Poetry Coursework

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Jc Trapani

English Coursework: Poetry

Comparing "The Deserter" by Winifred M.Letts and "The Hero" by Siegfried Sassoon.

Both poems are during the period of war. Each of these two poems is talking about a certain person during the war time, whether he was seen as great man or an ignorant abandoner, both poems relate to a significant person.

From the beginning of the story, we can already separate which one is seen as a hero and who is seen as unforgiving. The two poems begin with a completely different tones; one is delightful, but "The Deserter" starts already in the first verse with an unnamed man and the reader already sees him as worthless and unimportant.

In "The Deserter" there is a clear sign of repetition in the verses 4 to 5, so as to emphasis the faults that this nameless man committed and show his mistakes in a deeper aspect. During the entire poem, the man is described as a "frightened" child and is seen as a "hare", which is the animal at the bottom of a food chain, nonetheless worthless and unimportant. The colours described in this poem are dark, signs of death and abandon, of fear and darkness, where grey is the most dominant. Yet again, in verses 24 to 25, a repetition of "an English bullet in his heart" shows that the author is feeling a sense of betrayal by this lost man and how he must have left his troops and men behind, dependent on him all along. Betrayal during war times war unacceptable, yet quite frequent. This poem enables us to see that even though this happened rather often, deserting the field was seen as offensive act. In Verse 16, the author mentions the "fear of death" that many soldiers had at the time; it seems that it is something which is dishonourable even though it is only natural for a man to fear death and what is beyond. In this poem, it seems that whatever the deserter does, even if it is a simple action; the author will view it as wrong and judge him furthermore for his previous actions. When the author describes the mother's reactions to his death, it is seen as ironic and a rather dark humour against the young fellow yet again. It seems that even his own mother would be distraught if she knew the about his son's death. It feels unfair for the reader to see this but the poem ends on a rather unsatisfying note. The author places the deserter into a "deserter's grave", a place where only the worthless people settle and is not worth any visiting.

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"The Hero" is a poem that is different to "The Deserter" in many ways. Even if in the two poems, the authors are describing soldiers from the war, their faiths are completely different and the author's attitude towards them also is. From the beginning the author sees the death of this young man a tragedy rather than deliverance and he does not criticise his actions rather than his personality. The poem immediately starts with the mother's reaction to the young man's death, whereas "The Deserter" ended on that point. When the mother says that she is so proud of ...

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