Each poem has very different themes in ‘England to her sons’ one of the themes is propaganda but in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ there is a theme of the lies of propaganda, ‘The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.’ (Meaning ‘It is sweet and meet to die for your country’) and it is saying that this is all a lie. In ‘England to her sons’ another theme is men to enlist, ‘I hear you thrilling to the trumpet call of war’, people are not thrilled at the news of war and trumpets do not call. The poet is trying to make the start of war a joyous occasion. Also in ‘England to her sons’ another theme is responsibility and duty of war, ‘Steeled to suffer uncomplaining’ but when the war begins this certainly changes. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ has another theme of the actual experience of war and pointless death. It also is trying to set the public straight so they know what actually happened during the war. Also
Claire Fooks 9Y
in this poem another theme is the horror of a gas attack, ‘Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling’, the poet has broken this line up by using lots of punctuation to break it up and this adds to add to the horror.
In ‘England to her sons’ the poet has not used many metaphors, but ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ has used a lot of metaphors, ‘Is under a green sea’ the poet is trying to get us to imagine what the man looked like under all the poison. In ‘England to her sons’ the poet uses a lot of abstract nouns such as hope, faith, honour and justice. An example of this is, ‘wise in justice’ when he uses the noun justice we cannot actually feel and touch justice and so this adds to the effect. ‘Dulce et decorum est’ does not use any abstract nouns, the poet uses nouns like ‘sacks’ which give an image that the soldiers are living in poor conditions. Abstract verbs do not have to be used for positive things as shown in another poem called, ’Break of Day in the Trenches’. This poem uses other abstract nouns like darkness, which creates a dark, sinister feel to the poem. Both poems use personification, in ‘Dulce et decorum est’ the poet personifies the helmet, ‘Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time’ using this breaks up the rhythm and also creates a scene of fumbling and panic. In ‘England to her sons’ the poet personifies England as the soldiers mother, ‘Sons of mine, I hear you thrilling’ by doing this it makes the soldiers imagine that it is their mother telling them to enlist and it makes it feel more right. ‘Dulce et decorum est’ uses a lot of strong descriptive imagery for example, ‘He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning’ which gives a very strong image to the poem and really makes it feel as if you are there. This poem also uses a lot of powerful verbs like ‘drowning’ and ‘trudge’, which have a sense of drama an action. In ‘England to her sons’ the poet tries to excite the readers by using phrases like, ‘I hear you thrilling’ by doing this the poet I trying to excite the reader and get the men to enlist. Both of the poems use alliteration in ‘Dulce et decorum est’ the poet uses, ‘Knock-Kneed’ to create an image of men being crippled. In ‘Dulce et decorum est’ the poet uses lots of vocabulary of physical discomfort, for example, ‘Bent double’ and ‘Incurable sores’ these are all very discomforting words that add a large effect on the poem. The poet in ‘Dulce et decorum est’ also uses similes like, 'Bent double, like old beggars under sacks’ when the poet uses similes it allows us to easily create an image of what it is like at war.
Claire Fooks 9Y
In the poem ‘England to her sons’ there are three stanzas of five lines each, but in ‘Dulce et decorum est’ there are three stanzas of eight
lines, eight lines and twelve lines. The rhyme scheme in ‘Dulce et decorum est’ is ABABCDCD in the first two stanzas, but in the third stanza it is ABABCDCDEFEF. In ‘England to her sons’ the rhyme scheme is ABCBB in all three stanzas. In ‘England to her sons’ the amount of syllables in each line is 8,7,8,7,15, this is the same for all of the stanzas. However in ‘Dulce et decorum est’ the amount of syllables does not have a particular order which creates a chaos feel. In ‘England to her sons’ each stanza ends with rhyming couplets.
In ‘Dulce et decorum est’ the tone is very slow paced and irregular, both of these characteristics add a sad, worrying feel to the poem. However ‘England to her sons’ has a very optimistic tone. ‘Dulce et decorum est’ has very long lines which feels like a tone of complaint. It also has a tone of anger and frustration. Also the long lines develop an image over the lines. In ‘Dulce et decorum est’ the lines are broken up with lots of punctuation like full stops, this gives it a very sad, slow tone.
My conclusion is that poems based on the same theme can be very different from each other. Depending on how the poem is written it can portray a very different image from other poems. Also the time that it was written can make a big difference because one of the poems I studied was written at the beginning of the war and the other at the end and this changed the whole image and theme of the poem.