Herman Melville’s “A Utilitarian View of the Monitor’s Fight” was a part of a collection of poems from the book titled Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War, published in 1866. It was the first book of poetry written by Melville. According to authors Geoffrey Sanborn and Samuel Otter, “It is a great anti-war poem, one that in its focus upon warfare as the expression of industrial power could be said to lay the groundwork for an anti-war tradition of poetry in English that would reach a kind of pinnacle in Wilfred Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est (Sanborn and Otter, 2011).” The war had a deep impact on Melville, who witnessed the efficiently of mechanized warfare. Many of today’s practices of the military-industrial complex are confirmed in Melville’s …show more content…
It was a trying period for a young republic which had divided viewpoints of progression and the perpetuity of slavery. During this era, many writers of the Confederacy and Union shared their thoughts and experiences with poetry and novels. Noteworthy poems and books include Macaria by Augusta Jane Evans, James Dabney McCabe's The Aide-de-Camp; a Romance of the War, and The Blue and the Gray by Francis Miles Finch. Although these writings mentioned along with others are significant, no other author wrote a poem as compiling and visionary as that of Herman Melville, an unappreciated during his time. Melville’s motivation for writing “A Utilitarian View of the Monitor’s Fight” was from his observations of the USS Monitor and its crew. The iron-hulled steamship in its short lifetime, became one of our nation's most prized treasures and changed the evolution of naval warship design (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2016). Beginning in 1860, the speed of weapons development incremented enormously as the Industrial Revolution engendered one technological advance upon …show more content…
Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address. One use of the term MIC refers to any set of relationships between military policy and industrial production (Ball, 2002) Thus, it is evident in the present era of war fighting with United States airpower. The United States dominates modern warfare through air superiority. This has been achieved through advancement in aircraft technology and stealth warfare. Hence, the United States has approximately 13,000 military aircraft that were built in factories. Comparatively, China and Russia, the world's next-largest aerial powers, only have a total of 2,000 to 3,000 military aircraft each (Bender, 2015) that were produced in factories. Next, another point of contention is the desensitization of warfare as a result of
Comparison of Dulce et Decorum Est and Charge of the Light Brigade Compare and contrast the two poems Dulce et Decorum Est (Owen) with Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson), paying particular attention to the writers’ attitude to war. The attitudes of poets towards war have always been expressed vigorously in their poetry, each poet either condoning or condemning war, and mitigating their attitudes in whatever way possible. I aim to explore the change in the portrayal of war before and during the twentieth century, and also the structures and devices poets use to convey their views persuasively, and justify them. For this job I have chosen to write about “Charge of the Light Brigade” written by the poet Alfred Lord
Since the beginning of time, humans have sought after power and control. It is human instinct to desire to be the undisputed champion, but when does it become a problem? Warfare has been practiced throughout civilization as a way to justify power. Though the orders come directly from one man, thousands of men and women pay the ultimate sacrifice. In Randall Jerrell’s “The Death of a Ball Turret Gunner”, Jarrell is commenting on the brutality of warfare. Not only does Jarrell address the tragedies of war, he also blames politics, war leaders, and the soldier’s acknowledgement of his duties. (Hill 6) With only five lines of text, his poems allows the reader to understand what a soldier can go through. With the use of Jerrell’s poem, The Vietnam War, and Brian Turner’s “Ameriki Jundee”, the truth of combat will be revealed.
Since the emergence of written history, many fables regarding war have encompassed a significant portion of prosodic literature. Two of the foremost war poets of the 19th and 20th century—Emily Dickinson and Rupert Brooke—have both written about profound implications of war on society and also upon the human spirit albeit in two very different styles. The book, Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, theorizes through Allie, that Emily Dickinson was indubitably the superior war poet. Furthermore, when we analyze their works as well, we realize the invariable fact that Dickinson’s work delves into war with a much more holistic approach as well. She not only honours the soldiers for their valiant efforts, but also deftly weaves notions of liberty and civilian duty in regards to war as well as compared to Rupert Brooke who carried a romanticized imagery of martyrs within his poetry. In summation, Emily Dickinson is a superior war poet for her incisive analysis of death, and human nature in correspondence to war as compared to the patriotic salvos of Rupert Brooke’s poetry.
Owen’s poem has the clear intention of showing the true nature of war to the reader, which is mainly achieved by contrasting reality against the ways in which war is so
“In his poetry, Wilfred Owen depicts the horror and futility of war and the impact war has on individuals.”
Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem made of four stanzas in an a, b, a, b rhyme scheme. There is hardly any rhythm to the entire poem, although Owen makes it sound like it is in iambic pentameter in some lines. Every stanza has a different amount of lines, ranging from two to twelve. To convey the poem’s purpose, Owen uses an unconventional poem style and horrid, graphic images of the frontlines to convey the unbearable circumstances that many young soldiers went through in World War I. Not only did these men have to partake in such painful duties, but these duties contrasted with the view of the war made by the populace of the mainland country. Many of these people are pro-war and would never see the battlefield themselves. Owen’s use of word choice, imagery, metaphors, exaggeration, and the contrast between the young, war-deteriorated soldiers and populace’s favorable view of war creates Owen’s own unfavorable view of the war to readers.
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 Owen’s poetry effectively conveys his perspectives on human conflict through his experiences during The Great War. Poems such as ‘Futility’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ portray these perceptions through the use of poetic techniques, emphasising such conflicts involving himself, other people and nature. These themes are examined in extreme detail, attempting to shape meaning in relation to Owen’s first-hand encounters whilst fighting on the battlefield.
Progress is key to living life, but if one is advancing through life with the motivation of revenge, then, in actuality, he or she is truly regressing. Revenge is an extremely corruptive trait. It causes people to do uncharacteristic things that normally would not be done. The perception of right and wrong is blurred and one takes inadvertent actions that may cost friendships, possessions, and even lives. Revenge is often a major motivating factor in the characters that are in the works written during the Dark Romanticism period. One of the most celebrated and influential American authors in history, Herman Melville, was born on August 1, 1819; his reputation was not quite
Wilfred Owen poems ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ contain a myriad of both shocking and realistic war experiences on a microscopic level. Wilfred Owen a company officer talks about his egregious exposure to war and how war contaminates life and existence of humans. In both poems the 1st stanza implies the threats and life in war, which then springboards us to the physical effect of one specific soldier and the thirds stanza he relives the inescapable experience and ends the poem with a bleak, ironic statement. ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ have many similarities; they highlight the price paid by soldiers and relentlessly unveil the full scale of war 's horrors. There are two types of prices paid by soldiers due to war; one deprives humans of their sanity whereas one consumes the breath which makes us human.
The purpose of war is again in question through the ironic titles evidenced in most of Owen’s poems. In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, the sweet and fitting death is contrasted against the bitter and
Poems using strong poetic technique and devices are able to create a wide range of emotions from the readers. Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively uses these poetic techniques and devices to not only create unsettling images about war but to provide his opinion about war itself with the use of themes within his poem. The use of these themes explored Owen’s ideas on the futility of war and can be seen in the poems: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility and The Next War. The poems provide unsettling images and belief of war through the treatment of death, barbaric nature of war and the futility of war.
The point of the poem was to deliver the horrors of war to the public
Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” makes the reader acutely aware of the impact of war. The speaker’s experiences with war are vivid and terrible. Through the themes of the poem, his language choices, and contrasting the pleasant title preceding the disturbing content of the poem, he brings attention to his views on war while during the midst of one himself. Owen uses symbolism in form and language to illustrate the horrors the speaker and his comrades go through; and the way he describes the soldiers, as though they are distorted and damaged, parallels how the speaker’s mind is violated and haunted by war.
For thousands of years mankind has been obsessed with the subject of war, from the clash of swords to the bitter thunder of artillery mankind has brought upon itself an immense amount of suffering. Good evening teachers and students I am here today with the aim of convincing you on why Wilfred Owens poetry must not be ignored but instead explored to find the deeper meaning of his poems. The poetry of Wilfred Owen was different to that of other war poets of his time as it revealed the horrors and agony of the so-called Great War which were concealed by the Church and British Authorities for the purpose of deceiving the youth. The idea of romanticising war goes strongly against Wilfred Owens moral purpose, thus his Poetry is didactic and condemnatory. Throughout his short life he had first hand experience with the scourge of war. From this he aimed to debunk those romanticised notions of the glorification of war that were present at the time by challenging poets such as John Keats who glorified war. Owen effectively conveys the truth of war through his use of techniques such as imagery, ambiguity and many others in his poems of "Dulce Et Decorum EST" and Anthem For doomed youth.