For The Fallen Poem

The poem “For the Fallen” by Laurence Binyon is about the grief and glorification associated with how we remember war. Writing techniques such as personification, similes and metaphors are used to in the poem give value to the soldiers who died in world war one, and to the families that were affected. The value we place on the soldiers who fought in the war is often different from the value that was placed on them by their families. This is shown in the first stanza where Binyon uses personification to show the reader an overwhelming sense of grief felt by the whole nation. The example “England mourns for her dead” helps the reader to imagine a whole country mourning for friends and family who died in battle. Binyon does this because often war is associated with the glory of winning battles and doesn’t focus on the lives lost. Because of this we as readers can make a connection between the soldiers who lost their lives during world war one and the soldiers who are fighting in countries like Afghanistan today. Over the years more value has

The use of metaphors in the example “as the stars that shall be bright when we are dust” compares the brightness of stars to the dullness of dust. This helps us as readers to associate the soldiers with the brightness of stars, and the act of war with dust. Binyon does this to show the reader that although there is a great honor in fighting for what you believe in, there is no honor in pointless loss of life. This helps us as readers to understand that there are other ways to settle conflicts than large scale wars. I can see this today when negations take place to attempt to settle conflicts before they intensify. However, sometimes these negotiations aren’t successful and the conflicts can escalate. Although it shouldn’t be, sometimes war is the best or, only way conflicts are going to be