This essay is about my views on weather war is the correct stance to take. Before studying these poems I personally thought that war was wrong. It is a loss of life, by stupidity, by not sitting down and discussing problems.

  This essay is about my views on weather war is the correct stance to take. Before studying these poems I personally thought that war was wrong. It is a loss of life, by stupidity, by not sitting down and discussing problems. As countries go into war they gain more allies and more enemies, the whole virtue of war gets blown out of proportion. Some countries even like to go to war with countries, which do not have the same military capabilities as themselves. I think that matters do not need to be sorted out with firepower; they can be sorted out by parliaments and face-to-face discussions. War is not needed, lives should not be wasted and people’s homes and land wrecked.

 I will study war poems and look into what there views on war are. I shall look into their real meanings, to see what kinds of backgrounds they have come from, how old they are, would they have any influences on other people and the ways in which the poets became influenced to write them, telling their stories as poems. This essay is to simply find out what the poets views on war are, and how these views shared or disagreed upon other members of the public when they where written. I shall study ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen who wrote his poem while lying injured in a hospital in Scotland. ‘Vitae Lampada’ which was written in 1892 by sir Henry Newbolt. ‘The Soldier’ written in 1914 by Rupert Brooke. I chose these poems because they contrast and compare each other in certain ways.

 Rupert Brooke adores his country and he supports the actions it takes. Wilfred Owen would go to war for his country but he believes that war is the wrong methods to solve differences. Henry Newbolt believes that life is gearing us up for war as he describes how school children get trained to go and defend their country.

 ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen is a poem describing what war is like from his very own eyes.  Owen was sent home during the war after having been injured on the front line. While recuperating at a hospital in Scotland, he needed some way in expressing his views on what he had seen. He met Siegfried Sassoon who helped him express his feelings into poetry. From the first line he has described the agony he witnessed at war, “ bent double, like old beggars under sacks” war has aged these men, the are clearly physically drained but willing to continue on. His men are injured as the are, “ Knock-kneed” and, “coughing like hags,” stating that their medical supplies and help are quite bad. Owen uses the word, “ like” to show that his soldiers aren’t old beggars but they are acting like then because they are so drained of energy. The soldiers keep on going, overcoming their physical state, mentally trying to stay awake because they know if they stop they will be killed, and rest isn’t far away, “and towards our distant rest began to trudge.” He shows the men’s physical by saying, “men marched asleep, many had lost their boots, but limped on, blood-shod.”  Owen suggests that war turns everything from good to bad as he tells you how these soldiers felt. He uses three worded expressions such as, “coughing like hags,” “men marched asleep,” and “drunk with fatigue,” these expressions are very visual as they give you a good idea what is going on, and how these soldiers really feel. The verse is very slow but is full of factual information about what the soldiers went through and how they felt. The second verse begins to get quicker as it is describing extreme pain and anguish. “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,” things are starting to move quicker as people are shouting and in a panic. Owen gives this poem as an eyewitness account of what he seen from his very own eyes. The soldiers are moving quickly to get their helmets on, “fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,” but, “ someone was still yelling out and stumbling” a soldier needs help as he is panicking and cant seem to get his gas mask on. “Like a man in fire or lime…” describing how he was moving running around as if he was on fire but really shrouded in gas which he was inhaling, destroying his lungs. Green gas covered the whole area as nobody could see properly, “ dim, through the misty panes, as under I sea of green” the soldier was breathing in the green gas destroying his lungs, “ I saw him drowning” Owen seen him collapse to the ground suffering with pain. “He plunges at me guttering, choking, drowning.” The last verse of the poem slows back down again as, “behind the wagon that we flung him in” showing that the body would be taken of somewhere and buried, condemned to an early life in the soil. They describe the physical state of the soldier, “white eyes writhing in his face, his hanging face like a devils sick of sin” the life has been sucked out of the soldier and his face looks bored like a devils sick of sin. His lungs where corrupt, filled with poisoned gas, “the blood come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs” it was disgusting, “obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud of vile” these two phrases are very powerful in describing the soldier state as they make you shiver and give you a good idea what the gas did to him. “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest, to the children ardent for desperate glory, the old lie: Dulce et Decorum Est” this is a very powerful finish to the poem because this gives you Owens impression on war, that it is wrong, it is a waste of life and people go there for the wrong reasons such as for glory. Owen focuses on the injured soldier the most in his poem; he does this because he wants you to realize the consequences of war and what can happen to you. This picture of the soldier, “guttering choking, drowning” will haunt him for the rest of his life. I expected this poem to just tell you what war was really like; Owen gives gory details of a soldier dying to scare you of the idea of war. Overall Owens poem is really effective and I strengthens my view that war is wrong.