English - Poetic Movement Speech
Good morning/afternoon 10 English 2 and Miss Cush. Today I will be comparing 2 poems from our poetic movement of poetry of the first world war and outlining how they reflect the social, cultural and historical influences. The poems I have chosen to compare are ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘Counter Attack’ by Siegfried Sassoon.
Owen’s poem ‘Exposure’ is focused on what the soldiers felt on the battle field. Although there is absolutely no engagement with the enemy directly from beginning to end, they are still exposed to the elements of nature surrounding them and the psychological tension of warfare. The extreme cold is especially horrifying as conditions such as hyperthermia may occur. On the other hand, Sassoon’s poem ‘Counter
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The reaction against ‘cannon fodder’ concepts of war are strong in both poems. This means that soldiers were treated as mere pawns on a chess board. This is strongly seen in stanza one of ‘Counter Attack’, with the description of the soldiers. “Pallid, unshaven and thirsty” and “the place was rotten with dead”. The soldiers were pale and unclean, plus there was no respect given to the dead. This is further highlighted in Owen’s ‘Exposure’, where the weather is described as “mad gusts tugging on the wire, like twitching agonies of men among its brambles” and “dawn… attacks once more in ranks on shivering ranks of grey,”. The first description is a simile and personification where Owen compares a gust of wind to the dying men trapped in it. He is highlighting this to show that “canon fodder” concepts are not the way to go otherwise there will be a massive loss of life. The second description uses monochrome colour imagery which symbolises the dull and sad aspects of it. This highlights the effect of hopelessness for the soldiers fighting as they have to battle the weather as well. Again he is showing that they are treated as mere
Many war pieces express a distinct sense of truth, hatred, and anger that can be found in the style, tone, and imagery they possess. Incredible images are created in ones mind as war writings are read and heard. Works written by such writers as Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Tim OBrien really reach out to the audience by way of the authors choice of words and images that they use in their writing. These talented writers create very touching and heart-felt images as they write about the true occurrences, problems, feelings and emotions that soldiers encountered throughout times of war. It is by way of these writers words that the bloody truth of war is heard, rather than the glorified victories heard which overlook the pain that soldiers went through.
Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce Et Decorum Est.” World War I British Poets. Ed. Candace Ward. Dover Publications, Inc; New York, 1997.
Autobiographies, diaries, letters, official records, photographs and poems are examples of primary sources from World War One. The two primary sources analyzed in this essay are the poems, “Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Wilfred Owen and “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae. Primary sources are often personal, written from the limited perspective of a single individual. It is very difficult for the author to capture their own personal experience, while incorporating the involvement and effects of other events happening at the same time. Each piece of writing studied describes the author’s perception of the war. Both of the poems intend to show to grave reality of war, which often was not realized until the soldiers reach the frontlines. The poems were both written at battle within two years of each other. However, the stark difference between the two poems is astonishing. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” gives a much different impression than “In Flanders Field” despite the fact that both authors were in the same war and similar circumstances. The first two lines in “In Flanders Fields” “…the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row.” are an image o...
Another tool in developing the effectiveness of the poem is the excellent use of diction. The word "blood-shod" explains how the troops have been on their feet for days without rest. Also, words like "guttering", "choking", and "drowning" shows us that the troops are suffering in extreme pain and misery. If you haven't noticed, most of these words are examples of cacophony, which are words with harsh and discordant sounds. As this poem is about how harsh and terrible war is, Owen's use of cacophony is very effective in generating the tone of the poem.
Owen opens his poem with a strong simile that compares the soldiers to old people that may be hunch-backed. ‘Bent double, like old beggars like sacks.’ ‘like sacks’ suggests the image that the soldiers are like homeless people at the side of a street that is all dirty. This highlights that the clothes they were wearing were al...
Owen then moves on to tell us how even in their weak human state, the soldiers march on, until the enemy fires gas shells at them. This sudden situation causes the soldiers to hurriedly put their gas masks on, but one soldier did not put it on in time. Owen tells us the condition the soldier is in, and how, even in the time to come, he could not forget the images that it left him with. In the last stanza he tells the readers that if we had seen what he had seen then we would never encourage the next generation to fight in a war. Owen uses imagery constantly to convey the conditions and feelings experienced during this war.
Another significant idea that Owen explores in ‘Disabled’ is the contrast between the myth of War, which is romanticised and censored by propaganda, and the gruesome and brutal reality of war, experienced by the protagonist and Owen himself. Owen shapes and moulds the structure of the poem so that the myth and reality of war are also in juxtaposition deliberately so that the reader’s perceptions and understanding of the extreme contrast of war is clearly identified.
told he was out of action for six months. It was here that he first
Owen’s poem uses symbolism to bring home the harsh reality of war the speaker has experienced and forces the reader to think about the reality presented in romanticized poetry that treats war gently. He utilizes language that imparts the speakers experiences, as well as what he, his companions, and the dying man feels. People really die and suffer and live through nightmares during a war; Owen forcefully demonstrates this in “Dulce et Decorum Est”. He examines the horrific quality of World War I and transports the reader into the intense imagery of the emotion and experience of the speaker.
Owen uses the idea of irony in war in both of these poems as he saw
The similes and metaphors used by Owen illustrate very negative war scenes throughout the poem, depicting extreme suffering of young men fighting during World War I. The first simile used by Owen describes the soldiers as “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”, giving them sickly, wounded, and exhausted attributes from battle and lack of rest (1). Next, the soldiers are described as “Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”, which once again portrays these young men as sick...
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.
Owen, Wilfred, Lewis C. Day, and Edmund Blunden. The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen. New York: New Directions Pub., 1965. Print.
Siegfried Sassoon had a passion for writing poetry before the war, but the war is what got him in the public eye. His first couple of works were printed privately between 1906 and 1916. After he came back from seeing the horrors of the war, his poems changed and improved drastically. Some of Sassoon’s best war poems are collected in The War Poems of Siegfried Sassoon. This is a collection of sixty four poems that were written while he was hospitalized for “mental illness”.
Indeed, the warmth of home seems to mock the realities of war, since civilians did not believe that the reality of war was this dishourable as the letters were edited and sent home to make the war seem proud and safe, This clash of home-front experience and battlefield reality is also echoed in Owen’s poem “Futility” in its vain hope that “the kind old sun” of childhood will know how to rouse a dead comrade from the war that stood in the way of true