Happy is England Now
'Happy is England Now' Sophie Thompson The poem 'Happy is England Now' was written by John Freeman in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War. The poem shows significant evidence of patriotism and propaganda which were common in the early war poems before the realities of the brutal war were known about. John Freeman was a Georgian poet who was influenced by inter-war literacy circles. The poem has a formal structure of four stanzas and has a regular syntax of six lines in each stanza with lengthy sentences. In the opening line we immediately get a sense of the tremendous patriotism in the poem 'There is not anything more wonderful, Than a great people moving towards the deep' the phrase has a patriotic attitude of proud, glorified people sailing out to the sea to war. Freeman uses the word deep to describe the journey to war as an unknown adventure which is supported in the third line 'Of an unguessed and unfeared future,' The phrase is suggesting that the soldiers are curious to explore and do not fear for what is to some. The theme of idealism can be seen in the phrase 'As the new passion stirring in their veins, When the destroying dragon wakes from sleep.' In the phrase England is personified to have passion building in its blood and body which is also ironic as during war there is a lot of blood shed. There is use of alliteration in 'destroying dragon' which is
Compare: 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke, 'Futility' by Wilfred Owen, and 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' also by Wilfred Owen, are all on the theme of war.
Kathryn Garnham 10T April - May 2002 English Literature Coursework: A Comparison of Three Sonnets on the Same Theme A sonnet is a poem fourteen lines in length. Sonnets follow various rhyming patterns, such as the idea of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet, as was promoted by the sonnets written by William Shakespeare. The Iambic Pentameter, the idea of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, is a common feature of sonnets, as are elevated themes such as love, death, war and honour. The three poems I have chosen to compare: 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke, 'Futility' by Wilfred Owen, and 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' also by Wilfred Owen, are all on the theme of war. The most striking difference between these three poems is the manner in which they portray war. Whilst 'The Soldier' seems to glorify war, making the soldiers who fought appear as heroes, the other two sonnets depict the apparent pointless of war. In 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', the title alone presents a feeling of the worthlessness of war: the word 'doomed' shows that the young soldiers are not yet in danger, but by fighting in a war they are approaching an imminent death. The word 'anthem' is a contradiction, an example of irony. Anthems are glorious, celebratory songs, and by no means is the poem joyous. Naturally, the title 'Futility' also leads the reader into an expectation of a poem
Discuss the use of symbolism in the novel Fly Away Peter
Yr 11 English Lit. Long Essay Emma Bright Fly Away Peter Discuss the use of symbolism in the novel Fly Away Peter Effective use of symbolism enables the reader to gain a greater understanding of the concepts the author wishes to portray. Malouf cleverly demonstrates this within the novel Fly Away Peter and transforms it from a story about Australian involvement in the First World War into an analysis of society, the effect war has on people, friendship and what it is to be an Australian. On closer examination of the text Malouf's symbols become apparent, which are then able to provide further insightful information about the characters, the circumstances that are faced and the themes and messages presented to us throughout the novel. These symbols come in various forms, although the most prominent recurring symbol within Fly Away Peter is that of the birds. The birds are first presented to the reader at the beginning of the novel where we find the main character Jim, bird watching in the swamplands of the Australian coast. They are described as "A vast population of water birds lived in the swamp / lorikeets, rosellas and the different families of pigeons - fruit-pigeon, bronze wings, the occasional topknot or squatter - and high over all stood the birds of prey, the hawks and kestrels." (Pg. 1 - Chpt. 1) In Jim's eye, the swamplands seem to be a good representation of
Explore how the theme of love is presented in Birdsong and a selection of poems by Wilfred Owen.
Jennie Patrick Explore how the theme of love is presented in Birdsong and a selection of poems by Wilfred Owen. Loving attitudes, though perhaps not as prominent as themes such as violence and pride, are intimately observed and explored in Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong and in many of Wilfred Owen's War poems. Each aspect of love, as seen through the eyes of this First World War soldier and Faulks' characters, is as interesting as it is diverse, allowing an impervious insight into the psychological effects that the War had on these men. Such a formidable event as war has a devastating effect on all parties involved. In total, the First World War saw the deaths of 420,000 English, 450,000 German, and 205,000 French civilians. Through the bleak and most shattering of ordeals, love will show itself in the strangest fashions; surfacing in new and unforeseen places, and overriding all tribulations. I believe the two texts I have selected support this view, portraying clearly many different features of the love that war made apparent, love that was forced to survive horrendous difficulties, and the love which was occasionally lost. Propaganda for The Great War sold a message of equality, duty and devotion, striking a patriotic chord throughout England with slogans such as: "Everyone should do his bit", and "God bless dear daddy who is fighting the Hun and send him HELP". This image
Choose 3 poems by Wilfred Owen that look at different aspects of war. Compare how Owen deals with each aspect and consider what his overall message might be.
Choose 3 poems by Wilfred Owen that look at different aspects of war. Compare how Owen deals with each aspect and consider what his overall message might be. Wilfred Owen was born the 18th of March 1893 in Oswestry. He was the eldest of four children and was brought up in the Anglican religion. He studied at the Birkenhead Institute, at Shrewsbury Technical School and at the University of London. He enlisted for war in 1915 and later that year was sent to France. In 1917 he was diagnosed as being shell-shocked after being wounded three times and was sent to the Craig Lockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh. Here he met with the war poet Siegfried Sassoon. This meeting seems to have been exceedingly valuable to Owens career as a poet. Sassoon's pacifism reaffirmed Owen's views about the war and influenced his poetic style, encouraging him to write in a more colloquial and ironic style much like that of Sassoon's. Later, Owen was sent to Scarborough and had more time to write and work on his writing technique. His style developed using both assonance and half-rhyme which was greatly admired by his peers. In late 1918 Owen was sent back out to his former battalion and a month later was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. The war ended on the 11th November 1918 at 11 O'clock, just a week after Owen had been killed in one of the last and most futile battles of the First World
Analysis of Does It Matter? by Siegfried Sassoon
Analysis of "Does It Matter?" by Siegfried Sassoon "Does It Matter" is an angry, heavily ironic war poem written in 1917 by the famous World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon. On first read, it appears that the poet is addressing an injured soldier who has returned from the trenches, asking this man whether or not it is important that he is missing limbs and sight, instead highlighting the virtues of the world and offering these as a remedy for his pains. The poem is written in a nursery-rhyme-like structure, where there is an obvious rhyming pattern and distinctive rhythm, and where many lines even have an equal number of syllables. For such a complicated subject matter, the poem is also rather brief - very succinct at just three stanzas comprising of five lines each. The opening lines of each stanza begin similarly with a question asked but never answered: Does it matter - losing your legs?... There is a lot to discuss even here. Firstly, we notice that the question itself is not answered - Sassoon does this very deliberately. Of course he goes on to back his rather naïve point by highlighting the constructive aspects of living without the use of one's legs, but he leaves a great void here, like the unfilled silence after a particularly awkward question. We, as readers, can easily answer the question of whether or not it matters in our own minds - of course it matters, and
Compare and contrast the ways in which the theme of Human Suffering is presented in the novel Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks and the poems of Wilfred Owen.
Compare and contrast the ways in which the theme of Human Suffering is presented in the novel Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks and the poems of Wilfred Owen. World War One has often been described as the destruction of a generation; indeed for those who lived through the first large-scale war that Europe had ever seen, life would never be the same again. Of the sixty five million men that fought in World War One over thirty seven million died, were captured or went missing before the end of the war, that means that thirty seven million families had to grieve for the sons and brothers they had lost. However, whatever mental torture the families at home who received the worst kind of news endured the suffering of the soldiers was worse. During the war, which lasted four years from 1914 to 1918 soldiers witnessed atrocities that they had never before imagined and received injuries so terrible that they were often unable to recover from the physical and mental scarring of what they lived through. Many of these soldiers were only seventeen or eighteen years old when they signed up for war and because there had never before been such a massive war so close to home the soldiers believed the widespread government propaganda that told them war would bring them glory and that they would be loved by the nation. However, when they got to the front lines these men found they had been lied
The causes of world war one
This is a map of Europe before 1914, as you can see the Austro-Hungarian Empire dominates what is now much of southern Germany and the Balkans. Germany is what we know presently as northern Germany and Poland. You may also have noticed that England, Scotland, Wales, and Eire made up the United Kingdom. Russia has a vast empire, a massive army (even though it is extremely poorly equipped, and trained). This was all changed by the First World War. The causes of world war one There are many reasons as to why the First World War actually took place, hardly any of them seem of great consequence when examined individually, however when examined together they do seem fairly major, but in my opinion don't merit a world war. Germany and France had a great rivalry after the wars of 1871 in which France lost the colonies of Alsange and Coraing to Prussia. France and it's people bitterly wand to have their revenge over Germany. Great Britain and Germany were also engaged in a hostile race to have the larger navy. This was heightened when Britain released a fleet of dreadnaughts which were the most lethal ships of warfare that the world had ever seen. The five major powers Great Britain At the start of the twentieth century Great Britain had the richest and largest empire in the world. Britain had the most trade and the largest navy on the planet. This had all happened under the
War poetry comparision The Drum & Dulce et Decorum est.
English Coursework The Drum & Dulce et Decorum est War poetry is written either by those who want to promote war as a glamorous adventure or by those who want to depict war as a painful experience causing horror and despair to those involved. Poetry was used in some newspapers during World War one as a means of recruitment for soldiers. One journalist Jessie Pope was famed for this type of War poetry and was criticised by many poets who focused on the horrific truths war of for them and all soldiers. War poetry often gives us a accurate impression of the suffering soldiers had to endure. Poetry is also a valuable source of information on war. In most historical books and reports we are given only detached, objective and factual information. War poetry from the likes of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon give us their own personal feelings of war and the death as reported through their eyes. The two poems I will be comparing will be John Scott's pre 1900 poem "The Drum" and Wilfred Owen's post 1900 poem "Dulce et Decorum est." Both of these poems are anti-war but are written by people who have had very different experiences of war. John Scott who was a Quaker and opposed to all violence wrote "The Drum" in 1782. Wilfred Owen was a soldier in the First World War. The things that he witnessed during this time left him deeply scarred; he expressed his feelings in his
The worst injuries of war are emotional, not physical With reference to Disabled and Mental Cases to what extent do you agree?
"The worst injuries of war are emotional, not physical" With reference to Disabled and Mental Cases to what extent do you agree? Through phrases such as 'war and madness', Mental Cases and Disabled establish themselves as a rebellion against the old tradition of not questioning orders. Owen's poetry lashes out at the works of Jessie Pope and likewise propaganda, yet does so by not making a tirade about the nature of war, but by attempting to reason the consequences of it. Owen's poetry exhibits the nightmarish truth of emotional and physical injuries, which both shock and sicken the reader. It becomes even more shocking that out of these injuries the physical injuries are conveyed as the worst. Owen usually goes into great repulsive detail of the physical injuries such as 'treading blood from lungs' in Mental Cases. Contrasting this, the first stanza of Disabled plainly states the physical injuries of the persona in, 'legless, sewn short at elbow'. Henceforth, Disabled concentrates on the emotional injuries of war by omitting focus on the physical injuries whereas Mental Cases concentrates on the emotional injuries of war by centralising around the physical injuries. Therefore in both Mental Cases and Disabled it is not what is being said, but rather what is not being said that is most significant. Taking this in account, it is for this reason that Disabled establishes
