How have Tennyson and Owen shown their attitudes to war in the poems ' Charge of the Light Brigades' and 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'?

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How have Tennyson and Owen shown their attitudes to war in the poems ‘ Charge of the Light Brigades’ and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’?

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Poets have been writing about the topic of war for centuries. The attitudes of poets towards war have always been expressed vigorously in their poetry, each poet either condoning or condemning war, and justifying their attitudes in whatever way possible. In this essay Dulce Et Decorum Est and the Charge of the Light Brigades will be discussed these are examples of two different war poems that portray the experience of war in two very different ways.

Dulce Et Decorum Est is set during the First World War and Charge of the Light Brigades is set during the Crimean war. These two poems describe war, and scenes from war, with varying levels of intensity and reality and also from different viewpoints. By exploring the portrayal of war from both these poems in detail, the differences will be exposed.

Each poet has a different view on war but they all focus on the major issues, such as, the death, the suffering, the bravery and the honour.

The charge of the light brigades, set in the 1850s, was written by Alfred Lord Tennyson and tells us the story of a mistaken command, which led to the needless slaughter of over 600 men, Tennysons poem celebrates the glory of war, despite the fact that, because of an error of judgement 600 soldiers were sent to their deaths. Charge of the light brigades is the best-known example of the heroism and stupidity of war.

Tennyson was a Victorian poet who was paid and often hired by royalty to write poetry. Charge of the Light Brigades is one of the many poems he got paid to write, writing poetry was his profession, whereas Wilfred Owen gained the ability of writing poetry through his horrific experience at war.

Tennyson didn’t have a clue what war was about; he got paid to show that it was heroic and glorious. Tennyson attained the idea of the poem from a newspaper article, which shows why we have no connection to his feelings. However Wilfred Owen being there in the 1st World War was able to give us immense description of his surroundings and give us a deeper understanding of the soldiers lives in the trenches.

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Tennyson wanted to get his feelings of the heroism of war across through his poem. Tennyson uses a fast pace through the poem. He is trying to achieve the effect that the men don’t give up.

‘…Half a league… half a league…’

This sets a dactylic rhythm and creates an image of horses galloping and that the men carry on going forward and never give up.

All through the poem the phrase:

‘…Rode the six hundred…’

Is repeated to keep the image of the men riding boldly forward even though they knew they were riding ...

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