Explore how Owen, McRae and Brooke present the physical and mental horrors of war.

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James Hansen

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Explore how Owen, McRae and Brooke present the physical and mental horrors of war.

All of the poems by the writers above share a common theme, the horror of war, but vary in their interpretations and views. “Peace”, by Rupert Brooke, puts across the idea that war is not as bad as people believe, but an opportunity to prove oneself worthy. In contrast, “Strange Meeting” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, both by Wilfred Owen, are very different poems. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is filled with passive bitterness towards the war, while “Strange Meeting” describes an encounter that leads to a reflective monologue on the horror of war. Finally, “In Flanders Fields”, by John McRae, portrays the consequences of war, and the sheer loss of life that comes from it. All the poems put across the horrors or glories of conflict in their own ways, but they all remain focussed on the idea of war, while portraying the respective ideas of the writers. Firstly, the key features of each poem.

“Peace”, by Brooke, is a pro-war poem subtly encouraging people to fight, and was published as part of 1914, a sonnet sequence. He first describes war as a divine intervention to be looked upon positively, shown by “God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour”, describing how God has allowed people to partake in such a thrilling time. This religious attitude towards war was influenced by his belief in “muscular Christianity”, Christianity that was active, not passive. Brooke then describes how war has improved the people of the world, with lines like “And caught our youth, and wakened us from sleeping”. As a Christian, Brooke felt that morality had gone from the world, and felt that war could be the thing to rejuvenate it, as shown throughout the first stanza. He then continues with a more encouraging message, similar to Pope in “Who’s For The Game”. With “Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move”, he is encouraging men to join up and portraying those who do not as the weak of the world, while further describing them as “half-men”. The following line, “And all the little emptiness of love” reemphasises the idea of morality being lost, but could also been linked to his personal life, where he was disillusioned by love and often struggled in relationships.

 The second stanza of the poem is more directly related to the horrors of war, describing its effects on those who partake in it. In the first line, Brooke depicts how war has relieved those who have been disgraced, “…We, who have known shame, we have found release there”, the release being the sense of relief that war has bought, despite all its horror. Brooke then describes how the pain of war is not a bad thing. He sees his generation as fortunate, as they have the chance to escape this immoral world for a better life in heaven, which is where the theme of swimmers leaving behind the sleepers links back into the poem. However, he then moves on to the actualities of death, how “naught (is) broken, save this body, lost but breath”. This shows Brooke perceives the horrors of war to be not as bad as they seem, as only physical life is lost, with the soul remaining, “Nothing to shake the laughing heart’s peace there”. In the final couplet, Brooke cements the beliefs presented, stating that the agony suffered is only fleeting, that the only enemy is Death itself, “But only agony, and that has ending/And the worst friend and enemy is but death”.

In contrast to the positivity on the surface of “Peace”, “Anthem For Doomed Youth” by Owen is a much bitterer poem. The title starkly portrays how the soldiers of the war are in such peril, the “Doomed Youth” suggesting that all the soldiers have no hope, that they will die in the end. The first stanza of the poem is a simple parody of a funeral, with Owen mocking the idea of the funeral that the soldiers deserve. “What passing bells for those who die as cattle?” Is asking who will be the ones to mourn these people, and what reward they will get for the ultimate sacrifice that they are making. Owen answers the question extremely sharply, deriding the attitudes of the time towards the war with “Only the monstrous anger of the guns/Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle”. The “only” at the start of both lines implies the long monotony of war and the death, as if death has become so accepted that no just actions are taken upon it. He continues his cynical tone with lines like “Your hasty orisons” and “No mockeries for them; no prayers nor bells”, sceptically disparaging the ideas of glory for the dead soldiers. The muted reflection of the poem continues for the rest of the stanza, Owen using more funeral imagery like “mourning”, “bugles” and “sad”. He also uses aural sense imagery, for example the “shrill demented choirs of wailing shells” and “Bugles calling for them from sad shires”, to put across the horrors of war in a very effective but understated way, showing more how the effects of the war on so many are so terrible, rather than the physical elements taking centre stage. The second stanza moves more towards the idea of the home front, linking in with “Peace” with the direction of the message, but taking a completely different view.

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The second stanza has a considerably more sombre pace to it, similar to how the home front would have been during the war, full of anxiety and nervous anticipation of news, be it good or bad. The stanza begins with the line “What candles may be held to speed them all”, another example of the funeral imagery that has continued on from the first stanza. This refers to the lighting of the candles in remembrance of the dead, but being so many dead, no number of candles held aloft can remember such a great loss of life.” Another example ...

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