The Historyof War Poetry and the works of Wilfred Owen

War Poetry Introduction A poet is generally a man who feels something and tries to express his ideas and emotions about this thing in a way far better than that of the ordinary man. And the more effect of the subject, the better the poem. So when t comes to war we find that the poets express themselves in the most eloquent way. War, just hearing this word makes one think of many calshing ideas about it. Every single person on this earth has a clear idea about war and some of us already have a personal experience with the tragedies and suffering of war In this simple thesis we will talk about war poetry and its major poet, Wilfred Owen. The first part of these papers is concerned with war poetry in genera, it begins with a historical background of war poetry traced back to the time of Homer. Followed by the major characteristics of this school of poetry which has no standard criteria. After that, we shed light on the major poets of this school: Siegfried Sassoon , Rupert Chawner Brooke, and Isaac Rosenberg. The Second part is concerned with the great war poet, Wilfred Owen. Talking about his importance as a poet and the disagreement of men of literature about him. Followed by a simple answer to the question: How does Owen represents his school. Finally, we will make a brief illustration of six of Owen's poems. Historical Background .... they are fortunate who fight

  • Word count: 4563
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare the protagonists' opinions on conflict and how their experiences affect them in 'First Casualty' by Ben Elton and 'A Long Long Way' by Sebastian Barry

Compare the protagonists' opinions on conflict and how their experiences affect them in 'First Casualty' by Ben Elton and 'A Long Long Way' by Sebastian Barry The two novels I have chosen both explore similar themes. Both are of the bildungsromane genre, but the development of the characters is cleverly intertwined with the events of the Great War. This is interesting on several levels, because at times, the trials and tribulations of the characters seem insignificant when faced with the magnitude of world war, and at other times, seem almost to drown out the shot and shell. 'First Casualty' is the story of Douglas Kingsley, a respected policeman who objects to the 'illogical' war, is imprisoned, but his death is faked and he is forced to France to solve the murder of a homosexual, aristocratic war hero. In 'A Long Long Way' the protagonist Willie Dunne, is a simple young Irishman who enlists in the British Army, but along the way, is forced to question his beliefs on love, war and the Irish Republican cause. I am going to explore and compare how the protagonists experience war, and how this experience changes them, and their perspectives. Even though they begin from different points in the men's lives, both novels convey the strength of their opinions on the war. In 'First Casualty' Kingsley is in fact in the dock over his beliefs- he conscientiously objects to the war, but

  • Word count: 3699
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare the way in which different poets present the theme of growing up

Compare the way in which different poets present the theme of growing up. Refer closely to three poems I am going to compare three poems, which are linked by the theme of growing up. The three poems I am going to compare are 'Growing Pain' By Vernon Scannell, 'The Toys' By Coventry Patmore and 'Little boy crying' By Mervyn Morris. The first poem that I am going to look at is 'Growing Pain'; the structure of the poem one long stanza. The poet is writing through a father's eyes and I am going to look at his use of language. The title of the poem tells us that the poet believes growing up to be a painful experience. However, first six lines of the poem the tone of the poem is happy, contented and relaxed. "The boy was barely five years old. We sent him to a little school" These first two lines tell us about the poet's son, he is five years old and probably starting primary school. The use of language in the line 'We sent him to a little school' shows a sense of belonging, because the boy is little, he has a matching little school. The third line describes how the parents feel about the school. "And left him there" This language suggests that the parents feel secure in the school and were happy to leave their son there. In the following four lines we learn about the simple lessons the boy learns whilst at school and how he feels. "to learn the names Of flowers in

  • Word count: 3688
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

In this essay I am going to compare the following poemsCrossing the Bar and Let me die a young mans death.

English Coursework Muhammad Yasin Vali In this essay I am going to compare the following poems"Crossing the Bar" and "Let me die a young man's death". Death is an inevitability of life, as Robert Benchley's famous quote proves this true: "Death ends a life" People's attitude towards it often depends on their religion and culture. Both of the poems were written in different eras but both look at death and lifestyle. Tennyson lived in Victorian times where religion played an integral part in people's lives. The large majority of people in England at that time attended church and lived by the rules. Roger Mcgough wrote in more liberal times (1960's and 1970's) when people were rebelling against authority as well as religion and this is also reflected in his poem. The title of Tennyson's poem: "Crossing the Bar" is a metaphor because it represents death like the end of a journey. The word "crossing" can be referred to the journey from this world to the afterlife which again symbolises his religious attitude. The bar is being referred to the barrier from this world to the next as the only way in which you can cross is when the bar is there. In this case the bar refers to the call from god as he chooses the time for humans to die. Tennyson also makes use of the "open sea". This is used to represent eternity as there is no way back

  • Word count: 3648
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

The Colour Purple and Margeret Atwood

The novel 'The Colour Purple' and the poetry of Margaret Atwood both explore the oppression of women. Select one aspect or role of the lives of the female characters in 'The Colour Purple' and Atwood poetry and say which is more effective in arousing sympathy for women. ****** I feel Walker is more effective at arousing sympathy for women because the novel's message is that women must stand up against the unfair treatment that they receive at the hands of men and that they can do this by helping each other. ****** 'The Colour Purple' is historical fiction. 'The Colour Purple' was written in 1982, in California by Alice Walker. It is an epistolary or confessional novel. 'The Colour Purple' addresses issues, with which Afro-American literature and the international women's movement have been intensely concerned: issues of men's violence against women, issues of sisterhood, women's eroticism and lesbianism and issues of women's economic independence. These issues have been addressed more openly during the eighties than ever before and Walker's 'The Colour Purple' has been a significant contribution to that discussion. Upon it's publication, 'The Colour Purple' unleashed a storm of controversy. It instigated heated debates about black cultural representation, as a number of Afro-American critics complained that the novel reaffirmed old stereotypes about pathology in black

  • Word count: 3367
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

"English poets are being forced to explore not just the matter of England, but what is the matter with England" (Seamus Heaney) - Discuss.

"English poets are being forced to explore not just the matter of England, but what is the matter with England" (Seamus Heaney). Discuss. It is an inevitable fact that the consumers of literature - laymen and literary critics alike - tend to group together texts and authors into separate categories, and attach to each category a number of supposedly 'common' characteristics and idiosyncracies which all its members apparently share. Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes, and their poetry, are no exceptions. Larkin and Hughes are often linked together when discussing English poets, and do have a number of things in common: they were born within eight years of each other, they wrote and published their poetry at similar times, and both are identified with the north of England. Both men were writing at a time when the notion of a stable and established England was being undermined, largely due to the rapid social change initiated by the termination of the Second World War. Thus both poets were heirs to a unique poetic impulse which sought to reject the old order of modernism by employing creative and innovative forms of expression: the new consciousness of a new generation. Yet although Larkin and Hughes are frequently grouped together as 'English post-war poets', a term which suggest homogeneity, there is in reality more diversity in their approaches than is commonly assumed.

  • Word count: 3208
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

How have the poets choice of diction effect the readers

"Autumn": first section page 6 -44 Summary: Nine-year-old Claudia MacTeer, describes her home life and some of the significant events of the fall of 1939. America is still reeling from the Great Depression, and Claudia's family is struggling through hard times, although better off than many blacks. The MacTeers have their own small house, and the family is poor but loving. This love, does not take the form of indulgence for Claudia or her older sister, ten-year-old Frieda. When Claudia becomes sick, her illness is treated with a mixture of concern and anger. Her mother scolds her harshly and complains about having to clean up her vomit, but at the same time Mrs. MacTeer makes sure that Claudia is in bed, gives Claudia medicine, and checks up on her throughout the night. Two significant visitors come to stay at the MacTeer house that fall: Mr. Henry, a rent-paying boarder, and Pecola Breedlove, a girl who has been temporarily taken into custody by the state. Mr. Henry - he smelled like " trees and lemon vanishing cream" description of his teeth, children being pointed out to him like " here is the bathroom" a middle-aged man whose former landlady can no longer accommodate him. He rents a room at the MacTeer house for five dollars every two weeks, a sum that will be a great aid to Claudia's parents. On his arrival, he delights the girls by comparing them to white

  • Word count: 3080
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Plath and Hughes wrote their last collections for different reasons, different audiences; there are no comparisons to be drawn between Ariel and Birthday Letters. Discuss.

It is reasonable to read the two collections and immediately come to the conclusion that they are two separate pieces of work, as each collection appears to be written for different audiences and reasons. Ted writing his work as a reaction to Sylvia’s poems, with no intention of seeking fame or even an audience. In fact his book did not meet the wants of the public at all, expecting an insight about the role he played in Sylvia Plath’s suicide or, failing that, some insight into why she did what she did. However what they received was quite different, his first poem “Fulbright scholars” being a reflection on Hughes’ first impression of the young American scholars including Plath. The very start of the poem opens with a rhetorical question “ Where was it, in the Strand” suggesting uncertainty as to the location of the newspaper display. Not quite a sweeping insight to the death of Sylvia, the poem being more of middle finger to every critic. Ted’s rejection to the public’s wants can be seen in a review in the New York Observer. The article expressing his views on Birthday letters. He tells us “So that’s it ? Readers have waited three and a half decades to hear Ted Hughes make the earth shaking revelation that he left Sylvia Plath because she was disturbed by upsetting memories of her father ? What an anti-climax.” This confirming my previous point,

  • Word count: 2781
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

In what ways, and how, does Elizabeth Barrett Browning convey deep and eternal love in the poem How Do I Love Thee? from the Sonnets from the Portuguese XLIII?

In what ways, and how, does Elizabeth Barrett Browning convey deep and eternal love in the poem "How Do I Love Thee?" from the Sonnets from the Portuguese XLIII? The poem "How Do I Love Thee?" from the Sonnets from the Portuguese XLIII is a Petrarchan sonnet of fourteen lines, consisting of an octave and a sestet. It was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) in 1845 and was composed for her husband, the renowned Romantic poet, Robert Browning. At the time of writing, Barrett Browning's life had been one of seclusion from the world, as she was the daughter of an overprotective, archetypal 'Victorian Father'. And, although she was a published poet at the time of writing the sonnet, Barrett Browning had spent the majority of her early adult life as a recluse, forbidden by her father any moderate contact with the outside world. Following the death of her mother when she was 22, and the drowning of her brother in 1838 in Torquay, Devon during a visit to aid Barrett Browning's ailing health, the poet became bed bound with poor health and a nervous disposition. Her sickness in her mid twenties, which is considered to be anorexia, combined with a bronchial complaint, restricted her adult life and she had little contact with possible suitors other than the poet Robert Browning who, along with John Kenyon, a friend of the arts, visited her in her home. As Barrett Browning

  • Word count: 2745
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Sir Philip Sidneys poem The Nightingale and Amy Clampitts poem Syrinx are two very different poems

Compare and Contrast the two poems paying particular attention to their versification. Sir Philip Sidney’s poem The Nightingale and Amy Clampitt’s poem Syrinx are two very different poems. The Nightingale is a poem based on the mournful song of a bird, as it expresses grief and pain: ‘And mournfully bewailing/ Her throat in tunes expresseth/ What grief her breast oppresseth.’ (lines 5-7) Whereas the Syrinx is a poem based on how the sound of words, have no real meaning and are simply just sounds. The Syrinx can also be defined as a water reed which prohibits birds from singing: ‘syrinx, that reed/ in the throat of a bird,’ (lines 7-8) The abrupt stop at the end of the line, is a technique used by Amy Clampitt, to make the reading of the line feel like choking on the words, like a reed in a birds throat would cause. Therefore there are many comparisons and contrasts between the two poems, thus in order to examine what these are I am going to look at the use of rhyme, imagery, diction, structure and metre in each of the poems to try to identify the similarities and differences between the two. The Nightingale is divided into two stanzas of equal length, whereas Syrinx is divided into two stanzas of equal length, then a final short verse paragraph. The effect of this is to highlight that The Nightingale is a very regular poem, where Syrinx is a very irregular poem.

  • Word count: 2707
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
Access this essay