I will look at war in my improvisation and to help me gain an understanding of literature and poetry based on the war I will be looking at two poems and one piece of script writing. Both poems were

In this paragraph I will explore the themes and ideas behind the poems and script. The soldier is an idealistic poem that represents a sense of pride and the glamour of fighting for your country. The soldier also shows the glory to be had from serving in the British armed forces and what a hero you would be after you’ve served. Dulce shows the horrific side of the war and I think it shows what the war would have been like very accurately. Dulce is quite a shocking poem with its emotive choice of language. Blackadder shows the fear the soldiers had in World War 1 and the realistic side of it. Dulce and Blackadder both make a strong political comment about the war. Blackadder makes the war look like it run by mad people and that senior officers just sit miles from the front line nice and comfy. Dulce makes a comment also on the lies that children are told about the war to hide them from its brutality.

Blackadder is a scripted piece of writing and has characters init that you can look at. Dulce is about a group soldiers. The soldier is one person’s viewpoint. The characters in Blackadder have very different roles and personalities. Blackadder himself is a very sarcastic man; he uses dry humour and makes the most personal comment about the war. Baldrick is working class; he is worried and isn’t really sure what to do in his situation; the war bemuses him and this is a scary thing for Baldrick. George is the sort of person who would write The Soldier. He is a patriotic, upper classed twit. Although he is patriotic he is very scared. Melchett just sits in his office commanding the men on the front line even though he has no great knowledge of the front line conditions.

The Soldier gives a personal viewpoint on the war and has a sentimental message. Dulce uses shock to gets its point across and Blackadder uses humour and irony to present its view on war. At the end of Blackadder when they go over the top it has music and uses slow motion which gives it a depressing and sad feel and men went over the top all the time in the war so it shows what a depressing place it would have been.

Studying Blackadder has interested me and I think my group will use humour in our performance to give the war a more laid back feel even though it wasn’t like that at all. I think humour would be easier for people to understand.