Although the overall message of war was not positive, Tennyson does make war seem exciting in some parts of the poem such as “Forward the light brigade charge for the guns!” Although the men knew that they would probably die, they still show courage and excitement before battle. Throughout the poem pity is shown for the men by describing the awful experiences that they endured in the battle. The lines, “stormed at with shot and shell, while horse and hero fell” and “shattered and sundered,” really show us what the experience would have been like for the men. In the last stanza Tennyson wants everyone to honour and admire their charge, and show us how noble they were. This idea reminded me of another poem that we looked at called ‘Vitai Lampada’ by Henry Newbolt when it also conveyed the idea that by going to war you can gain honour.
Another pre World War I poem that we explored was ‘Drummer Hodge.’ The poem is about the Boer War fought in South Africa. As with many other poems that we have looked at such ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke, ‘Died of Wounds’ by Siegfried Sassoon and ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen the poet has focused on just one person rather then a whole troop or army. I think this technique is more effective because it enables you to relate personally with the individual and get a better idea of the effect on just one person. The indication in ‘Drummer Hodge’ is that a man born in England would die in a foreign land, on foreign soil again reminded me of ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke. We can especially see this idea presented in the line “And strange-eyed constellations reign his stars eternally,” where I think Hardy is saying that above his dead body there will always be foreign stars in the sky above him.
‘Drummer Hodge’ does not make war seem exciting because it opens by explaining how the dead bodies were just thrown, unconfined into a ditch. This really shows you the great scale of loss, and lack of respect and care for the deceased men. Although the poem does present a negative image of war, it is written in a way that it does not make war seem horrific I think the poet wanted to focus more on the language of the poem to create a sense of alienation for Drummer Hodge in South Africa.
The last pre World War I poem to consider is ‘Vitai Lampada’ by Henry Newbolt. The poem is situated around a private school environment and is encouraging young men to join up in the army and “play the game.” This poem does gives war an element of excitement by comparing it to a game but it also talks of the bloodshed briefly in stanza two. This talk of the experiences on the battlefield gives the poem a slightly negative side although the poet does not dwell on the terrible side of war, and also uses careful phrases such as, “the river of death has brimmed it’s banks,” and “the sand of the dessert is sodden red,” to present the real events of war more subtly then much of Owen’s poetry does. I think that the purpose of this poem was to encourage young men at school to join up in the army as by doing this they were able to claim respect. The idea of encouraging young men to join up in the army reminded me of the propaganda poetry used in the second World War. One poet in particular named Jessie Pope used to write unsophisticated poetry making war sound fun and exciting. Some examples of lines in her poetry are, “Who would much rather come back with a crutch than lie low and be out of the fun?” And “who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played?” She also used colloquial language, which was aimed at ordinary men for the mass army. Making war sound jolly was very inappropriate I feel and possibly persuaded men to join up by false reasons; there is also no reference to death in her poetry again providing a artificial image of what war was really like for the men.
One poet in particular, despised Jessie Pope and her poetry; this was Wilfred Owen. He is possibly one of the most famous war poets and wrote from his own experiences while serving in World War II. He thought that because Pope had had no real encounter in war and no understanding of what it was like, it was unjust for her to encourage men to go fight. He made one particular attack at her in his Poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est.’ In the last stanza he says;
“My friend, 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.”
The last line of the poem is in Latin and means; it is sweet and right to die for your country. The title of the poem also contains words from the motto; which is meant to be ironic. This poem creates an extremely negative image of war using very strong imagery and stylistic techniques throughout. It talks of a gas attack in the trenches; I imagine that Wilfred Owen was able to write so realistically and with such feeling about this event, because during his service he was probably involved in at least one.
‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ starts by describing what war has done to the men. Owen describes them as, “beggars,” and “hags.” This shows the change between young fit men, to old decrepit invalids. This first section instantly sets the mood of the poem and then goes on to describe how exhausted and unwilling the men were as they began to “trudge,” towards their distant rest. He also uses shocking imagery such as, “blood shod,” meaning that they were covered in their blood and possibly the blood of others. The next stanza has a change in rhythm and starts, “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” then proceeding to explain how one man is left without a gas mask and “as under a green sea,” Owen sees him drowning. This is a very effective line as it brings in the idea of how awful it must have been for the soldiers to watch their friends dying. After this Owen brings in the idea of dreams, this is because as a result of shellshock Owen often used to have nightmares and in the line,
“In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning,”
He describes how the image of the man dying revisits him in his dreams.
Throughout the poem many strong words, which are ugly in texture, such as “writhing,” “corrupted,” “bitter,” “cursed,” and “stumbling” are used by Owen to make the experience of war sound even more harsh and realistic. I can see a relation between Drummer Hodge and this poem in the line, “behind the wagon we flung him in,” as this portrays the idea of no respect for life or any care for the large number of dead bodies.
The overall message of this poem is to convey how awful the experience of war or a gas attack was like for the men, and the sort of conditions they had to endure in their service. This poem does not make war seem at all exciting and is completely negative. It does the exact opposite of Jessie Pope’s poetry, by presenting a realistic account of war.
Most of Owen’s poetry presents a negative image of war; except for one poem that we studied called ‘The Ballad Of Peace and War.’ In this poem Owen talks of how sweet it is, “to die in war for brothers,” and shows a strong sense of patriotism for England. This is contrasting to any of Owen’s other work and reminds me of ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke. The reason that this poem is so different is because it was written just as war had broken out and before Owen hadn’t started fighting; therefore he had a positive attitude towards war. After enduring the horrific experiences of war, Owen’s attitude changed greatly and we can see this in his later work. He often talks of the effects that shellshock had on him. Unfortunately Owen died one week before the war ended, and so obviously we can see no evidence in his poetry of a positive image of war, this also helps to explain why he felt so strongly and bitterly about the subject of war because he never got to see the end of it. Owen described how he felt when he wrote abut war in his preface he said that, “Above all I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is war and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity.” He wanted to express to people what the real experience of war was like so that they could understand how the men fighting felt.
The work of Rupert Brooke is very contrasting to Owen’s because Brooke’s experiences in war were very different to that of Owen’s. Brooke died of blood poisoning before he encountered any fighting, and his poetry has a very positive attitude towards war. Two particular poems by Owen and Brooke, which contrast each other, are ‘The Soldier,’ which I have talked about previously, and ‘Anthem For Doomed Youth.’
‘The Soldier’ is very patriotic and implants the idea of dying for your country into a good light. The idea that because England cared and looked after him he has an obligation and duty to England is clearly expressed throughout using lines such as, “A body of England’s, breathing English air,” and “gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given.” The whole poem is very gentle and positive using the repetition of ‘s’ to create a sense of peace. Personification is also used for England to emphasise the idea of patriotism. The overall idea of the poem is to idealise death and make it sound more glamorous.
‘Anthem for Doomed Youth,’ on the other hand, is a disturbing, realistic account for war expressing no sign of patriotism or peace. The first line, “What passing bells fro those who die as cattle;” immediately sets the tone of the poem and by comparing the men to cattle, explains the idea of the large scale loss of life and the lack of care for the dead, as well as suggesting that they are headed like cattle to their death. It also presents the idea that the only grievance for the dead men will take place at home in England. This has the same idea as in ‘Drummer Hodge,’ where the young man dies far away from home. The whole poem also summons up anger, noise and bitterness by using onomatopoeias such as, “stuttering,” and “wailing.” This recreates the noise of the weapons for us and again shows the reality of war just like in ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est.’ It is a very negative poem making war seem unexciting and summing up the grim reality of war.
A poem of Owen’s linked to ‘Anthem for Doomed youth,’ which also presents the idea of wide scale loss, is ‘Disabled.’ This poem shows one young man who was persuaded to enlist possibly by the effect of propaganda. In the poem this man has lost both his legs and one arm due to fighting, he is now waiting to die, as he is incapable and miserable. The poem flashes between the past and present, to show what his life was like before and after the event. I think the main purpose of the poem is for you to have sympathy and pity for the man as well as realising the waste of life. I think the poem could also be linked to personal experiences of Owen’s and his mental damage.
Owen talks about what the man’s life was like before he went to war; he says that he was popular with girls and good at sport. “In the old times, before he threw away his knees,” in this line I think Owen is trying to say that he didn’t think before he joined up and so it was like he threw away his life. He then goes on to the present to talk about how the man is waiting to die, and has been taken into an institute. The last 2 lines of the poem have 2 questions in them, “how cold and late it is! Why don’t they come and put him to bed? Why don’t they come?” I think this is very poignant and sums up the waste of potential, it also suggests that the man wants to be killed and put out of his misery, which makes you have even more pity for him.
The poem doesn’t make war sound at all exciting as it presents a negative image of war. It looks at the consequences and foolishness of the young man joining up, and the desperation of the authorities. It says in the line, “he asked to join. He didn’t have to beg,” they obviously knew that he was not old enough but because they were so short of men they unfairly accepted him anyway.
After looking at various poems pre ad post 1990, I have witnessed an assortment of different views and attitudes towards the subject of war.
Some poets have presented a positive image of war, and made it sound exciting and noble, whereas others have put war into an unpleasant light and looked at it with a negative view. None have been able to ignore or not include in some way though, the amount of devastation and loss of life war causes. Personal experiences also may have had an effect on the way that the poet presented the subject. Overall I think that Owen had the right view on war. We can see this clearly in his preface when he talks of what war poetry should be about,
“This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds or ands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power except war.”
