A Comparison between Shakespeare's Agincourt Speech and Wilfred Owens Dulce Et Decorum Est

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A Comparison between Shakespeare's Agincourt Speech and Wilfred Owens Dulce Et Decorum Est

This essay will scrutinize Shakespeare's 'Agincourt Speech' and

Wilfred Owens 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'. Initially the essay will analyse

elements of the poems context as well as the origin of the actual

passage and how it is created by the influence on each writer's own

experience. Additionally, the analysis will similarly focus on more

intimate elements of each poem such as the attitude towards war at the

time that they were written and how the author shows there own

attitude and beliefs towards war (The Myth of War). Furthermore the

essay will conclude by contextualising the language and structure of

each poem, by showing how the authors create an impact upon the reader

and by noting the differences or the similarities between the poems as

well as the writer's themselves.

Owens poem was purely based on being an informative piece of writing

whether Shakespeare's poem tries to show the actual opposite. For

example, towards the end of Owens poem it quotes 'The old Lie: Dulce

et decorum est Pro patria mori'. This quote is also the title of the

poem and is translated to 'It is sweet and right to die for one's

country' and Owen is obviously opposing this statement. This can

suggest that the origins of each writers poem are linked towards the

writers attitudes and feeling towards war. The term 'The old Lie'

suggest that the it has been used many times to lie to civilians and

he was one of them but now he notices that everything cannot be judged

by words, but by one's own experience of the situation.

Shakespeare's poem on the battle of Agincourt mor...

... middle of paper ...

... emphasis the way of making the soldiers think if they would lose that

great of honour. However because of Shakespeare's view of this war and

that he cannot gather information on the war, the entire speech cannot

be a perfectly reliable source of information.

To conclude this essay, with regards to all of the analysis above, I

have concluded that Owens poem shows how cruel war is in our time but

Shakespeare's speech is mainly to inspire and motivate whether Owen's

poem is to inform about the reality and the harshness of war it self.

Owen has experienced the war personally and is so able to write about

it in detail hence the similes and the metaphors. However due to the

fact the Shakespeare has no experience in war itself, he would have to

improvise and make up some limes. This would make that the speech

unreliable.

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