The Huns were originally an ancient tribe who ravaged and plundered every where they went. By calling the Germans, Huns Rudyard Kipling suggests that they are the same and present a danger to all so we have to stop them. He than goes on to say that the only way to get through such “Perils and Dismays” is by “Iron sacrifice of body, will and soul”
Rudyard says the perils that we have to face when fighting in the war are “Renewed and Re-Renewed” he also tells us this war will not be easy to win by saying “No easy hopes or lies shall bring us to our goal” he says these statements in such a way they all most discourages going to war. He than counteracts these thoughts and statements by saying “Who stands if freedom falls?” and “Who dies if England live?” By this I think he means that even if you die during this war you will live on through England and the freedom of mankind so fight because you have nothing to loose.
If you compare this poem to ‘The solider’ written by Rupert Brooke in the same year, you will find that the main view is the same. Both poems try to glorify warfare. I think this is because the poems were written in the early stages of WW1 before most of the blood was spilled, so both poets took the opportunity to recruit more soldiers.
Wilfred Owen was a solider in WW1 and battled at the front most of the war; because of this I feel his view on the war can be trusted. Wilfred Owens poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ Was first published after the war in 1921 even though it was probably written between the years 1915 and 1918 like his other poems. I think this is because it describes the true horror of warfare so the generals didn’t want it published as it might discourage others from signing up to join the army.
The title of the poem is ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ which means ‘What a sweet and fitting thing’ because of the title you are expecting the poem to describe wonderful things instead from the first line ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,’ you get the impression this is not a good thing at all. The poem then goes on to describe the terrible conditions soldiers lived in using phrases like ‘Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,’ I feel the pace of the poem in the first stanza mimics this slow trudge of the soldiers.
In the second stanza Owen starts of buy by saying ‘Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!’ The repetition of the word gas in capital letters imitates the fact that one person started the shout and it then got said by every body to make sure the message got to everyone. The sudden quickening of pace mimics the actions of the soldiers as they tried to get their helmets on in time. Owen then goes on to describe what happened to a solider that didn’t get the mask on in time ‘He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.’
In the last stanza Owen says ‘My, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old lie, Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’ By this I think he means that if you had seen what I had you would not be so proud when you lied to your children by telling them it’s a sweet and fitting thing to die for your country.
I feel this poem was written from a personal perspective because it goes against what the government want people to think and gives a first hand perspective of war.
David Roberts wrote his poem ‘Home Come Your Sons’ after seeing some of the horror of the second gulf war, however he never fought in the war so I feel his view cannot be as reliable as somebody who had fought in the war.
In the first part of his poem Roberts tries to sympathize with the parents of the dead by using phrases like ‘You know they did their duty’
Then from the 7th stanza onwards he changes the course of his poem.
He goes on to describe the stupidity of the war and uses sarcastic phrases such as ‘It must take guts to drop those bombs on defenceless people who had no chance’ to emphasize the unfairness of the war. Roberts also says ‘Your boys didn’t have to maim and kill or break the hearts of other mothers’ by this statement I think he means that I know your depressed about the loss of your sons but think of the other mothers whose hearts your sons broke by killing people who like them were just following orders.
In this poem I feel David Roberts challenges the government’s decision to go to war against Iraq by calling this war the ‘shamefullest of wars’ and by highlighting the depression and death it has already caused.
If you look at the differences between the 3 poems described you will find that as time want on and war got uglier you started hearing more of the truth about war.
