Comparing Dulce et Decorum Est with The Charge of The Light Brigade

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Comparing Dulce et Decorum Est with The Charge of The Light Brigade

The poems I am going to compare and contrast are "Dulce et Decorum

Est" by Wilfred Owen and "The Charge of The Light Brigade" by the Poet

Laureate of his time, Lord Tennyson. These poems both have a main

subject of war. The main difference though, which leads to many other

differences in the two poems are that they were written very in

different centuries and times.

This time difference meant approaches to war were different and hence

the tones of the poems are very dissimilar. Owen is responding

directly to a poem written by Jessie Pope. He was outraged at the tone

of her poem. Pope was encouraging people to go to war and fight for

their country in with a glorified tone and ironically she was unaware

about the atmosphere of the war. Owen, who was a soldier and fought on

the front line during the war, had a very different attitude to

fighting. He includes vivid descriptions of events throughout battles,

and felt as though war was a waste of young, innocent lives. However

in Tennyson's "The Charge of The Light Brigade" his attitude is very

unlike Owen's. Tennyson sounds heroic and gallant, proud to be at war.

This is partly because Owen's point of view was written from first

hand experience where as Tennyson didn't attend the Battle of

Balaclava (the battle his poem was based on) and so only heard

glorified reports of the event.

The rhyming in "Dulce et Decorum Est" is surprisingly more regular

(ABAB rhyming scheme) than Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of The Light

Brigade". Despite this, the rhymes are not the major feature of the

poem and so does not stand out as...

... middle of paper ...

...rand and gallant movement. The men's

uniforms and swords are described as "flash"-ing, continuing the

glorious, glittering attitude of the cavalry. Throughout the poem, no

mention of blood and suffering is mentioned as in "Dulce et Decorum

Est" because the aim of the poem is very different to his. Tennyson

was reporting as duty, being Poet Laureate of his time, making the

people interested feel proud and happy about the events "blunder".

Personally I prefer "Dulce et Decorum Est". This is because I agree

with Owen and his attitude to war, it being an unnecessary waste of

lives, young and old. I also dislike the rhythm and rhyming patterns

used in "The Charge of The Light Brigade", it seems so shallow and

meaningless, whereas in Owen's poem the phrases and subtle rhyming

portrays a deeper and more meaningful attitude.

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