Taking quite a opposite view, Wilfred Owen might of wrote his famous poem “Dulce et Decorum est”. In his poem he was determined to reveal the true reality of war and comments on the horrors faced. Owen wanted to portray a negative view of war
He starts by describing the men:
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,/ Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”
This is not the sort of metaphor to be describing young men, as they are in a very poor physical state, and most men who join the army are in a good physical state, it almost seems as if the events has broken them. The term “beggars” indicates that they have given up hope.
Owen continues:
“And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots.”
The troops were portrayed as "drunk with fatigue." With this you could
imagine large numbers of very tired, un-dead like soldiers dragging their boots through
the mud, tripping over their own shadow, where he describes the term “Blood shod”
This word dehumanises them as this word is quite often used with animals. Also they have got so deaf to the point where they cannot hear the noise made by the shells rushing through the air.
Owen has revealed the true horrors of a war by describing a gas attack:
“ Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime. . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”
How the men, in "an ecstasy of fumbling" was forced to run out into the mist, unaware of their fate. Anyone wanting to fight in a war would become nervous at the image of
running out into a blood bath. The vivid images displayed here are strongly affecting.
The quote “flound'ring like a man in fire or lime” indicates that he could be in great pain other words like "guttering", "choking”, and "drowning" also show how the soldier is suffering, and that he is in terrible pain that no human being should endure.
The poem ties it all together in the last few lines. In Latin, the phrase
"Dulce et decorum est pro partria mori" means:
"It is sweet and becoming to die for one's country." Owen calls this a lie by using good delivery, vivid comparisons, and graphic images to have the reader feel disgusted at what war is capable of.
Peace was written by Rupert Brooke, after an emotional crisis just before the war and his confusion of sexuality and love he seeked a fresh start. This was provided by the war.
The first theme is of spiritual cleansing:
”Now, God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour,
And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping,
With hand made sure, clear eye, and sharpened power,
To turn, as swimmers into cleanness leaping,”
The first theme is of spiritual cleansing:
Brooke sees the war as a way of giving man moral purpose and therefore cleanse him
The image of "swimmers into cleaness leaping" gives the idea of man washing away his past in life and starting a new one.
The way Brooke says “youth, and wakened us from sleeping” indicates that the youth have not been doing anything and they should be joining the action.
The quote: Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary/Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move,/And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary,
Shows that civilian life is dreary and cold, he then talks about how the conscientious objectors aren’t brave enough, Brooke uses repetition of Old and Cold to emphasise the dreariness of it all.
What is quite unusual is that Brooke finds Heaven in war, as shown from this quote:
“Oh! we, who have known shame, we have found release there,
Where there's no ill, no grief, but sleep has mending,
Naught broken save this body, lost but breath;
Nothing to shake the laughing heart's long peace there”
Brooke illustrates that he finds inner-peace in war as he uses words such as “no, ill” ,“no grief” and “sleep has mending”.
Siegfried Sassoon’s “Suicide in the Trenches” was based upon the life of a soldier, telling his story regarding a fellow Tommy who had committed suicide. The way it says “He put a bullet through his brain.” is a very mundane word as it is not very gory, it was written this way as it was a common occurrence during the war.The younger soldiers enlisted in the army were believed to have no aspirations for the future.
Though in the last stanza his anger is directed to all the people back home, to show them what it really feels like to be fighting for their country. To show them the trauma of what they are going through.
The last line of the whole poem is the most powerful, “The hell where youth and laughter go.” Sassoon manages to sum the message up just in one line, whilst giving us a great impact of horror, so we can empathise & understand.
Unlike all the other poems “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen reveals the aftermath of war by telling the tale of how a soldier has lost both arms and legs and he cannot do anything for himself: “Voices of play and pleasure after day,/
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.”
This is quite a depressive quote as it shows that he has to suffer watching children have fun outside using their limbs, it shows misery as he cannot do these things as he is in a wheelchair.. The word “Mothering” is associated with caring and nurturing, and sleeping is the only time where he can be happy.
This poem is supposed to reveal the sadness of the aftermath of war as the young man cannot do all the things he wanted to, and he cant even look after himself. :
“And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,-
In the old times, before he threw away his knees.
Now he will never feel again how slim
Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands.
All of them touch him like some queer disease”
The way he describes “the old times, before he threw away his knees” designates that has thrown away his legs, even though nobody throws out something useful he regrets his decision of joining the army. When Owen says “And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim” means that nobody cares about him, but they reveal pity to look like a nice person yet it makes the other person feel pathetic. Owen asks “Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands. /All of them touch him like some queer disease”
This is quite a depressing quote as he will never be able to love again, as he does not feel like a real man, this quote relates to line 42-3 “Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes /Passed from him to the strong men that were whole”.
I think that the last two lines sums it up:
“How cold and late it is! Why don't they come
And put him into ? Why don't they come?”
The quote shows that he is waiting for someone. It is quite dark as he is waiting for death , The way he repeats “Why don't they come” makes it look like he is pleading for somebody to come to take him away.
The Different World War One poems that we have studied have shown different views because some poems like “Who’s For The Game” were propaganda poems, to encourage conscription. Yet others Like Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen were actually soldiers in the war, and they want to reveal the truth and to show the people what actually happened.
