud. I think that Owen tries to make very graphic images to show the readers how it felt to fight the First World War. And watch people gruesomely die.
The quote ‘My friend’ tries to refer to us or the people who were sent to war and the people who go to war for glory, they are known as the aristocrats and to the proponents of war. The poet tries to tell us and the aristocrats that it is a bad thing to fight in a war. People say that fighting war is good but Owen says they are lying because he has experienced all this, he tries to tell us that it is horrible fighting to the war.
Finally, the poet’s mood as he writes his final verse is the angriest part in the whole poem because he is very angry that the people that do not know anything about war still go to war. Owen ends his poem by saying ‘the old lie: Dulce et Decorum Est pro patria mori’ means sweet and honourable it is to die for your country according to Owen he thinks it is a lie to die for your country because it is a nasty place when you go to war.
Both the poems talk about war but not in the same way. The charge of the light brigade glorifies, elevates and praises war where soldiers die honourably for their country whereas Dulce et Decorum Est criticises and depicts the true honour of war.
I personally think the most effective poem was ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Owen because Owen is an eye witness of the First World War.
