Comparing and Contrasting Poems by Wilfried Owen and Robert Frost

These two poems are in some way quite similar, as the authors write about two male characters, an injured man and a young boy, one of whom dies later. Wilfried Owen explored the effects of war on those who live through it by comparing the present life of an injured soldier to his past hopes and accomplishments. Robert Frost‘s poem, is seen as a vision of the inhuman evils of technology, and its violence and bleakness appear to justify such a view. The “victims“ are both young men, but the circumstances of their injury/death are very different, one is war, the other domestic.

Each writer used a different form, blank verses or stanzas, and different uses language in their poem, which I am going to analyse later on, as well as the different effects the poems have on the reader. Robert Frost‘s intention of his poem reflects the meaning of life. This drives the author to the message that life has to go on. Other than Wilfred Owen, whose poem shows actual situation of war, and how people have to deal with their injuries and loss.

Frost wrote his poem in “blank verse“, which means it does not rhyme and is in iambic pentameter. This describes the particular rhythm that the words establish in that line. “And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,/As it ran light, or had to bear a load./And nothing happened: day was all but done.“ Frost uses figurative language, like “Five mountain ranges one behind the other/Under the sunset far into Vermont.“,which give the reader a better understanding of the narrative. The writer does not essentially want the reader to connect emotionally with the text, but show them what people have to deal with. “His sister stood beside him in her apron/To tell them ‘Supper.’“ Through the poem he makes ...

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...hanged to an unattractive human being. This shows the light headedness of some people, as well as later on.

In those days, people did things without the thought or fear of consequences their decision might bring with it, which is described through. “Germans he scarcely thought of; and no fears/of Fear came yet.“

In stanza four, we hear some more of his thoughts towards war, and his decision why to join in. “That‘s why: and maybe, too, to please Meg,/Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts,/He asked to join. He didn‘t have to beg.“ The use of many commas, create a fragmented sentence structure, that mimics the light headed way of thinking that leads to his decision. What he doesn‘t realise is, that by taking this simple decision, he threw away his life, as mentioned earlier as “throwing away his knees“, and through that the man was taking unnecessary risks.