How do the poets convey the human costs of war in Dulce et Decorum Est and Refugee Blues

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How do the poets convey the human costs of war in “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “refugee Blues”

Loss is a main theme in both poems. Although they are dissimilar losses as they are from different points of view, both poems affect the listener by the experiences these two victims go through and the way the poets suggest there experiences. One large difference is the fact that Dulce et Decorum Est is set in World War One and Refugee Blues is set in World War Two, however they both convey the message that there is no gain and pleasure whatsoever in war. They do this in many ways, however the ways which enhance the poems the most are the timescale, the way in which human dignity is portrayed and finally the technical ways in which they express the costs.

Dulce et Decorum Est describes the immediate costs of war by using the verb formation of ‘ing’ endings which meant that the poem is in the imperfect continuous for example ‘guttering, choking, drowning’. This causes the reader to feel like they are more in the scene and it feels more emphatic. By using the imperfect continuous it feels as if the dream is being relived over and over again which is also mentioned in the poem itself ‘in all my dreams’, this is relevant because it shows that the war is almost everlasting. Owen also uses imagery such as ‘deaf ‘ and ‘blind’ showing that the costs of war are that people have lost their senses literally and their own minds because they are ‘blind’ from propaganda.

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 However Refugee Blues describes the long term costs of war by the number of stanzas used which make it feel as if it is going on for a long time and the fact it is set in the past makes it more drawn out. Auden’s  phrases such as ‘return next year’ causes the reader to feel it going on and on, this is emphasised in the way that the last line of each stanza is repeated provoking you to feel like the refugees are being rejected many times and therefore they have lost everything.

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