War, Chick Martin
Dulce et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen
Grenade, Francis Scarfe
Bombardment, D H Lawrence
In the first poem, it is evident that painful realities are created through the author’s use of descriptive language and his ability to describe the scenes on the battle fields and the impacts later.
There is no regular structure to the poem although there is a reoccurring line at the conclusion of each stanza; War is war, nothing more. This is the basis to the poem, explaining to readers that war is as it appears. It is as the gruesome scenes of violence, death and pain. There are ?????
The erratic shorter versus increase the intensity
Dulce et Decorum Est creates the realities through careful structure. After describing how the soldiers, trudged through the mud, “blood shod and drunk with fatigue,” it then describes the gas bombs. With clever use of metaphor, the green gas becomes a misty sea where soldiers drown as their lungs are burnt. Owen then concludes his poem, questioning the government, questioning Jessie Pope and questioning the world that so ruthlessly lied to young men, forcing them to enlist. He questions the old adage, ‘dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,’ (it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.)
The realities are so well depicted in this poem by Owen through the choice of punctuation and use of reflection. Exclamation marks are employed, exemplifying the intensity of the cries of the soldiers and how they tried to warn each other of the green sea. Owen is able to draw the reader into experiencing the terrible realities as if one were there. Similes comparing soldiers’ faces of torment and excruciating pain, like the devil’s face, sick of sin, only emphasises what young men witnessed everyday. Owen
Grenade by Francis Scarfe is an extended metaphor, looking at a grenade. Essentially, the short poem is a man’s description of a grenade and his thought process as he builds the courage to throw it. The last few lines are what makes this poem so adpet in creating disturbing truths
