Owen uses the alliterated phrase ‘siding shed’ in the second line of ‘The Send-off’ to suggest the secretive sidelined nature of the men’s departure. The word ‘shed’ also reminds us of a cattle shed which suggests that to the government these men are just animals being despatched to the slaughter-house. In contrast to ‘Joining the Colours’ there is no great fanfare, only a ‘casual tramp’ and a few ‘dull porters’ see them off as the government did not want the public to realise how many men the war was involving. Owen deliberately chose the words ‘white, wreath and spray’ to describe the flowers given by local women because they suggest death. ‘White’ as in the colour of corpses, ‘wreath’ as is given at funerals and the ‘spray’ of bullets that would be the cause of their death. In contrast, Tynan as a woman, has sympathy for the ‘poor girls’ who will ‘kiss no more’. Owen is very critical of the local women for giving flowers as if in celebration when in reality they know the soldiers will probably die. Owen disapproves strongly of those on the home front such as women and older men who he felt should have been protesting against the war. Like Owen Tynan also uses alliteration, in the phrase ‘glory and the grave’. Tynan believes that one leads to the other, using alliteration to assert this.
Unlike Owen, Tynan has sympathy for the girlfriends of soldiers, as they are ignorant of the situation and will also suffer from the loss of their men. The short poignant phrase ‘love cannot save’ on the last line of the third stanza, reminds us that although the soldiers’ loved ones wave them off, this love won’t save them on the battlefield. Tynan’s soldiers depart to the sound of ‘tin whistles, mouth organs’ as if celebrating their departure. However, she says they also leave to the sound of ‘any noise’ suggesting that they need raucous sound to block out their fear, although these soldiers are too young to know what war is really about so their fear is just fear of the unknown. This contrasts with the soldiers in ‘The Send-off’. Because they are older they know that they are really going to war to die but try to put on a brave face for the benefit of others.
Both poets employ irony to help get their message across. Tynan uses tragic irony in the phrase ‘as to a wedding day’ to emphasise her subtle message that the young boys are destined to die, implying that they won’t live to see their wedding day. In the third stanza of ‘The Send-off’ Owen compares the men to secret crimes using the phrase ‘like wrongs hushed up’, which is ironic as they aren’t the criminals, the government are. There is also an irony in the second stanza as the ‘dull porters’ and the ‘casual tramp’ that see the soldiers off could not be conscripted so they had the better deal. Owen’s soldiers are sent off anonymously, we see evidence of this in Owen’s use of the pronoun ‘they’ to infer the governments lack of compassion. These men are just nameless cannon fodder to them. In contrast Tynan’s boys are described as ‘smoothed- cheeked and golden’ implying that their mothers and girlfriends cherish them. This phrase also emphasises the vulnerability of the young boys as they have no facial hair as yet.
Imagery of darkness and death lurk in the lines of both poems. In the second stanza of ‘Joining the Colours’ Tynan uses the phrase ‘into the dark’ as a metaphor suggesting death. Owen is less subtle and actually mentions the word ‘dead’ in the line ‘as men’s are, dead’. Owen also uses caesura in this line by putting a comma in the middle of the phrase, which is effective as it creates an impression of finality. Owen uses the phrase ‘down the close, darkening lanes’ in the first line of ‘The Send-off’ which straight away sets the mood for the poem and creates a feeling of claustrophobia and entrapment. The image of ‘darkening lanes’ suggests that as the lanes slowly become darker the soldiers’ death is slowly getting nearer.
Tynan and Owen both use personification to reinforce the idea that war is more powerful than the soldiers themselves, too powerful like an ogre. Tynan personifies the street in the phrase ‘the drab street stares’ implying it is dull and they leave for a life of colour and excitement, ironic as the only colour they will see is the red of their own blood. In the second line Tynan uses the dramatic and horrifying metaphor ‘food for shells and guns’ comparing the young men to something the war will consume, as if the war was a hungry monster. Owen uses personification very effectively in the phrase ‘signals nodded, and a lamp winked’. Here he is hinting at what he believes was a conspiracy on the part of the government to secretly conscript as many men as possible to the war without the public knowing. Owen is highly critical of the government for prolonging the war and losing so many to the strategy of trench warfare.
In the last verses of both poems the writers use devices such as repetition and exclamatory phrases to draw attention to the small number of men that may return. In the final stanza of ‘Joining the Colours’ Tynan uses the exclamatory phrases ‘High heart! High courage!’ to draw attention to the irony underlying the soldiers’ excitement. In the penultimate line Tynan repeats the word ‘mist’ to symbolize the soldiers unknown destination. ‘Joining the Colours’ ends with the verb ‘pass’, significant as it implies that the soldiers will pass away. In the final stanza of ‘The Send-off’ Owen questions whether or not the soldiers will return to ‘beating of great bells in wild train-loads?’ His use of a rhetorical question suggests he does not require an answer, as he already knows that ‘too few’ will return. He repeats the word ‘few’ to emphasise the tiny number of men that will return alive. He also employs the verb ‘creep’ to imply that they will return slowly, sorrowfully and almost shamefully wondering why, when so many of their friends had died, had they survived? Owen ends with the line ‘up half-known roads’ suggesting that the surviving soldiers may be suffering from shell shock so they may not recognise their home town, or they may be so scarred by war that all is unfamiliar.
Both poems have a regular rhyme scheme to create a marching rhythm ‘Joining the Colours’ is the more upbeat of the two as its overall mood is more joyful. The rhyme scheme’s regularity also gives the impression of inevitability, stressing the fact that the soldiers are doomed and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Both poems also have particularly short stanzas which may symbolize the soldiers’ brief lives. ‘The Send-off’, in my view seems to possess authority and conviction because Owen himself fought and died in World War One. In contrast to this Joining the Colours’ is written from a female perspective, which is unusual for a war poem. This explains the more joyful mood of ‘Joining the Colours’ as Tynan was less aware of the realities of war. The soldiers in ‘Joining the Colours’ are Irish and so would have known much less about the war, this justifies the innocent naivety of the boys.
