A Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
B Can patter out their hasty orisons.’
In the second sestet the rhyme pattern is irregular. There are two sets of rhyming couplets but the other two lines that rhyme together are more spread out. Again, on the first page, they have been marked with the letters E, F, G, to show which words rhyme with which. In this poem rhyme helps the poem to flow. It makes the poem more interesting.
This poem contains a few semi-colons and commas. This shows the poem is supposed to be red out slowly. As the contents of this poem are melancholy, the poem would not be meaningful if it was red out fast.
The poet uses enjambment. This creates a fluency of ideas. It makes the poem flow rather than sounding detached or structured. The line below shows how the young soldiers’ prayers are shattered as soon as they hear the gun shot from a rifle. This specific line crates a sense of doubt. The soldiers are confident or excited that they are going to win but when they hear a rifle they become frightened and lose hope.
‘Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.’
In one of the line the word ‘orisons’ is used. ‘Orisons’ is an archaic word. It is an antique word which is no longer used. The language of this poem is quite old as it was written post nineteen-fourteen. The language used is gruesome. The effect of the language send chills down the readers spines. The reader can imagine how horrific life was during the war.
This poem is more aural rather than visual. The sounds of the poem are heard when red whereas usually the images of the poem are seen in your mind. More frequently the poet has used onomatopoeia. This is to make the sounds more real. Alliteration makes the poem reflect the ordeal that the army faces. For example the monotonous boredom in the terrible conditions, then follows their death which they knew was going to happen from the start. The line below has used alliteration,
‘Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle.’
A couple of lines have imagery. The line below has religious imagery. There are not enough candles to light for each of the people who died. This show just how many lives were used to help their country. This imagery s associated with light, it captures the poignancy of their deaths.
‘What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.’
The line below is related to funerals. The girls are pale, this means they are worried, distressed and anxious waiting for their families, partners to return home safe and sound.
‘The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;’
The personification and alliteration of weaponry emphasizes the cruelty of their deaths. One line of the poem personifies the guns. Owen gives the guns human qualities.
‘Only the monstrous anger of the guns,’
The poem finishes off with a rhyming couplet. This is a metaphor. This metaphor focuses on the anguish and process of grief which will be sustained by their families.
‘Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.’
As this is a war poem the tone is sorrowful. The feelings are a mixture of anger and hatred. The anger is shown in the poem when Owen personifies the guns and when he uses alliteration for the rifles. The effect of this builds up tension in the poem. In the first octet the mood of the poem is anger. Owen captures the noise and violence of the war and the chaotic, explosive images of a battle; this is mixed with sad, calm images of a funeral in the second sestet.
This poem is set in the battlefield in the trenches. This location has a dramatic effect. Immediately when the word trenches is seen then war comes to mind and this is associated with bloodshed.
The Dead is the title of the second poem. The title of this poem is self – explanatory. As soon as the title is red, an idea of what the poem is going to be about appears in the mind. The title is rather morbid. This gives a sorrowful effect. The title also has a historical background as Winston Churchill wrote a moving obituary on Rupert Brooke in The Times, twenty-sixth April, nineteen-fifteen.
This poem is also structured as a sonnet. Again Brooke has used this form ironically as sonnets are usually associated with love rather than war. This idea also makes the poem stand out. Sonnets are also a traditional form of a poem giving a clue about when the poem was written.
Nearly all the lines of the poem share iambic pentameter. In one ten syllable line, five are stressed and five are unstressed syllables. The effect of having stressed and unstressed syllables is to build up the suspense. If some words are louder, more exaggerated then the poem will be more interesting. The line below has been marked showing stressed syllables with the symbol, X and unstressed syllables with the symbol, /.
X / X / X / X / X /
‘Their sons, they gave, their im-or-tal-it-y.’
The opening line of the poem sums up what the poem is going to be about. The title had been written again in the line with a capital, D, and also at the end of the line there is an exclamation mark. The effect here is to reinforce the idea of people dying. It also repeated to make the theme of the poem stand out. The line is,
‘Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
The rhyme pattern throughout the poem is not very religious however there is a clear rhyme scheme. There are two rhyming couplets in the first octet. The other four lines are spread around it. For example the first line rhymes with the fourth lines and the second line rhymes with the third. The lines below have been marked with the letters A and B. If two lines have the same letter then they rhyme together.
A ‘Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
B There’s none of those so lonely and poor of old,
B But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold
A These laid the world away; poured out the red’
The rhyme order in the second sestet is also irregular. Nevertheless there is a distinct rhyme scheme between the words. They have been marked with the letters E, F, G on the first page. To show which words rhyme together.
The poem contains a number of commas. This means the poem is supposed to be red at a slow pace. It has two exclamation marks which highlight important parts of the poem so they stand out. The effect of this is they get noticed. Also there are a few colons. Most of the words are separated by commas so the reader takes small pauses. The main theme of the poem is morbid so little breaks are required so the lines red can be thought about for example,
‘But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold’
In the first octet Brooke has used a lot of enjambment. This stylistic device can prevent the poem from sounding divided but instead combined and linked. This creates expression when the line is red. The line below shows the young soldiers who were wiling to give their lives for work in the war. In other words they were agreeable to risk their lives for the victory of their country.
‘ gave up the years to be
Of work and joy,’
The opening line of the poem has been written again at the start of the second stanza, hover it has been rephrased differently. Brooke ahs repeated this line as it underlines the interpretation of the poem. This builds u the tension as he also uses an exclamation mark. This also adds rhythm to the poem.
‘Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead! (Line 1)
Blow, bugles, blow! (Line 9)
Personification and metaphors have been used frequently in this poem. I n the line below Rupert symbolizes wine as blood. The effect here is it does not seem very gruesome and off putting. He says the blood is poring out of all the soldiers, i.e. they are dying.
‘ poured out the red
Sweet wine of youth;’
Another line in the poem is both a simile and is also personified. He has given the word ‘honour’ human qualities. He says ‘honour’ can move which is impossible. In this specific lie it represents the feelings of the soldiers if they win this war.
‘Honour has come back, as a king to earth,’
The language used in this poem is surprisingly not gruesome event though it is a war poem. The poet conceals the horrific truth of war by using personification. The words are not very descriptive either so images can not be formed in the mind.
The tone of this poem is at first depressing in the first octet and then in the second sestet it becomes in a way victorious as the lives sacrificed by the soldiers, was worth it as the honour they received, is their country’s’ freedom.
The poem is set in the trenches. This has an emotive effect as the soldiers who die at war, devote their life for their country.
In the first octet the poet uses the past tense, He tells the readers about the lives that got killed. In the second sestet he uses the present tense as he says the freedom of the country is coming.
The aspect that both poems have in common is the structure. Both poets used a sonnet as a structure of their poem ironically. The mood in the first octet is violent and slaughter and in the mood in the second sestet is more serene. This effect gives you two different views of war. In ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth,’ the first part was all about the slaughter and the second part was sadder as Owen was talking about funerals. In ‘The Dead,’ the first part was again about people dying and the second part was calmer as Brooke was talking about freedom and honour. I personally liked the way the poem was set out. Both poems had clear rhyme sequences which I also liked. I felt the first poem, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth,’ was more emotional as Wilfred Owen has emphasized the amount of slaughter in detail and the fact that none of the soldiers received proper funerals in return for all their nobleness.
Neha Jain
Anthem for Doomed Youth
A What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
B -Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
A Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle
B Can patter out their hasty orisons.
C No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
D Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,-
C The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
D And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
E What candles may be held to speed them all?
F Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
F Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
E The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
G Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
G And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
1893-1918
The Dead
A BLOW out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
B There's none of these so lonely and poor of old,
B But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold.
A These laid the world away; poured out the red
C Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be
D Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,
D That men call age; and those who would have been,
C Their sons, they gave, their immortality.
E Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth,
F Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain.
E Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,
G And paid his subjects with a royal wage;
F And Nobleness walks in our ways again;
G And we have come into our heritage.
Rupert Brooke
