Both poems use language to make effect and in Dulce Et Decorum Est he uses this, for example, “Guttering, choking, drowning.” This makes the poem interesting and powerful. “Gas!, Gas! Quick boys!” This gives the poem a pace. “Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots.” This gives an image in your mind. Also the poet uses things like assonance, “five-nines”, onomatopoeia, “Gas! Gas!” and similes, “Like a devils sin.” These all are added for effect. Although, Charge Of The Light Brigade also uses language for effect, for example, “cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them.” This gives the poem a rhythm. “ Was there a man dismayed?” This rhetorical question makes you think about the poem a bit more and “In the mouth of hell.” This gives the poem more power and excitement. Also the poet uses things like glory words, “ Noble six hundred”, alliteration, “world wondered” and adjectives, “Noble six hundred.” Between the two poem Dulce Et Decorum Est is against the war and Charge Of The Light Brigade is for the war so this affects the language used.
The rhyme in both poems are quite simple. In Charge Of The Light Brigade the rhythm pattern is A,B,C,B,D,B,E and this is a regular rhyme scheme that rhymes every other line so it is easy to work out and follow. A few rhyming words used in this poem are shell, well, smoke, broke and this is masculine rhyme. Dulce Et Decorum Est also has a rhyme pattern and this is A,B,A,B... It is very simple and easy to follow just like The Charge Of The Light Brigade, but Dulce Et Decorum Est is the easier. This rhyme pattern is very effective and a few rhyming words used in this poem are sacks, backs, fumbling, stumbling. Both of the poems rhyming patterns were used to give the poem a rhythm and a pace. This make the poem flow and makes it easier for the reader to read and understand the poem fully.
In both there is a structure. In Dulce Et Decorum Est there is three stanzas and the first two stanzas are eight lines each. However the last stanza was twelve lines. I think this was done to give the poem a slower and more flowing ending. In Charge Of The Light Brigade there are six stanzas that are all uneven varying from 6-12 lines in each stanza. The stanza that stands out to me the most is stanza three and five because they have the repeated three lines of “Cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them.” I think that the poet used these three stanzas to make the poem more memorable and more interesting.
So overall these two poems are very well written and both have similarities and differences just like any other poems. The anti war poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est has the clear meaning of the horrors of war and the poet did make this strong point come across in his poem and it gives a very good insight to what he went through. The pro war poem, The Charge Of The Light Brigade also has a clear meaning of glorifying the war and the poet also got this strong point across in his poem especially through the language he uses like the “Noble six hundred.” So in the end the two poems are different in the fact that one is for and one is against the war, however they are both similar in the way of their language, rhyme and structure.
