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Literary impacts of world war 1
Literary impacts of world war 1
How did World War 1 affect British literature
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Attitudes to War in Dulce et Decorum est and Drummer Hodge.
Life wasn't easy for soldiers in the war as Wilfred Owen and Thomas
Hardy express strongly in their legendary poems 'Dulce et Decorum est'
and 'Drummer Hodge'. Peter Porter writes about the situation people
may find themselves in when in, his poem 'Your Attention Please', he
describes an announcement concerning a nuclear Rocket Strike.
Wilfred Owen died at the age of 25 and was killed seven days before
the end of World War 1. He is regarded as one of the most well-known
war poets of the 20th Century, having written an astonishing 110
poems. Under the influence of Romantic, early 19th Century poets such
as Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley, Owen produced 'Dulce Et Decorum Est'
which revealed the truth behind war, the grief and suffering caused.
Wilfred Owen wanted to dismiss the idea of romance as a motivation to
fight in the war; young men believed that fighting in the war would
make them heroes and that girls would be passionate about them. Of
course many men didn't have an option in the matter: wives and
girlfriends chose not to stay with their man if they didn't fight in
the war, so men were forced to join up. The fact that their partner
wouldn't stick by them was one reason but if they didn't join the
whole society would look down on them with disgrace: they weren't men
if they didn't fight for their country.
"Dulce Et Decorum Est" speaks about the severe drowsiness of the
soldiers on their way back from the front line and the sudden panic
caused when the soldiers are hit unexpectedly with a gas attack. The
poem begins with a simile, "Bent double, like old beggars under
sacks". This indicates the extent of the load the men had to carry
with...
... middle of paper ...
...uses similes
such as "like a man in fire or lime" where the man is in pain and is
struggling to stay alive. Alliteration is used in both Owen and
Hardy's poems. Most of Dulce et Decorum est is written in the 1st
person perspective but many times it changes to 3rd person. When it's
in 1st person it gives us the feeling of reality and truth behind the
poem.
In conclusion, war brings a great deal of pain and suffering so it
shouldn't be under-estimated. Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy and Peter
Porter all bring across the reality behind war and the torture it
brings with it. Personally my favourite out of the three is "Dulce et
Decorum est" as I know it's a true account of what happened in the war
because Wilfred Owen was a soldier and died in action. I thought this
poem contained a lot of discomfort and misery making it more out of
the ordinary and authentic.
In Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, characters such as Paul and his friends become indifferent to shocking elements of war through constant exposure to them. For example, the characters are unconcerned about the dangers of the front because they are accustomed to being on the front. In another instance, Paul’s friends show no emotions when they witness snipers killing enemy soldiers. Also, Kat finds the unusual effects of mortar shells amusing. These examples prove that through war, characters of the book have become indifferent to things that they would normally find shocking.
Bullets flying through the air right over me, my knees are shaking, and my feet are numb. I see familiar faces all around me dodging the explosives illuminating the air like lightning. Unfortunately, numerous familiar faces seem to disappear into the trenches. I try to run from the noise, but my mind keeps causing me to re-illustrate the painful memories left behind.
end of the First World War he was writing and became a voice heard all
defeat the British in the war, but he did more than that. That is what
War 2. It appears that his leadership helped to make the feeling of the country
The two poems, 'Dulce et decorum est' and 'Who's for the game?' are both very different war poems. Although they were both written about the First World War, they both had different purposes. The poems have aspects in which they are similar, but they also have very big differences.
In contrast, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ gives us the complete opposite. It takes away the lie that describes the war as a place of pleasure and vividness. When in reality it is a...
The Poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” attempts to make war seem as repulsive as possible. The author’s goal is to discourage people from joining the war or any future conflicts by shattering the romantic image people have of the fighting. The setting of this poem helps
walking back to their rest place, when all of a sudden there is a gas
‘Poetry can challenge the reader to think about the world in new ways.’ It provokes the readers to consider events, issues and people with revised understanding and perspectives. The poems Dulce Et Decorum Est (Wilfred Owen, 1917) and Suicide in the Trenches (Siegfried Sassoon, 1917), were composed during World War One and represented the poets’ point of views in regards to the glorification of war and encouraged readers to challenge their perspectives and reflect upon the real consequences behind the fabrications of the glory and pride of fighting for one’s nation.
Owen as a young soldier held the same romantic view on war as majority of the other naive soldiers who thought that war would be an exciting adventure. The documentary extract illustrates how markedly Owen’s perspective of the war changed, as noted in a letter to his mother while he was still in the front lines: “But extra for me, there is the universal perversion of ugliness, the distortion of the dead ... that is what saps the soldierly spirit.” In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, Owen’s change of heart is evident through the irony of the poem title and the ending line “The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est, Pro patria mori.”, an allusion to the Roman axiom made famous by Horace, which translates to “The old Lie; It is sweet and right to die for your country.”. The line depicts Owen’s realisation that the horrific nature of war through human conflict is not sweet and right at all, rather, it is appalling and “bitter as the cud” as death is always present on the battlefield. Additionally, Owen indirectly responds to Jessie Pope’s poetry, a pro-war poetess, through the reference “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest… The old lie…”, further highlighting his changed perspective towards the war which has been influenced
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.
“Compare and contrast “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke with “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen with regard to theme, tone, imagery, diction, metre, etc”
Compare and contrast the attitudes to war as reflected in for the fallen and the send off. 'For the fallen' and 'The Send-off' are poems written demonstrating attitudes towards war. Whilst banyan conveys an idealised, romantic picture of war that depicts the soldiers as heroic and courageous, Owens attitudes towards war are more pessimistic in nature. Owen uses appearance versus reality to show the corruption and misery of war. Binyan and Owen convey their attitudes through the language, structure and poetic devices they employ The attitudes to war in 'for the fallen' are patriotic and romanticised.
The romanticism of war is separate and opposite of romanticism for life. They cannot exist at the same time. War stands for death and destruction and life is the opposite. There is a constant clash between the love of decency: courage and devotion to your fellow men, and the love of life free of the horrors of war. War, and all things that propel war, is inherently evil. Beliefs in heroism, honor, and dignity are all idealistic. To the soldier on the field of battler their sole purpose is self-preservation. The only way that soldiers can persevere through the God awful shitty mess of war is through the brotherhood between the soldiers. This bond does not negate the hypocrisy of war; instead, it allows the men to survive it. The brotherhood is love for the sake of self-preservation. At its core, war dehumanizes people and one cannot have love for life if they are less than human.