How has the concept of courage, glory and death in war been dealt with in the war poems you have studied?

They that had fought so well.'

In the poem Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen the courage shown by these men that come and fight for their country has been mocked. Wilfred Owen's title to his poem means it is good and fitting to die for you country.

Infact it is the complete opposite he states clearly in his poem that there was a lot of terror during the gas attack.

'And watch the white eyes writhing in his face

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin

If you could hear at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.'

We don't know exactly whether it was courage that forced the young man to join the army or to look good in kilts in the Disabled by Wilfred Owen.

'That's why; and may be too, to please his Meg

Aye that was it, to please the giddy kilts'

He was set to go to war and nothing could make him afraid to go.

'...And no fears

Of fear came yet..........'

An Irish Airman Foresees his Death by W.B Yeats. The Irishman knows of the possibility that he is going to die which makes him very courageous.

'I know that I shall meet my fate'

The Irishman is not for the war or against the war he is going for the excitement of it all and amongst this he dies not only for the R.F.C but also for his country, which is Ireland.

The next concept that I will be looking at is glory.

In the poem the Soldier that is a sonnet (a 14 line poem) by Rupert Brooke the English Soldier shows glory for his country.

'That is forever England. There shall be

In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

He means that if he is killed in Turkey that when his bones turn to dust they will become part of that soil and that country will be better for it as he is an English man.

Alfred Lord Tennyson states in his poem that by being a hero they are glorious therefore have glory.

'While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well.'

'When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wonder'd.

Honour the Light Brigade.

Nobel six hundred!

This shows that they made a glorified charge and that they were the noblest men.

In the poem Peace by Rupert Brooke the first 4 lines are very glorious. They are triumphant and enthusiastic about the war.

'Now, God be thanked Who has marched 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.'

In the concept of death I believe that the poem Attack by Siegfried Sassoon best describes how their lives are slipping away form them and they are now terrified of death as it approaches.

'And hope, with furtive eyes and grappling fists,

Flounders in mud. O Jesus make it stop!'

This describes how the hope of surviving flounders in the mud.

The description of death in Dulce et Decorum Est is horrific.

'But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And floundering 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 by helpless sight

He plunges at me guttering, choking, drowning.'

The Hero by Siegfried Sassoon describes how an officer came to a woman's home to tell her that her son had died in action.

'Jack fell as he'd have wished.'

'...........We mothers are so proud

of our dead soldiers.'

The mother was proud of her son. She didn't know of the fact that the officer had lied to her about her son. They thought he was a cold-footed useless swine.

The poem shows how the officer didn't care what happened to Jack and it is thought perhaps he tried to injure himself in order to get sent home.

'..................... how he'd tried

To get sent home, and how, at last , he died,

Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care

Except that lonely woman with white hair.'

After looking at all the concepts I can only draw one conclusion from them and that is: God gave us a chance in life. He put us on this earth to live a fulfilled life. He did not put us here to fight with our fellow brothers and sisters. We all get one chance of life on this earth so why waste it fighting. No matter how courageous or glorious the war has been there is nothing that can truly justify the fact that all of those thousands of people have been killed.

Shauna Mullan 12B2