Comparing poems
There have been many wars throughout time. Most people learn the facts through: papers, films, books or poems, but I am comparing two similar poems which have different meanings. Wilfred Owen who wrote the poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' or Lord Alfred Tennyson who wrote 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. They are both based around the theme of war. Lord Alfred Tennyson is pro war and thinks it's a good thing to die for your country. His poem was written to memorialise the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean war (1854 - 56) he wrote it ten years later, on: April 10th 1864. He was born in 1809 and died at the age of 83 in 1892. Wilfred Owen is against war and he writes about the First World War, He was in the war unlike Alfred Tennyson and Owen expresses his feelings more disapprovingly. Wilfred Owen was born in 1893 and his poem was published in 1920 (December). Both these poets have strong but opposing views about war.
'Dulce et Decorum est' means it's a good and noble thing to die for your country, which is ironic as Wilfred Owen doesn't think this is true and he thought war was horrific. This poem is about the First World War and Owen describes how he feels and he describes the trenches appalling from first hand experience. At the beginning the troops are marching in awful conditions to battle. Then suddenly there's a gas attack and Owen recalls exactly what happened. Towards the end of the poem the tone changes, he reflects and he makes his view on war clear. The structure is written from his point of view and how awful war was to him.
The soldiers are ready to fight and are hunched in the trenches 'Bent double, like old beggars under sacks' this shows they look like old people bent over. As they are marching there's 'Haunting flares' Owen uses a metaphor which suggests they look daunting in the shape they are falling, like the shape of ghosts. The soldiers are getting defeated' But limped on, blood shod. All went lame, all blind' in this line Owen has used metaphors and repetition to make the soldier's movements stand out and shows they are injured and have got blood on there shoes. Owen wants the reader to picture this in your mind with the verbs he has used 'coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge' shows they are choking on the gas and smoke but slowly and angrily carry on to battle. The use of repetition emphasises exactly how he felt and what he saw, 'All went lame; all blind' it makes it stand out how tired and injured the soldier's really are from Owens view. The rhythm of stanza one is made by the ten syllables per line, which gives the effect that the soldiers are marching.
There have been many wars throughout time. Most people learn the facts through: papers, films, books or poems, but I am comparing two similar poems which have different meanings. Wilfred Owen who wrote the poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' or Lord Alfred Tennyson who wrote 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. They are both based around the theme of war. Lord Alfred Tennyson is pro war and thinks it's a good thing to die for your country. His poem was written to memorialise the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean war (1854 - 56) he wrote it ten years later, on: April 10th 1864. He was born in 1809 and died at the age of 83 in 1892. Wilfred Owen is against war and he writes about the First World War, He was in the war unlike Alfred Tennyson and Owen expresses his feelings more disapprovingly. Wilfred Owen was born in 1893 and his poem was published in 1920 (December). Both these poets have strong but opposing views about war.
'Dulce et Decorum est' means it's a good and noble thing to die for your country, which is ironic as Wilfred Owen doesn't think this is true and he thought war was horrific. This poem is about the First World War and Owen describes how he feels and he describes the trenches appalling from first hand experience. At the beginning the troops are marching in awful conditions to battle. Then suddenly there's a gas attack and Owen recalls exactly what happened. Towards the end of the poem the tone changes, he reflects and he makes his view on war clear. The structure is written from his point of view and how awful war was to him.
The soldiers are ready to fight and are hunched in the trenches 'Bent double, like old beggars under sacks' this shows they look like old people bent over. As they are marching there's 'Haunting flares' Owen uses a metaphor which suggests they look daunting in the shape they are falling, like the shape of ghosts. The soldiers are getting defeated' But limped on, blood shod. All went lame, all blind' in this line Owen has used metaphors and repetition to make the soldier's movements stand out and shows they are injured and have got blood on there shoes. Owen wants the reader to picture this in your mind with the verbs he has used 'coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge' shows they are choking on the gas and smoke but slowly and angrily carry on to battle. The use of repetition emphasises exactly how he felt and what he saw, 'All went lame; all blind' it makes it stand out how tired and injured the soldier's really are from Owens view. The rhythm of stanza one is made by the ten syllables per line, which gives the effect that the soldiers are marching.
