Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et Decorum est'.
Poetry-Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et Decorum est' The poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' is a poem which shows us the horrors of war. It shows us how innocent lives are being wasted on a war. The poem tells us about how the poet feels about war. The first stanza tells us about the condition of the soldiers. It shows us that the soldiers are sick, tired and are not aware of themselves. It also tells us that the soldiers were in bad condition. They did not care about the shells that dropped behind them. In the first line the soldiers are compared in a simile to old beggars. This implies that they look shabby, which is not the image of soldiers in bright shiny uniforms, which would be in keeping with the glorious image of war. The line has a slow pace with no sound described, which is also a contrast to the image of war, as people at home might expect the soldiers to be marching along at a brisk pace. The second line continues this them as it compares the soldiers to hags, which are very like beggars. It tells you that the soldiers are knock kneeded and coughing, which implies a very low morale. In the second stanza, the poet has written about a gas attack that he has witnessed. This stanza tells us about the confusion and panic, which arises when the soldiers' lives are in immediate danger. The pace of this verse is a lot quicker in order to demonstrate this, and also provides a
Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et decorum est'.
Dulce et decorum est In this poem, by Wilfred Owen 'Dulce et decorum est' Owen was attempting to across the full horror of the First World War. In great detail get he describes a soldier suffering and dying in a gas attack. The poem is written from the point of view of an eyewitness who was there before during and after the attack. Owen finishes by asking the reader to tell their children the truth about the war and not the 'old lie' that it is sweet and fitting to die for your country, 'Dulce et decorum est pro pratria mori'. In the poem 'dulce et decorum est' (which means it is sweet and fitting) The poem is narrative and in sections. The first section is the men going to rest the second is .the gas attack in the trenches. The third is the man having bad dreams to do with the incident. The fourth is explaining if you had seen what he had seen you would not want to tell your children of these awful conditions. The rhyme scheme goes ABABCDCDEFEF I did not notice this at first, this is very good poetry and the words are well thought out. The similes in this poem are very good 'flound'ring like a man in fire or lime' this means the man was going all over the place and it was like he was on fire. There are also a lot of metaphors 'Men marched asleep' this is because the men were so tired it looked as though they were asleep. This poem has got a very sad, dark and somber feel
William blake
Rajit Shail English Literature Coursework April 2007 How does William Blake portray childhood in Songs of innocence and Experience? William Blake was a late eighteenth century poet who became famous for his two anthology of Song of Innocence (published in 1789) and Songs of Experience (published in 1794). He focused his poems mainly on children and religion. Several of his poems were written for children as it was easy to understand, used simple vocabulary, simple verse and some were happy and optimistic. However most of his poems had a deeper meaning. Blake lived during the Industrial Revolution. This was a period of immense social, political and cultural change in many areas of the world. He saw child labour and blamed the Church and wealthy people for not doing anything about it. He lived poor, therefore was unable to do anything himself. His poems like 'The Chimney Sweeper' and 'Holy Thursday' show the hardship put upon the orphan children of the time. They did dangerous jobs to get their daily bread and many died. Blake saw this and wrote countless of his poems based on this. Songs on Innocence was Blake's first collection and it demonstrates how people are often blind to their own reality. Most songs are from the viewpoint of a child implying their innocence. This can be seen in 'the Chimney Sweeper' where it is written: 'When my mother died I was very young.'
William Blake -
Jose Acosta December 10, 2003 AP English - Mr. Fidemi William Blake - "The Lamb" William Blake's "The Lamb" is an attempt to bring up life's ultimate questions through the voice of child-like speaker. The poem is structured with the question as the first stanza and the answer as the second stanza. Blake initially introduces a naive child asking simple questions but later dives into deep philosophical theories regarding life and creation as the child in turn tries to answer those exact questions. "The Lamb" in trying to convey the answers to certain philosophical questions exhibits basic Christian creedal statements and relays certain images concerning Jesus and also tries to explain His relation to common man. The opening line of the poem embodies every human's curiosities surrounding creation and the origins of human existence. The speaker naively questions the lamb regarding its nature and also its creation. The speaker is representing a child and childish inquiries, yet is addressing the notions of our existence that every person questions at one point or another, be it a child or an adult. The childish inquires carry on as the speaker mentions if the lamb knows who "Gave thee clothing of delight...[and] Gave thee such a tender voice." The poem is enveloped in a sea of naivety as well as humor as the speaker is directly speaking with an animal seeking profound
William Blake
William Blake I am going to compare and contrast three of William Blake poems, where he shows his feelings about the way people treat children: The Chimney-Sweeper, Holy Thursday (Innocence) and London. The Chimney-Sweeper is about a child who sweeps chimneys. William Blake sets this poem in the winter. The children worked in the cold. Blake says, "A little black thing among the snow," "The little black thing," Is the child who is dirty from cleaning the chimneys who stands out in the snow. He also looks like a black mask on the landscape. Like a dirty stain. "Crying weep, weep in the notes of woe!" Blake hears them crying a song. As children do when they are sad, the notes of woe are notes of extreme sadness. "Where are both father and mother? Say? They are both gone up to the church to pray" this sounds as if someone is asking the boy questions and he answers. The child's parents are missing. They don't know where their parent are, they could be praying at church. The church back then was in possession of a lot of land, building and laid down guide lives for people's life styles. It also seems as if the church supports the parents and does not consider that they have done any thing wrong. The parents are sending the children to work at early age, and in dangerous conditions (chimneys). In the second verse William Blake talks about the child as a happy child, but since
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright. He was born in the small market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. Shakespeare worked in London and held his private life at home in Stratford. Shakespeare died in the year 1616 in the town of his birth. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? This is a sonnet which incorporates 14 lines. There are 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme of the poem is "ABAB CDCD EFEF GG" and is made up of iambic pentameter which includes five strong stresses in each line. The sonnets are broken up into octaves and sestets. In this poem the octave is an introduction to the young man who is admired by the poet. The sestet develops the topic of the young man. The octave uses the summer season as a way of describing the young man. He describes the summer sunshine and the colourful flowers as a way of in directly describing him. I think he does this because he is afraid to show his true feelings at the start of the poem, but as we come to the sestet end he starts to reveal his true feelings for this man. He starts to talk about how his love will never fade and as long as he is breathing he will love him. This is love poem and I thing he is trying to describe love as the most beautiful thing imaginable. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" This line is repeating the title and
Write a comparative analysis of 'Shall I compare thee...' by William Shakespeare and 'The Flea' by John Donne from the Best Words anthology.
Write a comparative analysis of 'Shall I compare thee...' by William Shakespeare and 'The Flea' by John Donne from the Best Words anthology. 'Shall I compare thee...' by Shakespeare focuses on romantic love, whereas Donne's poem, 'The Flea' is all about seduction and sexual love. The situations in the two poems are very different. In 'Shall I compare thee...', the poet is shown as a lover who is addressing his lady. His tone is gentle and romantic. He starts with a rhetorical question to which he must answer and therefore he does not put demand upon the lady. The poem gives the impression that it is set perhaps in his room, where he is composing his poem. One thing is for sure and that is that the woman he is addressing is not with him, because all the way through the poem, there is no response from her. Shakespeare wants to emphasize her beauty. In 'The Flea' the poet is directly appealing to the woman or his mistress. They seem to be in bed together with a flea, but no sex seems to have taken place. If it had, then the situation would be very different. The poet has seduced her as far as the bedroom and at this point, it seems as though he is going to try a new strategy. The woman does not appear to be very keen and is resisting his advances. Compared with Donne's poem, in 'Shall I compare thee...' the poet is simply flattering the woman and wants her to like him. It
Write an essay on the variety of ways in which Chaucer treats the subject of love
Write an essay on the variety of ways in which Chaucer treats the subject of love. Within ten stories in the Canterbury Tales, men and women on the way to, or in marriage provide the ostensible subject, with six tales expounding largely on love and its counterpart in marriage. In comic tales, sexual activity is constantly relished, especially in the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale, where love is defined and motivated by animalistic physical desire and relationships clouded with lies and deceit. In contrast, romances like the Knight's Tale and the Franklin's Tale have a high ideal of relaxed and trusting harmony, "Thus been they bothe in quiete and rest", relying also on the poetics of courtly love. Then we have the blend of characters who hold views from all parts of the scale, like the amorous Wyf of Bath who affirms the above view of harmony in marriage, but feels her sexual organ is for use than moral control- commitment is intertwined with twisted Biblical fact to be a hindrance in love rather than a necessity of it. Chaucer not only introduces us to the various traditions and angles of love (formal courtly love to cynical fabliaux), but also examines the contrast in relationships, and the motivations of love within the tales. By doing so, he makes us realize that love is not a single compartment of perspectives, but like real life, is embedded with different angles
With reference to any three poems from "Death of a Naturalist" discuss Heaney's treatment of the theme of death.
With reference to any three poems from "Death of a Naturalist" discuss Heaney's treatment of the theme of death. Heaney's first volume of poetry, "Death of a Naturalist" deals with the young poet growing up on a farm and encountering for the first time the bitter realities of life. "The Early Purges" focuses on this particular point in his life. At this time Heaney is only six and coming to terms with what he is introduced to is by no means easy. At this age he is confronted with the sight of drowning kittens. Dan Taggart, a rough and arrid farm-hand, holds the responsibility for this harsh job. Yet he shows neither compassion nor sympathy and brushes off the guilt for his deed by referring to them as 'scraggy wee shits', as if they were of no meaning. 'Dan Taggart pitched them into them, into a bucket.' He does this without feeling or any slight indication of emotion. As the kittens drown, Heaney describes them as making a 'tiny din'. This is an oxymoron, because although the noise is muffled and hence quiet, this is so shocking to the ears of the young Heaney that it seems loud and clouds out all other sounds. Heaney uses this oxymoron to draw the reader's attention to the situation; he encourages the reader to look twice as dins are usually thought of as being very loud, so describing it as tiny seems 'incorrect' and compels the reader to look over it once more so that
War Photographer
War Photographer Subject and theme: photographer as conscience and recorder of truth. Contrast between "rural England" and scenes of war, between first-hand experience and sanitized version in colour supplements. Photographer moves between two worlds but belongs wholly to neither. Explain last couplet: who are "they" and why do they not care? Idea of duty to telling truth. Structure: conventional stanzas (rhymed iambic lines); each ends with couplet, as if to conclude argument. Poem moves from series of observations to a clear conclusion. Key images: photographer as a priest (darkroom like church, he teaches us how fragile we are, as in Isaiah's "All flesh is grass"). "Fields which don't explode": suggests landmines that do explode under children's feet. Photographer, who can't speak the language, seeking "approval" to record man's death. Ambiguity: "solutions", "ghost", "black-and-white"; bathos: "prick/with tears between the bath and pre-lunch beers"; contrast: "he earns his living...they do not care". Back to top Valentine Subject and theme: challenges ideas of "normal" Valentine card or present. First-person speaker addresses lover in second person ("you"). Universal, as sex of lover and beloved is not stated. Structure and form: no clear argument, but a series of observations linked by their common theme. Not written in sentence forms throughout - uses disjointed
