Comparing War Poems Essays

The title of the poem automatically shifts the reader's mind to expect a poem about war and death. However, after reading the title and seeing how clear it is, when taken literally, line one of the poem is very confusing. If we try to understand the poem at a basic literal level, here’s what's happening: There is a gunner in the ball turret, underneath a bomber plane. It is so cold up high that the lining of his wet jacket is being

The similar theme is that war changes people and tears them apart due to the pain and suffering of the war. “Cursing the war, cursing himself, cursing everybody”(O’Flaherty 208). The quote helps show that the war may cause you to curse things you never would've before, like, yourself. And from the poem “He thought he’d list perhaps/ Off hand like just as I/ Was out of work, had sold his traps/ No other reason why”(Hardy 16-20). This tells how war can force people to make erratic decisions, it changes your attitude and morals about any situation including joining the army and going to war. The difference between the two stories is that in “The Sniper” it turns him against his family and in “The Man He Killed” it turned the soldier against his friends. To prove this, “Then the sniper turned over the dead body and looked into his brother's face”(O’Flaherty, page 208). Again this tells of the shock the sniper received when he saw it was his brother he had killed. But in the opposing story “Yes, quaint and curious war is!/ You shoot a fellow down/ You’d treat if met where any bar is/ Or help to half-a-crown”(Hardy 17-20). It explains of how he killed a man that the soldier would have befriended in any other situation. All in all, you can see both the similarities and differences in both stories

A Different Love Story In the poems “Stereo Hearts” by Gym Class Heroes and “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns, there are a lot of similarities, but there are slight differences in those similarities. There are similarities and differences in the symbolism, tones and themes of the two poems. In both of these poems, it is about showing their love to the girl. In my opinion, I think that “Stereo Hearts” is a better poem because, I can relate to how that author is feeling in the poem.

Not only do Owen's and Tennyson's depictions of war differ immensely, their views on a soldier's deaths hold opposing views as well. Owen describes the unsightly view of the soldier's death with a variety of metaphors and similes while Tennyson portrays a soldier's death as a glorifying and honourable event that would be perpetually celebrated. Owen's poem conveys the distress of witnessing a soldier's death with tremendous details, "And watch the white eyes writhing in his eyes, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues." (Owen, 19-24) Once again Owen successfully created an emotional and meticulous imagery of the soldier's death by illustrating a strong mental image of the soldier squirming in agonizing pain. The metaphors "obscene as cancer" and "bitter as cud" instinctively connects the dreadful

The poems ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘Suicide in the trenches’ by Siegfried Sassoon used the techniques of personal pronouns and irony to convey the poet’s feelings towards war. Formerly Owen and Sassoon all war poems had been patriotic and was used to encourage employment of young men in war. But, both Owen and Sassoon had seen the horrors of trench warfare themselves and their poetry was therefore become realistic about the unforgiving realities of war. Owen stated on his poems that ‘my subject is war, and the pity of it, all a poet can do is warn.’ Owen and Sassoon were both trying to warn young men against war and advise the public on how cruel and sickening war actually is.

In most war poetry, both physical and psychological perspectives are highlighted for the reader to see. The author Siegfried Sassoon wrote “They” as a conversation between the narrator and the Bishop, indicating the difference of perspectives. As wars keep being fought, the present-day message has become ‘what effect has war had on our soldiers.’ As this movement becomes increasingly bigger with more soldiers defending their countries and the possibility of another World War on the horizon, it is important to see the faults war has created versus the ideals of the majority over the years, yet this is being ignored by society as it is now a part of a game.

War is a scandalous topic where peoples’ views differ as to what war is. Some people see it as pure evil and wicked while others think that it is brave and noble of what soldiers do. Looking at poems which had been written by people affected by war help show the messages which are portrayed. The two sets of poems which show different views of war as well as some similarities are “the Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden. Both these poets use linguistic devices to convince the reader of their view of what the war is. Tennyson and Lovelace show how war is worthy

Wilfred Owens poem “Dulce et Decorum est” and Bruce Dawe’s poem “Homecoming” are poems from different wars, however both highlight the indignity of war. Owen’s poem is broken up into three sections, where he expresses the torture soldiers suffer

A struggle, a roadblock in life, it can either stop you from living or inspire you to make the most of every moment. A path you had not intended to take is not one that can take the most out of life. You may not realize it, but you are given this path because you are strong enough to conquer it. To get past the struggles life throws trying to destroy you are often overcome by motivation and determination with the help of literature. People cling to things to encourage them and to push themselves to live life because it is just one chapter of their life.

Literature and poetry are a reflection of society. The words are reflected in numerous feelings that we can almost touch and can be deeply felt in its reach. Most poets expressed their perception and emotion through their writings. Unfortunately the art and poetry describes one of the worst things that human can do to one another. The legalized murder called "war." Hence, this type of self-reflection called "poetry" has help create new fundamental ideas and values towards our society. In this essay, I will discuss the issue of the "War Poetry" during the "Great War" along with comparing and contrasting two talented renowned poets; Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967).

In the poems you have studied a recurring theme is that of ‘loss’. This can take many forms: death; identity; hope or loss of innocence

War, a slaughter of men that has gone on for hundreds & thousands of years. One of the most gruesome wars was WW1 which lasted for 4 years, 28 Jul. 1914 – 11 Nov. 1918. In this devastating war, the total number of casualties includes about 11 million military personnel and about 7 million civilians. Many of those soldiers were young men. The poem “Suicide in the trenches” written by Siegfried Sassoon tells what the harsh trenches had being like and how many soldiers became depressed. Sassoon was an officer who earned a military cross after carrying a wounded solider through enemy’s crossfire. He fought in many battles till 1917 where he would then have to leave the war due to Shellshock. Sassoon criticized the political leaders who sent young men off to die in huge battles that seemed pointless and while Sassoon was in Hospital he opposed the war by writing many poems including “Does it Matter”, “The Hero’ and arguably the most tragic poem, “Suicide in the Trenches”.

thing to do and is in a way a sense of duty towards their mother

‘Weapons Training’ by Bruce Dawe and ‘Beach Burial’ by Kenneth Slessor, are two poems that share many similarities as well as several differences. The two poems are about war, with both poets sharing their personal view on War with both Australian poets having been enlisted in the Australian army. Although the two poems are about different wars with ‘Weapons Training’ being about the Vietnam War and ‘Beach Burial’ being about El Alamein they share several similarities. The two poems have similar themes about War being useless and dehumanising, with both poems having a strong anti-war theme. The tone and mood of the poems are very different with Dawe’s using a very aggressive feeling to his poem will Slessor has a gentler, sombre feeling to

The poet Siegfried Sassoon saw that war was destructive and it should not happen because it was a waste of human life, Sassoon described the horror of war unsparingly, also, his poems were often based on actual incidents. Wilfred Owen focused his poetry on the particulars of war and the men involved: dirt, muddle, boredom etc, Owen often wrote about the horror of war and the dignity of men. He deeply felt a sense of the appalling wastefulness of war, casualties and the human spirit. The similarities between these two poets are they both tried to record realistic horrors of the war; to have it stopped. They were both angry at the war’s brutality, they were also showed very compassionate studies of the circumstances of fighting men.