Compare and Contrast Poetry: “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen and “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke Both poems, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “The Soldier” focus on the subject of war, although each di

"Dulce Et Decorum Est" is written in an A B A pattern, where the first line rhymes with the third. "The Soldier is written firstly with an A B A pattern, then shifts to an E F G pattern. Each poem demonstrates an iambic pentameter, where there are five unstressed and five stressed syllables in each line.

The imageries Wilfred Owen uses in "Dulce Et Decorum Est" are very graphic, horrific images of death, with accurate portrayals of what happens during war. He uses similes throughout the piece to put across the images he saw e.g. "...like a devil's sick of sin" and "Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud". He also uses metaphors like "Men marched asleep" but mostly similes in the poem. Rupert Brooke paints perfect, gentle images in the reader's mind. He uses personification, personifying England as a woman who gave him his life, and he wants to repay 'her' for everything that she gave him i.e. his life and happiness at home.

Wilfred Owen uses graphic vocabulary in "Dulce t Decorum Est": "floundering like a man in fire or lime," "he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning." He also incorporates militaristic vocabulary, including words such as flares, gas shells to reflect what he's portraying and to add to the depth of the poem. He includes Latin: "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," to possibly finish of the rhyme at the end of the poem. "The Soldier" uses easily acceptable, pleasant vocabulary. He comes to the conclusion that he will live in England after death. There is no militaristic wording here. In fact, there is no mention of war. The only reason we know that he was off to war was background knowledge of the poet himself.

Neither poem had any drastic effect on me. Out of the two poems I preferred "Dulce Et Decorum Est" because the way in which the poet phrased everything was much easier to understand. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" was the better poem, because Wilfred Owen actually understood what war was about. He'd seen it happening and knew what to expect; though knowing didn't make it any easier for him. I think he spent a lot of time perfecting his poem, because of the way everything fits well. Each line is so many syllables long and has so many stressed and unstressed syllables, though I doubt he went through each line counting the syllables! The poetry was quite haunting. The images were very clear in my head. I could see them fumbling with their gas masks; I could see the bulging eyes of the dying man. It sent shivers down my spine, because the descriptions are so real. "The Soldier" was also a good poem, though it was difficult to understand. I felt that the poet was ignorant. I thought that he was "silly little man" for underestimating the horrors of war. And I thought that even though he was very patriotic, he kept saying England, and this made me feel like he was looking down on anyone who didn't fight for their country (who perhaps knew what war was about). And I thought that he was also looking down on the many Welsh, Scottish and Irish that laid down their lives for the United Kingdom, not just England. But having said that, "The Soldier" was a pleasant break from all the blood and guts of war in "Dulce Et Decorum Est".