How does Rupert Brooke uses language in order to convey a war patriotism?

comparison of “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke and “Dulce Et Decourum Est” by Wilfred Owen shows the changes in young soldiers’ feelings in the first year of WWI and at the end of it. The two poets take different approaches in portraying the effect that war has on the people involved. In order to compare the poems the topics of theme, tone and figurative language will be examined. Why is it so important to know the authors’ feelings? Who cares about what they thought about the war? The vast majority of people of this generation did not live through World War One and thus are the ones who need to know the details and history of the war. History repeats itself over time. An understanding of how soldiers felt in the past helps to identify how soldiers may be feeling today. These poems help us to understand why many young people are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran today, what they feel after returning and whether they will go again to battle. These questions are relevant today, a century after these poems were written. Firstly, the themes of the poems differ greatly. Rupert Brooke’s poem “The Soldier” was written at the start of World War One. This was before the horror of the trenches was known. In this poem Brooke expresses his love for England and how he believes it is right to fight and die for his country. However, Brooke never discovered what war was like, as he died in 1915, before he actually got to fight. Therefore, his poem is very idealistic and has a very traditional viewpoint. This is expressed when he writes, “… there is a corner of a foreign field that is forever England” (2). Here, he equates the English soldiers’ bodies with England. If they die on foreign soil that land will be forever part of England because their soul remains there along with their values and love for England. Their bodies mark the field as English. Brooke does not describe the torturous nature of death in war and only acknowledges how the soldier honors England by dying in the process of defending the nation.Contrarily, Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” was written near the end of the war in 1917. This is why he focuses on the tragedy of war and the conditions of the soldiers. For example, the dramatic imagery “…the blood”/“Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” (21-22), illustrates how a soldier attempts to escape in vain from drowning in “a green sea” (14) of poison gas. This paints a horrific picture of the soldier fighting for his life while his fellow soldiers watch helplessly as their comrade dies in agony. This is disturbing for the reader because it vividly describes the troops being brutally and impersonally slaughtered. Also, both authors use different tones. Brooke voice is patriotic and encouraging. He does not see the war as a traumatic event, but as a glorious sacrifice. He evokes positive feelings toward the war and describes optimistically the soldiers’ thoughts once the war has finished. He uses words like “happy dreams” and “laughter” (12-13). Brooke says that they should not be afraid of combat but content because they will have wonderful memories. He glorifies the comradeship of the soldiers when he speakes of “… learnt of friends…”(13). With this sentimental and optimistic tone he exhorts young people to join the army and fight for England. He wants every young adult to imitate those that are already recruited in order to defend the nation. He says those words as it will be a great experience in which the soldiers will fight and will comeback home with incredible stories to tell their friends. By contrast, Owen uses irony to portray war not as a glorious duty but as a barbaric massacre. The poem builds toward the last two lines, “Dulce et decorum est/ pro patri mori” (27-28) which mean: “it is sweet and honorable to die for one‘s country”. He considers this a lie for most soldiers after they see and live the reality of the war as soldiers. War can no longer be called sweet but horrible. Images like, “Men marched asleep” (5) question sarcasticlay how good it is to be exhausted from fighting and have to continue struggling with decaying health until the end. The soldiers can barely walk, and one by one they are left behind in a death beat. The reader can appreciate the paradox between the truth of what happens in the trenches and the title of his poem. Owen wants to demystify the ideals of fighting for one’s nation, and refutes the supposed glories of war. Both authors use figurative language to convey their feelings towards the war. In “The Soldier” the patriotic notion of dying for one’s country is intensified by the personification of England, as when Brooke speaks of “Her sights and sounds…” (12). He loves the beauty of his country, and portrays England as female because English society values women as loving and protective. Every English soldier is protected and glorified by England beauty, and when they die they will find peace and comfort. Wherever they die, Mother England will be proud of them and will remember them. England offers them eternal life. Owen uses vivid similes as when depicts the soldiers as “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” (1). Generally, one thinks of a soldier as a man full of strength, who stands brave with his uniform and marches confidently to war. In contrast, Owen’s description compares the soldiers to penniless men and gives a sense of their non-glorified reality. Their uniforms, their psychological and physical health are destroyed. They cannot even walk straight and many are dying. This imagery sets the mood for the rest of the poem, as it shows how the battle has severely mangled the spirits of the soldiers. Even more poignantly, Owen depicts the monotonous anguish of war when he uses the ambiguous words “distant rest” (3). He lets the reader wonder what kind of rest is to be had. For some soldiers it will be permanent rest, their death; for others just a place to lie down and for some, the end of the war.The poems by Brooke and Owen express opposite concepts. Brooke’s poem supports fighting for one’s country and patriotism, whereas Owen’s poem questions the reasons for fighting a war. Young soldiers that support the war today and have feelings of patriotism and nationalism might end up exchanging these feelings for despair as they are forced to endure the grim realities of prolonged war.