'Dulce Et Decorum Est' in comtrast to Hodges Drummer Boy

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Rees Curran                                                                                                  Coursework

War Poetry Assignment

This assignment aims to provide insight to casualties of war at the turn of the century from two very different perspectives. Wilfred Owen writes of the Boar War and the utter “hopelessness the soldiers” face whilst Hardy writes in a romantic, idealised way, with notions that “strange eyed constellations” will preserve “His starts eternally”.  It must be also noted that Hardy writes not of own personal experience but of a true story, details of which he extracted from a local paper at the time.  Conversely, Owen writes using his first hand experience drawn from his time serving in World War 1.

“Newly arrived in France in January 1917, Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen wrote home to his mother, explaining how the real thing - mud - was making itself manifest, inundating his sleeping bag and his pyjamas: welcome to the Western Front”.

Wilfred Owen was regarded as one of the most well-known war poets of the 20th Century, having written an astonishing 110 poems. He died at the age of 25, killed seven days before the end of World War 1. Owen took influence from romantic, early 19th Century poets such as Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley. He produced 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' which revealed the truth behind war and the grief and suffering it caused. Wilfred Owen wanted to dismiss the idea of romance as a motivation to fight in the war; young men believed that fighting in the war would make them heroes and make them more attractive to women.  The reflections of death by Owen are far more graphic than we read in the work of Hardy. The “stark realism” can be drawn from 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' to emphasise how realistic accounts of war by actual soldiers contrasts to an extract which has been interpreted by a civilian.

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Wilfred Owen begins with a striking simile of troops on a march,

“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,”

 This simile paints a very powerful picture of the discomfort and lack of dignity experienced by the soldiers. His observations of war conjure up images to the reader of the sheer hopelessness the soldiers find themselves in. Owen writes with a tone of horror, as if he is reliving the war as he tells it.

The speed of the second verse increases to demonstrate the panic and horror of the situation the soldiers find themselves in. ...

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