Compare Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, and Before Agincourt
by William Shakespeare.
Before Agincour and Dulce et decorum est
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I have chosen to compare two poems for this piece of work, and they
are Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, and Before Agincourt by
William Shakespeare. Both look at War as the main subject, but express
very different views on it. Wilfred Owen has written a very powerful
poem about a man dying from a gas attack during the First World War,
whereas Shakespeare writes a rhetoric poem about the honour and pride
found in battle.
¡Dulce et decorum est¡, and ¡Before Agincourt¡ are two poems so
incredibly far away, in meaning, from each other, that it is very
difficult to compare them. The one big difference is their attitude
towards war. Wilfred Owen has actually been in a war. He saw what he
wrote about. He was there, as the writing is his thoughts and
feelings. Shakespeare wasn´t in the war he wrote about. He wrote
about it after it happened, either as a way to boost morale in England
at the time of the Spanish Armada for Queen Elizabeth, or because they
were his own views on War. This battle did actually happen, but Henry
didn´t say these words, Shakespeare just put them in his mouth.
Owen´s poem is concrete. It happened and was real. He knows what
he´s talking about because he was there and went through it all.
Shakespeare´s poem is airy. It´s abstract and doesn´t appear to
mean anything. At a first glance its just men talking, but when you
read it properly you see that it is far more than that. Henry believes
so much in what he´s saying that he´s prepared to die for it. It´s
a very spiritual poem, in that it is not earthed, o...
... middle of paper ...
...y using words
such as guttering, hoots and gargling.
Shakespeare used no similes either, but Owen did, writing
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks.
In conclusion, I enjoyed Owen´s poem much more than I did
Shakespeare´s. I felt that Before Agincourt was boring. I didn´t
like the lack of tension, action and drama. I thought that it just
went on and on around the same idea, that the language was flowery and
too old fashioned for me. Although both poems were repetitive, when
Dulce et decorum est repeated words, it really hammered the
message home, but when Before Agincourt repeated the same idea, it
just bored me. I felt that Owen´s poem less boring because it was
fast paced. It really happened and the images it described were vivid
and in your face. So, I would definitely recommend Owen´s poem to
anyone, and I did really enjoy writing about it.
Poetry is more than just a correlation of words; poetry contains power. Poetry works by sculpting the English language in such a way that it produces sound, while endeavoring to recreate experiences. I really grasped this concept when we read Dulcem Et Decorum Est, by Wilfred Owen. Among other things, this poem contains haunting imagery, and a rhythm that produces the sound of being in the trenches. While reading this poem, Wilfred Owen’s words made me fearful and paranoid. The slightest sound could hold my attention. I also noticed how silent the room felt after we finished the poem. We were all struck and disturbed by the old phrase Dulcem Et Decorum Est.
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In this essay you will notice the differences and similarities between ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ was written in nineteenth century by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In contrast, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written in the twentieth century by Wilfred Owen. The main similarity we have observed is that they both capture war time experiences. However, the poets’ present these events using their own style, and the effect is two completely different observations of war.
Wilfred Owen is a tired soldier on the front line during World War I. In the first stanza of Dulce Et Decorum Est he describes the men and the condition they are in and through his language shows that the soldiers deplore the conditions. Owen then moves on to tell us how even in their weak human state the soldiers march on, until the enemy fire gas shells at them. This sudden situation causes the soldiers to hurriedly put their gas masks on, but one soldier did not put it on in time. Owen tells us the condition the soldier is in, and how, even in the time to come he could not forget the images that it left him with. In the last stanza he tells the readers that if we had seen what he had seen then we would never encourage the next generation to fight in a war.
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.
The Soldier by Rupert Brooke, and Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen are two poems which were written during the First World War, and both being written about this conflict, they share the same theme of war poetry. However, the two poems deal very differently with the subject of war, resulting in two very different pieces of writing.
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.
The first poem I am going to write about is "Dulce et Decorum est". It
Both Stephen Crane's "Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind" and Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" use vivid images, diction rich with connotation, similes, and metaphors to portray the irony between the idealized glory of war and the lurid reality of war. However, by looking at the different ways these elements are used in each poem, it is clear that the speakers in the two poems are soldiers who come from opposite ends of the spectrum of military ranks. One speaker is an officer and the other is a foot soldier. Each of the speakers/soldiers is dealing with the repercussions from his own realities of the horror of war based on his duty during the battle.
“In what ways does the poet draw you into the world of poetry? Detailed reference to 2 poems”
Is it really sweet and fitting to die for one's country? This may seem glorious to some, but to those who have studied World War I and its terrible consequences, this seems a lie. The poet Wilfred Owen was a participant in this war, and wrote the poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" ("It is sweet and fitting [to die for one's country]") to his poet friends about the voracity, hopelessness, and futility of war, and the desperate plight of the soldiers involved. Almost seventy-five years later, the popular artist Sting worried about the world in which his son was growing up, a world in which older, experienced adults took advantage of innocent children to increase their own power. Using World War I as a comparison to his own time, he wrote the song "Children's Crusade" about these scheming, power-hungry people. Both these poets describe a war in which children were abused, controlled by other's selfish wants. Although Sting mainly uses strong allusions to describe the soldiers' loss of innocence, Owen's poem uses jarring, tangible images of reality that are emotionally more universal.