“When can their glory fade?” is a rhetorical question and is used to show that they will always be remembered and their glory will never fade. “glory” helps to represent the attitude to war at the time.
The fast rhythm of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ is used to represent the rhythm of horse’s hooves, which creates an effective image of a battle. Tennyson uses an irregular rhyme scheme, therefore enabling him to emphasise specific lines by giving them rhyme, such as “stormed at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well”.
Tennyson uses repetition in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ to emphasise points that he thinks are key. He repeatedly refers to them being surrounded by cannons to emphasise their hopeless situation in order for him to portray their bravery. “Valley of Death” is also repeated throughout the poem to emphasise the fact the soldiers loyally rode into their death sentence, without hesitation. His repeated use of “Rode the six hundred” allows him to illustrate the death of the men, by saying “not the six hundred”. Tennyson also capitalises words in order to embolden them, such as “Death” and “Hell”.
When Brooke wrote his poem ‘The Soldier’, attitudes to war hadn’t significantly changed yet and the soldiers were still keen to support their country, but they were beginning to realise the true horrors of war. Brooke demonstrates the nationalistic outlook that England had at the beginning of the First World War, by being prepared to die for his country. He repeatedly refers to England as better than ‘foreign lands’ and uses a repetition of the word “England” throughout the poem, which reinforces this idea. This excessive patriotism as well as “If I should die” suggests Brooke was prepared to die for his country.
Another way in which Brooke expresses his love for England is that ‘The Soldier’ is in the form of a love sonnet. He has a very Romantic idea of England, which he portrays in the poem. Brooke also personifies England as a mother figure. He explains how his country has nurtured him – as a mother would nurture a child – and has the idea that fighting for it is a matter of duty, a repayment for the nurture that the country has given. He adds to this idea by using soft sounds throughout the poem.
Despite the fact that the First World War consisted of thousands of horrific, disgusting deaths upon the battlefield, the poem is still written with serenity. Brooke uses euphemism to add to the serenity of the poem, describing death as sleep – even though deaths during the war were usually horrendous and not peaceful. This shows his attitude towards war, as he didn’t want to depict the negative aspects in a bad way. The use of “if” to describe the possibility of death shows that although he is fully aware of the dangers of war, he expects to survive, contributing to the poem’s serenity.
Brooke uses sonnet form to create a peaceful mood, which contradicts the idea of war to show his attitude towards it. The soft sounds and regular rhythm of the poem aid this, contributing to the serene mood. Brooke employs the idea of spiritual rewards through death on the battlefield. “All evil shed away” shows that Brooke believes if he dies fighting for his country, he will be rewarded by the removal of his sins – spiritual redemption.
Brooke also uses personification to show his admiration for England. He personifies England as a woman, which aids him in portraying the idea of England’s importance. He mentions “Gave, once, her flowers to love”, which creates the image of Mother Nature. This shows he is comparing England with the omnipotent entity that gives the Earth life – clearly meaning he perceives England as important as life itself. Mother nature is one of the most powerful images – and relating her to England allows Brooke to illustrate his devotion and respect for England. The fact that he uses ‘she’ to personify England also shows his romantic perception of England. By hinting at colonisation in his poem, Brooke bestows the impression that England is superior to other countries. “Some corner of a foreign field that is forever England” shows that he thinks the soldiers’ English identities are so powerful and more significant than the foreigners that when they die the Earth will become English. This idea is continued beyond the physical boundary and heaven is described as English “in hearts at peace, under an English heaven”. Heaven, to most people, is regarded as the most powerful concept in the universe – and for Brooke to re-identify it as English compellingly shows his adoration and idolization for it.
‘The Soldier’, particularly the second stanza, is a peaceful poem. “In hearts at peace” shows Brooke’s intention was to show and end to all war. The last three lines of the poem contain peaceful images: “dreams happy as her day” “laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness”. He also dedicates a line in the last stanza to national memory “gives somewhere back the thoughts of England given”. This is used to say that the brave English soldiers died heroically and will always be remembered – and that in England people live free because of the brave soldiers.
As the First World War progressed, attitudes to war developed and it was perceived as bitter and undignified – reflected in Wilfred Owen’s poetry. As new weaponry – such as mustard gas – was invented, disgusting and horrific accounts were told and people began to apprehend the true horrors of the war. Owen’s treatment of war and death differed largely from that of Tennyson and Brooke, which reflects the new attitude towards war at the time. Hence the idea of ‘the old lie’ came into existence.
Owen’s poem ‘Anthem for doomed Youth’, which he wrote during the war, significantly contrasts Brooke’s ‘The Soldier’. They both essentially deal with the same theme – that of honouring the dead, just as Tennyson said “Their glory will not fade”, but they do so in opposite ways. Whereas Brooke describes how the soldiers gallantly died for their country, Owen describes how they were mercilessly killed and weren’t given the sufficient gratitude they deserved. The fact that Owen’s poem was written just a few years after Brooke’s illustrates how drastically and rapidly the attitude to war altered. Again both poems contrast each other by writing in sonnet form for opposite purposes. Brooke’s purpose is to create a peaceful mood, whereas Owen uses it to be sarcastic to show that no songs are being sung in memory of the soldiers at their funerals. “Shrill” and “demented” create a very depressing mood and the poem shows that the men lost their dignity as they were dying. It also describes the psychological effect on the surviving soldiers, who have to continue shooting while their friends die around them.
The main purpose of ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ is to describe how the brave soldiers did not get a proper funeral. Throughout the poem, comparisons are made to the conditions of the soldiers passing into heaven and how most people would have a funeral. Owen makes absurd comparisons between the conditions of the war and of a funeral. He mentions how the gunfire will be their prayers, the paleness of their wives faces will be their pall, and their choir will be the sound of shells and their drawing-down of blinds will be sunset. He wants to get across that these people died for us and our country, but we have given no thanks.
The poem contains lots of religious references, such as “orisons” and “choirs”, making the title very significant. It is called ‘Anthem’ to indicate it is a hymn in remembrance of the soldiers, which contributes to the religious theme. ‘Doomed’ is very effective as it implies that the soldiers had no chance of survival, even from the beginning. In Owen’s first draft he named it ‘Dead Youth’ and although is more final it does not have the sense of fate oppressing the men that ‘doomed’ does. This contradicts the opening of ‘The Soldier’, as Brooke says: “if I should die” – implying a clear chance of survival, whereas Owen’s title gives no hope that the young soldiers could survive. The poem contains many church-related words and shows that death is normally treated by religion in a dignified manner, unlike the deaths of the soldiers.
Owen’s poems are very rich in imagery, which paint very realistic pictures with their words. The main comparison in ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ is that of a traditional Victorian funeral to that of death on the battlefield. Owen opens the poem with “What passing bells for these who die as cattle?” This is a rhetorical question to indicate that it has no answer. It is used to show that these men who are ‘cannon fodder’ are worthless and are bred to die, like cattle. It is an effective metaphor and enforces the fact that these men are insignificant, their lives unimportant and they meaninglessly died for their country. This allows him to paint a different attitude to war.
Owen uses effective personification in ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’: “the monstrous anger of the guns”. This is used to illustrate that the only memorial sounds that will be heard for the dead soldiers is that of the firing of guns. “Monstrous anger” creates a powerful image of merciless killing and the depiction of a noisy battlefield. This noisy depiction helps Owen to compare the battlefield to a Victorian funeral – which is normally silent and peaceful, not noisy and violent. This emotionally shows the elegiac of death on the battlefield, to treat these brave soldiers with less dignity than others who are perhaps less deserving. He adds to this by saying “only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle can patter out their hasty orisons”, which means the only prayers for the dead soldiers is the noise of rifle fire – and even then it is still “hasty”, showing the un-appreciation of the soldiers.
Owen refers back to the idea of the title by saying “Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -- the shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells” which describes how there are no songs sung in remembrance of these soldiers as there would be in a funeral, just the explosion of shells all around.
Another particularly expressive metaphor is “in their eyes shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes”. This describes the soldiers’ tears, as they are about to die and leave their loved ones. It is a very moving image and allows us to imagine the feelings of a soldier in the war, to a certain extent. This also less obviously creates the image of people crying to say goodbye at a funeral.
In the first octet sound is used to accompany the pictures of the dead upon the battlefield. “Stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle…patter” uses hard sounds, which gives the impression of rapid machine-gun fire. It paints the picture of dead soldiers lying around the battlefield, with bullets firing all around them. “Wailing shells” is a useful description as it illustrates the last sounds surrounding the soldiers before they die. “Bells” are mentioned twice in this first stanza, which produces the image of a funeral – with church bells to remember the dead. Another sound that accompanies this and adds to the theme of death is “bugles”. It portrays both the image of battle and the announcement of death.
In the second stanza, there is a change of focus and the metaphors deal with visual comparisons and the inability of those left behind to grieve. “The pallor of girls’ brows” gives the visual image of shocked girlfriends, who has just found out about their boyfriends’ death, but not how they died. It creates a picture of very white and pale faces – symbolising shock. Much of Owen’s poetry is based upon evoking the senses of the reader and allowing them to experience, in some way, the horror that the soldiers faced. ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ is a good example of this.
The poem clearly shows that Owen’s attitude to war was that it was horrific, inhumane and the orders were often stupid. He respects the soldiers for following these orders but they were needlessly dying, often only to gain a few yards of land. He feels guilty that the soldiers never got a proper sending-off, and aims to do this with the poem.
‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is another poem by Wilfred Owen and incorporates the concept of ‘the old lie’. It also details the death and injury of men by an unknown enemy, a complete contrast to noble death in hand-to-hand combat. This reinforces the idea of changing attitudes to war. It contains horrendous descriptions of a gas attack, which many soldiers were forced to experience.
The poem is divided into three sections, each eight lines long with an extra four lines at the end containing the main message of the poem – which makes it stand out. It has a regular rhyme scheme – ABABCDCD – to show war is not exciting and noble but bitter and meaningless.
Similarly to ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, this is a poem based on imagery and the senses. The use of comparisons in the form of similes and metaphors is very pointed towards horrifically describing the most appalling aspects of the war. These are very effective as they vividly describe the suffocation and terror of a soldier involved in a gas attack. They succeed in enabling the reader to feel the panic experienced by a soldier in a gas attack.
In the first stanza, it seems that it is only the violent and blunt language that is pushing these men forward. It describes injured and weary soldiers struggling and stumbling forward, trying to get away from the bombs. Unlike in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, the soldiers are depicted as “beggars” and “hags”, who are being driven forward, despite their pain, by their will to live. Owen uses words like “trudge” and “limped” to represent very slow movement, creating a sense of fear as to what they are trying to get away from – the fact that they are moving regardless of their pain shows they need to get away. Instead of disguising the soldiers’ pain and suffering, Owen uses blunt language to exactly depict what the soldiers looked and felt like. The stanza contains violent descriptions, such as “blood-shod” to set the mood of battle and to help recognise what the soldiers had to endure.
“Of gas-shells dropping softly behind” shows how sinister and sneaky the bombers are. The pain and fatigue the soldiers have has obliterated their senses and they are unaware as to what is going on around them. Rather than landing with an explosion, which would shock the soldiers back into their senses, the gas bomb lands deviously behind them, making little noise. This is one of the reasons that the attitude to war changed, as the soldiers gassed were attacked cowardly and couldn’t defend themselves.
The sudden change in tempo in the second stanza creates shock and effectively describes the soldiers’ terror when they realise they are being gassed. The use of exclamation marks in “Gas! GAS!” aids the idea of panic. Because the first stanza has a slow tempo, the sudden acceleration drags the reader into feeling the panic that the soldiers did, and is very effective. Owen then uses “ecstasy” out of context, instead being used to show pleasure and excitement he uses it to show desperation. It depicts the quick, jerky movements the soldiers are making to get out their masks – and perhaps describes the feeling of immense joy and relief when they get it on.
The shock of the gas attack is then transformed to terror in the lines “In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” This compellingly illustrates the helplessness of the soldier as someone choking stumbles towards them. It creates the image of someone frozen in terror, unable to help. “In all my dreams” is perhaps used to show the surreal situation – with the soldier in a state of shock, green smoke everywhere and with a dying man stumbling towards him. It could also be perceived as the way someone may react to a disastrous situation. It portrays the situation of being scared in a dream, trying to run away but everything is in slow motion.
In the third stanza, Owen addresses the reader as “you”. This is important as it frightens the reader, creating the thought that it could easily have happened to you, and you should feel lucky that it didn’t. It draws the reader into the poem, and removes the reader’s safe and stable surroundings and replaces them with fear. “You too could pace behind the wagon” makes the readers picture themselves walking behind a cart, with a gasping and suffocating soldier and bombs exploding all around. It alters the reader’s sense of security and makes them feel unsafe. It is extremely effective as it portrays the psychological damage the soldiers must have experienced during the war, and putting yourself in that place helps you understand this.
A very effective metaphor is used in the second stanza “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning”. This constructs the image of a man choking in the smoke-filled air, as if under water. This again challenges the reader’s sense of security as humans live in open air and wouldn’t expect to be able to “drown” in their own domain.
The metaphors and similes in the third stanza add a new dimension to the poem. This greatly affects the reader, as the soldiers fighting for the reader’s country are now corrupt and evil. This is used to show that even though other poets may portray the soldiers as noble and courageous, death in war is still bitter and sickening – no matter how brave the soldier is; their deaths are still haunting. Owen using dramatic and sickening verbs, such as “writhing” and “gargling”, to evoke the reader’s sense of fear.
After building up this incredibly powerful image of death and destruction Owen then finishes by explaining what ‘the old lie’ is and, after the sickening descriptions previously, it is very convincing. He says that when children ask for glorious stories of war, they would not be told what truly happened – they would be lied to. This is another reason why Owen renamed it ‘the old lie’. The soldiers had to experience much harsher situations in the First World War than in the Crimean war, so outlooks towards it changed and war became regarded as less “sweet and honourable” but bitter and undignified.
