Philip Freneau’s poem, “The American Soldier,” uses an initial quote followed by four stanzas to establish the speaker’s frustration with the condition of American soldiers after war (being the American Revolution at the time of the poem’s publishing). In dealing with the realities of the government’s treatment of veterans, Freneau, being a veteran of the war himself, is harshly disappointed. The poem begins with an epigraph quote from Lord Oxford which translates that although one may be fighting for a good cause, there may also be some aspects that follow which are disadvantageous. This basically serves as Freneau’s thesis for the poem. Ultimately, he is unsatisfied with the “price” they are paid after the war for the ultimate sacrifice they gave up during it. Initially, Freneau uses a very direct appeal to show his dissatisfaction. His tone is one of defeat, as he states “a stranger now to arms, Too poor to shine in courts, too proud to beg” (1-2). The use of the word “stranger” (1) and then adjectives, “poor…proud” show that this veteran, who once fought in the Battle of Saratoga (3), is now in poverty. However, he …show more content…
cannot beg because it is too embarrassing. Freneau then goes on to say that the soldier “Sits musing o’er his scars and a wooden leg” (4). Obviously, he is left with nothing but his battle scars and a wooden leg. The next stanza moves on to more visual examples as he addresses “the toil of former days” (5) and follows up by saying, “To other hands he sees his earnings paid; -- They share the due reward – he feeds on praise. Lost in the abyss of want, misfortune’s shade” (6-8). To sum this up, Freneau still remembers the days of the Revolutionary War. Now, he is losing all his earnings to other people as they enjoy their newly-gained freedom and all he gets is praise for being a war veteran. He now has a wretched life of poverty as a result. The third stanza builds upon the previous visual examples and despair. Freneau begins by saying, “Far, far from domes where splendid tapers glare, ‘Tis his from dear brought peace no wealth to win” (9-10). He demonstrates that although his fighting brought peace from the war, it had not leveed wealth and an easy lifestyle for him. Freneau finishes the stanza by saying, “Removed alike from courtly cringing ‘squires, The great-man’s Levee, and the proud man’s grin” (11-12). To sum up these following lines along with the stanza as a whole, Freneau continues to depict his challenges in life post-war, as he is in poverty; this, is contrary to the British lifestyle as they are in their domes with bright candles lit in their “Levees” (12) , or parties. Finally, Freneau’s concluding stanza of the poem is very similar to the preceding stanzas as he continues to exemplify his current state of hardship after the American Revolution.
The stanza reads as follows: “Sold are those arms which once on Britons blazed, When, flushed with conquest, to the charge they came; That power repelled, and Freedom’s fabrick raised, She leaves her soldier – famine and a name!” (13-16). Utilizing a direct example again, this final stanza translates into an example of pathos. He describes of when the British troops came firing, the American soldiers fought back and repelled their forces. America raised her great flag of freedom, but left her soldiers (who fought valiantly) to poverty and famine. Poetry is not just a means of rhythmic wording – it is an emotional appeal for the argument or claim of the
poet.
The poem I personally chose was called, American Hero I chose this poem because I can relate to this on a personal level coupled with the fact that it was very suspenseful and brought you off of your seat. This particular poem was developed by Essex Hemphill, he was born in 1957 and later passed on in 1995. He began writing in his early years and with all this time he developed 3 volumes of poetry Essex has been active in writing all his life and was a great role model to our future writers. American hero is a successful poem that signifies on self-acceptance and social acceptance, also denial. The poems setting was based at a basketball court with all eyes on the main character, referenced from page 307 stanza 1 the author wrote,’’I have
Many soldiers who come back from the war need to express how they feel. Many do it in the way of writing. Many soldiers die in war, but the ones who come back are just as “dead.” Many cadets come back with shell shock, amputated arms and legs, and sometimes even their friends aren’t there with them. So during World War I, there was a burst of new art and writings come from the soldiers. Many express in the way of books, poems, short stories and art itself. Most soldiers are just trying to escape. A lot of these soldiers are trying to show what war is really like, and people respond. They finally might think war might not be the answer. This is why writers use imagery, irony and structure to protest war.
The poet Wilfred Owen was one of many poets who were against war. He reflected this idea of anti-war in his poems, one of his poems called “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, mirrors most aspects of war all put together in this short still deep poem. An example of that would be when the speaker stated,” What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?”(1) The speaker asks is there any sound that marks our soldier’s death other than the sounds of church bell’s which are mostly rung to represent somebody’s absence? Clearly, the speaker sets anger as the tone of the poem through this question to show that soldier’s death is unremarkable.. The speaker compares the soldiers to a “cattle” which illustrates that soldiers are treated more like animals with no feelings and also shows how they are killed indiscriminately in war. Finally the line ironically contains an iambic pentameter which is a natural rhythm for such dark, grim, dull subject. The two novels, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, and All Quiet on The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, both present a similar idea of how soldiers are killed out there in the front comprehensively and the dehumanization of war towards its soldiers. The first novel is set during the Civil War, and it focuses on the psychological aspects of one soldier named Henry Fleming and how his naive thoughts about war constantly change through the course of the novel. The second novel presents the life of a soldier named Paul Baumer and his friends who were faced with the terribleness of war and how severely it affected their lives. The Red badge of Courage and All Quiet on The Western Front are similar in the way of how the main characters develop through the novel to change from naïve and innocent men ...
The three incredible works of literature by Owen, OBrien, and Sassoon give a true sense of what fighting for ones country was really like. The battles, soldiers, and wars that most of the public see is glorified tremendously through movies and books mainly. These writers wanted a change and they went about this by giving the true and honest facts of what happened. War should be thought of as a tough obstacle that no one should ever have to go through, a sad occurrence, or a horrible burden, but not as a glorious victory. In order to reach that victory, the road is anything but sweet.
American independence was achieved through the unification of colonists against the British crown. This unity required cooperation among the colonies and support for the newly formed Continental Army. George Washington was the general of the Continental Army and was expected to meet the expectations of colonists eagerly awaiting freedom. To encourage the general in his endeavors, poet Phillis Wheatley wrote “To His Excellency General Washington.” Using literary devices in the poem, Wheatley promotes the merit of the American Revolution.
...though people believe that, those on the home front have it just as a bad as the soldiers, because they have to deal with the responsibilities of their husbands, there is nothing that can compare to what these men have gone through. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope that they would soon return home, most men came to grips with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The biggest tragedy that follows the war is not the number of deaths and the damages done, it is the broken mindset derives from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the hardships of being out at war and the consequences, ideologies, and lifestyles that develop from it.
From sunrise to sunset, day after day, war demolishes men, cities, and hope. War has an effect on soldiers like nothing else, and sticks with them for life. The damage to a generation of men on both sides of the war was inestimable. Both the novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, and the poem “I Have a Rendezvous with Death,” by Alan Seeger, demonstrate the theme of a lost generation of men, mentally and physically, in war through diction, repetition, and personification.
Each soldiers experience in the war was devastating in its own way. The men would go home carrying the pictures and memories of their dead companions, as well as the enemy soldiers they killed. “They all carried emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.” These were the things that weighed the most, the burdens that the men wanted to put down the most, but were the things that they would forever carry, they would never find relief from the emotional baggage no matter where they went.
War and its ramifications for those who are unfortunately entangled in it, is an issue that has fueled both political discussion and literary exploration throughout the previous century. Underived, authentic accounts of the experience and effects of war, from those who have served in it, can be especially enlightening for the majority of society who have had the fortune of not being intimately familiar with war. Through the examination of poems and stories written by soldiers, who were inspired by their involvement in conflict, one can obtain a greater understanding of this gruesome aspect of life, without having to directly experience it. Similarly, soldier turned poet, Bruce Weigl, has contributed his perspective on war through his literary
Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” and E. E. Cummings’, “next to of course god america i” are poems that critique patriotic propaganda. Both poems use words and images to effectively depict the influence that patriotic propaganda has on war. “Dulce et Decorum Est” uses descriptive words to create realistic images of the horrors soldiers are faced with during combat, whereas “next to of course god america i” uses sarcasm to inform readers that the abuse of propaganda can be used to manipulate others. The attitudes they convey are quite similar; both suggest that propaganda is a lie; it is not sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. It is ingrained in soldier’s minds that to die for ones country is a great and honourable sacrifice.
Chaos and drudgery are common themes throughout the poem, displayed in its form; it is nearly iambic pentameter, but not every line fits the required pattern. This is significant because the poem’s imperfect formulation is Owen making a statement about formality, the poem breaks the typical form to show that everything is not functioning satisfactorily. The poem’s stanza’s also begin short, but become longer, like the speaker’s torment and his comrades movement away from the open fire. The rhyming scheme of ABABCDCD is one constant throughout the poem, but it serves to reinforce the nature of the cadence as the soldiers tread on. The war seems to drag on longer and longer for the speaker, and represents the prolonged suffering and agony of the soldier’s death that is described as the speaker dwells on this and is torn apart emotionally and distorts his impressions of what he experiences.
Ultimately, we have two poems which can be compared on the grounds of their subject, but are poles apart regarding their message. The structure of these poems is not what would be typically expected from a war poem, but are structured on the basis of these typical structures in order to create some sense of familiarity. Brooke’s poem expands on this familiarity while Owen attempts to deliberately sabotage it. In regards to content, Brooke shows throughout his perception of the nobility of dying for one’s country, whilst Owen uses all of his poetic techniques to show the opposite.
He may have used this technique to make war seem if it had made men
Many poems have been written during times of War, from the Civil War to World War II, many were pro-war and still just as many, if not more, were anti-war. When you look back in time, you may notice and recognize a few authors for their contributions to our colorful country's history from your studies, but two names are almost always recognized, even by the unstudied, to have offhandedly advanced our culture, changed politics, and even confronted the impact of war on communities and families in two different countries. Walt Whitman is often recognized as the founding father of American poetry, his powerful poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” written during the start of the Civil War in 1861, is a commanding and rugged
One piece of the poem hints towards imagery involving slavery, this occurs when the speaker talks about the “charter’d street….charter’d Thames” and later on mentioning “The mind-forg’d manacles”. The street and Thames being described as charter’d shows the power of the government having the control of parts of the city such as a river and the streets. The use of “the mind-forg’d manacles” is symbolic by showing that their brains or minds are being controlled and limited by the government and is a symbol of enslavement. The poem seems to express a lot of imagery about death and sadness, terms such as cry, curse, plagues and hearse are used. The use of such words tells the reader that the soldiers are being forced by the government to kill. Therefore, causing the soldiers despair. Another portion of the poem uses phrases such as “in very infants cry of fear” and “how the chimney sweepers cry” to show an image of child labor. The term “appalls” is used to describe the “blackning Church” to allow the audience to realize that the church is horrified of the child labor. The chimney sweepers are a specific example of child labor. And the use of the word “blackning” suggests that a sin such as child labor is occurring. Lastly, imagery is used in the last stanza to show the horrifying cycle of living in London, England. “How the youthful Harlots curse, blasts the new-born Infants tear” describes how prostitutes are