Each person would define what is worthwhile to themselves differently, however one question one rarely has to confront is if anything is truly worthwhile. For something to be considered worthwhile, it must be something that gives a return equal to or greater than what has been invested. The problem that arises, however, is how to quantify what was returned and compare it to what was invested, a difficult task with such unquantifiable terms as emotion, thought, and even time, as time is rarely spent on a single task. However, the ultimate hope is that, regardless of the investment, the result is worthwhile personally. A persistent response is that no result will be truly worthwhile. The rationale behind such an answer is that no matter the …show more content…
The question of whether the war or any outcome will matter to Speaker or his country is questioned, as he states “Those that I fight I do not hate, / Those that I guard I do not love … / No likely end could bring [my countrymen] loss / Or leave them happier than before” (546). The speaker here is questioning whether this fight and what he is doing will matter when he dies, as he knows that his country will likely lose nothing and gain nothing as a result of the end of the war, and he is only in the air force to protect England, a country the Irish have conflicted with historically, against an enemy that has never affected his birth country of Ireland. Such questions contrast with the usual concept of people in the military, as fighting for their country and countrymen, and bring to light that, without those personal beliefs, are the people fighting really doing something worthwhile? The airman knows that if England loses, then Ireland would also lose, but considers England’s loss the be an unlikely end, and knows that without the strong patriotic beliefs of Englishmen, who truly feel that their fighting in the war matters, he has to wrestle with if what he has to do, out of duty, actually matters. In doing so he realizes his service likely will not matter, as the war’s result will not be a benefit to his country no cause them any loss. After addressing this fact, he begins to grapple with the dilemma and what it means to him
“The war correspondent is responsible for most of the ideas of battle which the public possesses … I can’t write that it occurred if I know that it did not, even if by painting it that way I can rouse the blood and make the pulse beat faster – and undoubtedly these men here deserve that people’s pulses shall beat for them. But War Correspondents have so habitually exaggerated the heroism of battles that people don’t realise that real actions are heroic.”
In a single quote to wrap up the book “When you stop believing, you stop going to war”. This quote is very true when we stop belief in the cause and the myth it will be different.
are no winners in a war just death and sorrow. Palmer explores the theme of death and how
“...the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” (Document D) This would persuade me to stay because the possibility and the thought of winning my freedom back would be worth it when everything is over. “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman” (Document D) I could be convinced to stay because the soldiers who quit when times are hard will make me want to finish the job and win my freedom back. I will be loved for finishing and working for my country's freedom and
In conclusion, depending on the position from which one views war, the standpoint may vary ranging from being supportive of the soldiers because those who die are dying for the country or they are completely unsupportive of war activities because it is a brutal and gruesome experience involving countless unnecessary injuries and deaths. Affected by a number of factors, the authors of the two poems have chosen opposing standpoints on the issue of war where Tennyson glorified it with the main message that it is an honour to die for one's country whereas the other, Owen suppresses the idea of war by illustrating all the horrid experiences of a soldier.
In closing, W.D Howells is successful in his use of these methods of argument. “Editha” paints a clear picture of the men who must fight and the people who casually call for war. He proves Editha’s motives are unworthy of devotion. After all, it is easy to sit back and call for war when it will be the common enlisted man who will die to provide this luxury. In the end, Howells made his point clear. War never comes without sacrifice or consequence.
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.
In ‘Anthem of Doomed Youth’ Owen shows another version of the suffering- the mourning of the dead soldiers. When Owen asks “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?”, his rhetorical question compares the soldiers to cattle as they die and suffer undignified. Owen uses this extended metaphor to confront us with the truth, that there are too many fatalities in war. As such, the soldier’s deaths are compared to livestock, to emphasise their poor treatment and question our perspective about soldiers dying with honour. With an overwhelming death toll of over 9 million during WWI, Owen depicts how the soldier’s die with the repetition of “Only the...” to emphasise the sounds of war that kills soldiers in the alliteration ‘rifles’ rapid rattle.’ Owen also illustrates the conditions that the soldiers died in and how they were not given a proper funeral in the cumulation ‘no prayers nor bells,/ nor any voice of mourning.’ Owen painfully reminds us that we have become complacent with the deaths of soldiers, seeing them as a necessary sacrifice during human conflict. Thus, Owen shows us what we have overlooked about war, that is, that it brings endless death and long-lasting grief to the surviving soldiers and the people around
"How can we adjudge to summary and shameful death a fellow creature innocent before God, and whom we feel to be so? - Does that state it aright? You sign sad assent. Well, I too feel that, the full force of that. It is Nature. But do these buttons that we wear attest that our allegiance is to Nature? No, to the King. Though the ocean, which is inviolate Nature primeval, though this be the element where we move and have our being as sailors, yet as the King's officers lies our duty in a sphere correspondingly natural? So little is that true that, in receiving our commissions, we in the most important regards ceased to be natural free agents. When war is declared are we, the commissioned fighters, previously consulted? We fight at command. If our judgments approve the war, that is but coincidence. So in other particulars. For suppose condemnation to follow these present proceedings. Would it be so much we ourselves that would condemn as it would be martial law operating through us? For that law and the rigor of it, we are not responsible. Our vowed responsibility is this: That however pitilessly that law may operate, we nevertheless adhere to it and administer it. . . .
“To be, or not to be – that is the question: Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them.
The various levels of interpretation that a poet, such as W.B.Yeats, welcomes to his poems is difficult to grasp upon first reading his poetry. What appears to be a straight forward poem, such as, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, is actually an intellectual cultural criticism of Yeats’ modern day society. The poem, written as a testament to Lady Gregory’s son, captures the innermost concerns and perceptions of an Irish airman in World War I. However, through Yeats’ sentimental and poetic style, the poem incorporates a double meaning, and hence, focuses on Irish nationalism and its lack of an international consciencesness. The airman is Ireland personified, and his outlook on war and society is a window into the desolate situation that Ireland faces.
The Falling Soldier is in the anthology’s first section entitled: ‘dumb was as good as dead; better to utter…’ Duffy emphasises how the war was a terrible waste, using the present continuous verb ‘falling’ as a euphemism for the soldiers who fell to their death. This portrays a sense of patriotism and makes the reader feel a want to honour those who gave their life serving for their country. Ultimately, Duffy develops the idea that the war is misleading and emphasises us to leave violence: ‘dropping the gun’. Duffy draws focus to human attitudes throughout ‘The Falling Soldier’ by saying that we should respect those who lost their lives through war, regardless of its futility; this is the essence of her motif of bees.
In William Butler Yeats' poem, "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," he focuses on man's inner nature. He touches on the many jumbled thoughts that must race through one's mind at the point when they realize that their death is inevitable. In this poem, these thoughts include the airman's believed destination after leaving Earth, his feelings about his enemies and his supporters, his memories of home, his personal reasons for being in the war and, finally, his view of how he has spent his life. Through telling the airman's possible final thoughts, Yeats shows that there is a great deal more to war than the political disputes between two opposing forces and that it causes men to question everything they have ever known and believed.
There is a oxymoron when it is written "undying dead" (line 9) and this shows how the government emphasizes that more men should fight in war and if they do not, they would feel guilty. If the soldiers do not fight the war, they would die in