Into Battle by Julian Grenfell and Counter Atak by Siegfried Sassoon

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Recommended: War as positive poems

“Into Battle” by Julian Grenfell and “Counter-Attack” by Siegfried Sassoon are two poems with different ways of looking at going into battle. “Into Battle” shows a positive outlook on going to war and is what the young courageous men who signed up for the army would have felt. Grenfell uses soft kind wars even when describing the most horrific moments of war. On the other hand, “Counter-Attack” unlike “Into Battle” is a negative outlook to the war. From the beginning of it there is no hope, the soldiers appear to be helpless. Sassoon uses very descriptive negative words, he describes with detail the cruel reality of war.
The poem “Into Battle” was written before the war, making the audience soon to be soldiers. The time period for this poem was crucial, the fact is that the poem glorifies the war. The word choice like “warm with spring,” and “sunny breeze,” is not often used to describe the lifestyle of war. Grenfell uses his words to encourage the new soldiers and to change their thought process into one that can handle the gruesome realities of war. “Counter-Attack” describes d...

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