The poet also writes in the first verse,
“but who these hellish?” the poet is saying that he must have died in his sleep and woken up in hell, as he cannot understand how people on earth can suffer this much pain unless they are in hell and being tortured. Basically, he is saying that the men might not have gone hell, but they are living in their own hell.
In the second verse, the poet answers his own questions,
“These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished.” The way the poet has used a capital letter to describe the dead, makes it more important, also it is a collective way to describe the soldiers killed just like you say a herd of sheep. The dead are also given an animal quality as the poet uses the word “ravished” the word ravish is a harsh word to describe the way the dead have eaten away at the men’s minds.
The poet also says,
“Memory fingers in their hair of murders,” again there is personification on memory giving the impression of memory being alive and tormenting them about the deaths they have caused. Also, the words “hair of murders” is a collective noun that tells us that the poet, Wilfred Owen, disagrees with war and believes that war is murderous rather than patriotic. He feels war is a waste of all human life, not just on his side of the war but also the opposition. It also tells us that the dead soldiers revenge is longer and more painful compared to the death they suffered. Would dying in the war have been a better option?
In the third line of the second verse, is one of the most important sentences expressed by the poet, as he says’
“Multitudinous murders they once witnessed.” I say it is one of the most important sentences, as again it expresses how the poet feels again about war being a mass murder, rather than lives and countries being saved. The murders that the men have witnessed are their friends killing being killed and the opposition that they have killed.
In the next two lines, the poet says’
“Wading sloughs of flesh these helpless wander,
Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter.” These two lines have two meanings. One literal, where the men had to actually wade through all the dead bodies, to kill the opposition and one metaphorical, where they have to wade through the battle field in their memories everyday, and there is nothing they can do to stop it, they will always be wandering through it in their minds. The “sloughs of flesh” is just the battle field filled with bodies that have decomposed, they are not decent enough to put the dead bodies in mass grave let alone a grave. Finally, the poet talks about the blood being trodden out of the lungs that had once “loved laughter.” This suggests to me that the soldier has taken the laughter out of the lives of the dead soldiers and their living friends and relatives. This is a gruesome description which creates an effect of insanity and indicates there is no escape furthermore the alliteration also mimics the rhythm of laughter.
Subsequently, the poet then goes on to say,
“Always they must see these things and hear them,” the poet here is trying to tell us that the suffering is constant and there is nothing they can do to escape it, they can’t escape it even in their dreams. It is on going trauma that links with the before mentioned “Memory fingers”.
In the next line, the poet mentions a
“Batter of guns and a shatter of flying muscles,” this technique of words in a poem, is called onomatopoeic, this is the formation of words in imitation of natural sounds in a poem. This technique helps envision the reader see and hear what is happening in the poem for example, the reader should be able to hear the guns going off and see the muscles shattering. The internal rhyme in this section is sharp and violent.
In the third verse, Wilfred Owen starts to describe the men and what they are doing. The way he describes them is very effective and detailed,
“their eyeballs shrink tormented
Back into their brains,” this describes the men’s eyes that have become sunken to due to premature ageing, whereas the poet has taken this idea and changed it so that the men’s eyes are actually shrinking away from what they have seen on the battle field. However, they can still see these images as they are impregnated on their minds not on their eyes. Again this shows the torture the men have to go through.
Everything for the men is related to death,
“Sunlight seems a blood-smear; night comes blood black;
Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh.” Here, the men are associating blood with the colours of the sun, night and dawn. Everything for them is stained in blood; there is no escaping the death and torture they have committed.
The poet uses a cleverly placed similie in the third verse,
“Dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh.” This describes the time when the men wake up and start the day over again, with their pain and torture. From the time they wake up, until the time they get to sleep, their day is exactly like the one before, the pain never leaves them. Everything to the men is tainted with the memories of the war, even what is normally good.
The final line,
“Pawing us who dealt them war and madness.” Tells us that we are all to blame for sending them to war, whether it is the society itself for sending the men out there to be killed or the soldiers who actually killed them.
There seems to be a moral to this poem, and it is; we sent these men to war which made them mad due to the consequences, and is causing them unnecessary pain. It also seems to be saying that we should also be suffering, as even though we were not there in person, we were directly responsible for the suffering the soldiers and the men in the poem.
The second poem “Before Agincourt” was written with second hand knowledge by William Shakespeare and is totally fictional. The poem is written as though Henry V is talking to his soldiers and is full of propaganda. This poem takes the theme of war as being something to be celebrated and will be remembered as a great thing for years to come. It tells of how the soldiers will have physical scars which they can wear with pride and that they will not have any psychological effects after. The poem only concentrates on the positive and does not talk about the negative effects war has.
Firstly, William Shakespeare tells us that Henry the V says,
“The fewer men, the greater share of honour.” Here, he is trying to say that the more men that die, the greater your honour and reward will be for staying alive. However, he is saying that if you die you are doing your friends a favour as they too will have a greater share of honour, he doesn’t see death as a dreadful thing but one of glory. He is not afraid to say that they are going to die, yet he twists it around, so if you live or die you are doing your country a favour.
In line five, Henry V says,
“By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,” here he is not being honest as you may not be getting gold directly by going to war, but if you manage to win the land then you will be receiving gold from that land. Here he is being shown as a greedy man who does not care about the lives of his men, but only of gold.
He talks to the men as though they were his own family,
“No, faith, my coz,” this shows he likes to pretend he has a close relationship with the men so they feel special and therefore willing to go to war, whereas the truth is he does not care if they live or die. If he really did feel like they were part of their family, then he would not be so eager to go to war and would talk to them and tell them that they need to survive, not tell them that to die for their country is an honour.
In line twelve, Shakespeare uses repetition of a phrase that has been used before,
“not lose so great an honour” this suggests that he needs to persuade them to go to war, as they are not enthusiastic to go to war.
Shakespeare in line sixteen, says
“he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,” this is a prime example of reverse psychology and even though he doesn’t say it, it is obviously the case that he is telling the soldiers that they may leave if they choose to do so, but will be classed as a coward. To me, the word “passport” is a metaphor for their life, if they do not choose to leave, their life is mapped out for great and amazing things, whereas if they choose to leave, their life will be mapped out for disappointing things as nobody would want to hire a coward for a job. It also seems like bribery, if they stay and fight for him, he will make sure that their life will be worth living when they have finished the war.
In line nineteen and twenty, Henry says,
“We would not die in that man’s company,
That fears his fellowship to die with us.” The way he uses the pronouns “we” and “us”, shows he is persuading them to fight for him and is trying to involve them in his speech by implying that he will be there when they go to war, like one of their friends showing that he tries to be one of them rather than the king.
The truth is contorted and twisted out of shape in lines twenty-two and twenty-three, as he says,
“He that outlives this day, and comes safe home
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,” this tells the men that as soon as they come home they will be able to get on with their life’s as normal, without having to worry about the tragedy that has happened on the battle field. Also, he is telling them that they should be proud that they have gone to war and killed all those men and that they should stand taller than everyone else.
Henry tells the men that the scars will only be physical not psychological, in line twenty-eight,
“Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,” here, we are told that the men will be proud to show off their scars, and will not be ashamed, whereas we know that the scars will actually be psychological as well.
In line thirty, Henry V says,
“Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day.” Here the language is dressed up and made attractive, he is saying that even the old men though they forget will never forget this war as it is something really amazing. The language here is again persuasive, telling the men that people will remember them as well as what they have done.
In line thirty-seven,
“This story shall the good man teach his son:” here, he is offering everlasting remembrance and immortality; this is persuasive language yet again to persuade the men to go to war and is not telling them the whole truth.
Finally, in the last two lines, Henry says,
“And hold their manhood’s cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.” Here, he has turned it around as it telling them that if they do not go to war then their life will be shameful. The men later on in life will be ashamed that they didn’t go to war. The end of the poem seems to be a warning and a slight threat to the men, saying that if they do not fight for him, then he will make sure that their life is not worth living.
The two poems have many comparisons, the main comparison, is that Wilfred Owen makes war out to be horrendous, terrible and “multitudinous murders”, whereas Shakespeare reckons war should be commemorated and you will be remembered forever as “household words.” I would have to agree with Wilfred Owen, as he has the first hand knowledge and also was written at the time, so the details would be correct, however Shakespeare did not have first hand knowledge and also wrote this poem two hundred years later, the purpose of this poem is for the entertainment value, not for detail.
Both poems show the aftermath of war, Wilfred Owen, showing that war affects you deeply, has long term effects and that the men are now nothing more than “purgatorial shadows” that are between life and death and that they are constantly in pain. On the other hand, Shakespeare shows that the only scars the men will have are physical, and that they will be proud to show them off when they are older “Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,”. Shakespeare also gives the impression that once the war is over, it will never need to be remembered.
Both poems talk about the effect death has on the soldiers and their point of view, “Mental Cases” gives the suggestion that to have died in the war would have been the best option as to have lived through the war and seen all the appalling things that happened and to be constantly reminded every day is more damaging than if you had been killed in the war. These few quotations reinforce my point, “Misery swelters”, “Dead have ravished” and “Stroke on stroke of pain,” death is not the worst thing that could have happened to the soldiers; the reality is horrific as they have damaged minds, suffer extreme psychological torture and are ageing prematurely. Yet, the poem “Before Agincourt” shows death as heroic, glorious and pre-ordained. I say this, because the poem says things like, “If we are mark’d to die,” along with “The fewer men, the greater share of honour” and finally “shall be remembered”. He tells the men to believe that they are to go and fight in the war and that God will decide who shall live and who shall die, and that that is their destiny. Also, he is telling them that if they die they will be doing the survivors a favour as they will receive more honour. This is all one big illusion and propaganda, as they believe that when the war ends the suffering will also end. He gives you the idea of being happy in your old age and that your scars will be trophies that you should wear with pride, a quotation that backs this point of view up, is “Then he will strip his sleeve and show his scars”. He does not tell you about the emotional scars that they will receive, as this will put the soldiers off going to war and will reduce the numbers of his army which he does not want to happen.
Wilfred Owen is more critical in the poem “Mental Cases”, as he lives in the age where you can challenge authority freely; he lived in the period of the fall of the absolute monarchy and the rise of socialism and communism. This means he could express his views freely and not be controlled by what the king or queen deems to be correct. Shakespeare however did not have the freedom of speech as they believed strongly in God and that the king was appointed by God and that the king is God’s representative on earth, therefore the king had the right to decided whether or not Shakespeare’s work could be used in plays and his message spread around the kingdom.
I have noticed that Wilfred Owen writes about the consequences of “Before Agincourt” in his poem, as he writes about what he has seen, and how the men have returned from war and are treated as mental. The purpose of his poem is to express his disquiet.