Write a comparison of the ways in which the writers present attitudes to remembrance.

He criticises the pride that the gateway shows, in the claim that

“‘Their name liveth for ever’” which is taken from Ecclesiastics in the Bible. It seems as though Sassoon feels like a mockery is being made of these countless “nameless names”. This contrasts Mew’s view that “God is not mocked and neither are the dead.” Religious sacrifice is mentioned in both poems. The Cenotaph leaves a final image of the “Face Of God”, compared to “some young, piteous, murdered face”, suggesting the religious sacrifice. The word murdered shows that Mew does not avoid using brutal vocabulary, facing up to the horror of death and making a variety of images throughout the poem. Sassoon’s final statement is a wish that the dead would rise to look down on the gate with distaste as he does. He even goes as far as to call it a “crime”, made of “peace-complacent stone”. The word complacent is reminiscent of Sassoon’s attack on civilians in his declaration. The point he is making is that although the memorial is symbolic of the end of the war, to maintain peace needs constant effort.

Unlike in On Passing the new Menin Gate, Mew considers the pain of the mothers and lovers of those that died, and appreciates their need for remembrance. She compares the women’s pain to that of the soldiers, even though it is less obvious, “the watchers by lonely hearths from the thrust of an inward sword have more slowly bled.” She believes it is important to pay respect to the dead, even though “it must break some women’s hearts”. The beautiful and detailed way that she describes the cenotaph reflects the attitude that she seems to convey about remembrance. The word “oh!” expresses passion, either sadness or excitement, being more of a sound than word. Sassoon is also passionate in his writing, but more forceful and negative. Mew accepts the pain that the war has brought but thinks that it was not all in vain. “In splendid sleep, with a thousand brothers”. Ideas of comradeship are congratulated. “sleep” is a peaceful term and an example of heightened language. The cenotaph brings all the lives that were lost together, creating a sense of comfort perhaps that they were not alone. The last lines suggest a purpose for the cenotaph as something for “whore’s and huckster’s” to look at and remember the soldiers, and feel grateful for their sacrifice, or possibly ashamed. By choosing these kind of people to write about she may be saying that these dead men, although they have lost their lives, they have achieved much more glory than the whores and hucksters will ever have.

Sassoon’s poem makes no effort to comfort those who did not go to war, or those who lost others from it. With the ironic use of the word “Paid”, Sassoon is saying that these lives cannot be bought back and no statue of gate or plaque will compensate. He criticises the building of these things, believing that is what they are trying to do. Unlike Mew, he does not consider what this may represent to the people who are remembering, he thinks more of those that are dead.