Route March Rest by Vernon Scannell, Night Raid by Desmond Hawkins, The Battle by Louis Simpson - How do the poets communicate emotional or moving responses to war?

There is also an intriguing skill that the poets used creating both tension and suspense. It symbolises the feelings and ambience, which surrounded the people living through the war. In Vernon Scannell’s poem, Route March Rest, obvious tension is created by the use of shorter sentences towards the end and also the reintroduction of the marching rhythm, which was present at the start. In Desmond Hawkins’ poem, Night Raid, tension is created right from the start as the first character is a “sleeper” on a bench. This is seen again on the second line with the introduction of a “daft boy”. These bizarre characters act as tension builders and, when combined with the other methods, create a sense of threat and suspicion in the shelter. The sentence: “They’re coming up from the east. Way off the guns muttered distantly” also builds up the tension since it mentions actions which dangerous and approaching fast. The fact that they have not yet occurred, but will definitely occur in the near future creates tension as well as cynicism. The word “someone” is repeated at the beginning of lines 7 and 8 and is very significant. This is because it is a word that instantly arouses doubt, for it addresses the anonymous on two occasions. The two occasions are “someone muttered” and “someone whispered”. Muttered and whispered are two onomatopoeias, which emphasise the mysteriousness of the poem. In Louis Simpson’s poem, The Battle, tension is not the distinct main characteristic. But it does occur in the third stanza when the words become shorter, sharper and simpler. This in turn builds up speed, which therefore creates tension. All of the poems contain some element of tension but it is more evident in “Night Raid” and “Route March Rest” than “The Battle”.

Another feature of all three poems is the continuous presence of contrasts. Poets can use contrasts to create a number of effects. These include tension, suspicion, rhythm and the ability to persuade the reader about the views of the poet. “Route March Rest” is a poem of contrasts, rather like Wilfred Owen’s “Spring Offensive”. The main contrast begins when the first stanza talks about harsh actions, such as “Inside their skulls; the thumping tramp of boots”. Then the second stanza contains much softer, calming words such as, “silent, cool” and “bright as buttercups”. This clearly contrasts with the first stanza and even last stanza since it contains a death scene at the end. Scannell uses these contrasts to create an overall negative view about the soldiers and their job. In Desmond Hawkins’ poem, Night Raid, there are very few contrasts. However, there is one that involves the first half of the poem against the second. The first stanza is filled with relatively small and concise words whereas the second stanza contains longer and more descriptive words. This creates a slowing down effect, as the short words of the first stanza build up the tension, and then the long words of the last stanza slow it down. Louis Simpson’s technique in The Battle to create contrasts involves onomatopoeias and metaphors. In the last verse it states, “tiredness in eyes” and “hands looked thin around a cigarette”. This verse is much slower than the rest, which is a big contrast since it is meant to be in mid battle. Also, the “bright ember” represents the ever-glowing pulse of life and is therefore an opposite of the dull, black and white coloured images described in the earlier stanzas. Contrasts are present in each of the three selected poems but “Route March Rest” and “The Battle” use colours whereas “Night Raid” uses the length of words.