At the request of The Australian Journal of Poetry, young people have analysed how poetry is representative of World war One’s socio-cultural and historical contexts in preparation for centenary celebrations. John Le Gay Brereton’s poem “For Valour” invites readers to read and respond to subject matter that explores Australian society during World War One, which reveals the poet’s attitudes, values and ideas. Poetic devices produce an educated tone and an angry, ominous and pitiful mood which conveys John Le Gay Brereton’s strong anti-militarist attitude. The purpose of the poem, to present a truthful account of World War One, is achieved through imagery, oxymoron and juxtaposition. Symbolism presents the poet’s belief that war is a futile …show more content…
plight for heroism and masculinity and address the ‘White Feather’ stigma present in 1914. Poetic devices reveal John Le Gay Brereton’s strong anti-militarist attitude, which is a result of his egalitarian and bohemian values.
Brereton identified himself as a “brother of birds and trees” and was recognised by the University of Sydney as a non-conformist as “he defied the universal male fashion of the time by never wearing a hat,” (Australian Poetry Library, "John Le Gay Brereton (1871 – 1933)," 2015). In Stanza three, the Lines two, four and five “Life lifts from her heroic brow,” “And laughs to sniff the morning air, And bids a thousand bonfires flare,” personify life itself. This accentuates Brereton’s reverence for nature and life. These egalitarian values are the basis of his anti-militarist attitude. The structure of his poem, AABCCB, in conjunction with the use of alliteration, “Tattered town”, “Daffing death” and “Sombre splendours”, creates an angry and ominous mood and an educated tone. The mood reflects Brereton’s anger toward the proposed necessity of war, thus reveals Brereton’s anti-militarist attitude. The educated tone is the consequence of his literature studies at the University of Sydney, where he was granted the promotion of head librarian in 1915. This same year “For Valour” was published. Personification, poetic structure and the use of alliteration convey Brereton’s value of equality and anti-war
attitude. The author’s purpose for the poem is to provide a truthful description of World War One, unalike the abundance of generic elegies recognised by contemporary readers. The identification of World War One (1914-18) as “the most costly conflict in terms of deaths and casualties,” (Australian War Memorial, "First World War 1914–18") is appropriate as over 60,000 enlisted men died and 156,000 were wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. Brereton’s harsh, realistic, ingenuous approach is original and positions readers to question the conventional, and often cliché, image of war. These examples of imagery; “Pelting rain,” “Tattered town,” and “Ruined mead,” describe the harsh, physical reality of war. Whereas the implementation of juxtaposition and oxymoron, “Deadly peace,” “Sombre splendours,” and “Of him who lives because he died,” engender bleak psychological truths about war. For example, the implication that death is life, or that death is better than life at war, arose from Line five, Stanza five “Of him who lives because he died”. This reveals Brereton’s and possibly soldiers’ honest perspective, which is explicit or sensually crude in comparison to conventional modern elegies. Both the physical and psychological truths reflect the calamity of war and evoke feelings of grief, pity and curiosity within the reader. Aesthetic features, raw description and motifs in “For Valour”, which are divergent from superficial threnodies, provide indications of life during World War One from Brereton’s perspective. These elements also successfully position readers and generate genuine feelings within them. Symbolism assists predominantly in the conversion of Brereton’s belief that war is a futile plight for heroism and machismo. August 30, 1914, marks the introduction of the white feather as a symbol of cowardice. British Admiral Charles Fitzgerald established the Order of the White Feather as a ploy to shame young, able-bodied men into enlisting. “For Valour” is a comprehensive and thorough poem rich with symbol. For example, in Stanza one, Lines three and four, “The honour that men give with pride To those daffing death aside,” symbolises that soldiers are granted great honour, despite supposedly merrily or foolishly disregarding death. This highlights the social hierarchy present in Australia in 1914, likely heightened by the Order of the White Feather. Furthermore, Stanza five, Line three, “To prove that man is more than dust,” infers war is a test of masculinity. Men must enlist and fight to retain masculinity, thus avoiding shame such as the presentation of a White Feather. If heroism and machoism are the basis of war’s purpose, as the poem suggests, war is theoretically futile. The poem’s suggestions mirror Brereton’s beliefs. “For Valour” addresses the White Feather stigma and prompts readers to question and contemplate the futility of war in the hope they respond by taking anti-militarist action. “For Valour” mirrors Brereton’s nonconformist attitude as the poem is divergent from conventional, superficial elegies, thus providing an honest insight into Australian life during World War One. This deems it an exquisite educational tool for young people that would be of best fit and use amid The Australian Journal of Poetry’s centenary celebrations. Poetic devices created an angry, ominous and pitiful mood and educated tone, which suggested John Le Gay Brereton’s strong anti-militarist attitude. Manipulation of imagery, oxymoron and juxtaposition presented an honest account of World War One, thus fulfilling the poems purpose. Finally, the poet’s belief that war is a futile plight for heroism and masculinity is displayed through the use of Symbolism. John Le Gay Brereton’s poem “For Valour” reveals the poet’s attitudes, values and ideas through exploration of Australian society during World War One. This exploration is achieved through the implementation of a diverse range of aesthetic features that additionally invite readers to read and respond to such contexts.
Good morning members of the Mt Gravatt show society. Did you know that World War Two is known as the most destructive war in history? It killed over 60 million people and had a lot more far-reaching impacts than any other wars. Published in 1988 in Inside Black Australia, an anthology of Aboriginal poetry, “The Black Rat” by a famous author and researcher, Iris Clayton, was a poem inspired by her father, Cecil, who fought in the war. The poem describes the depressing life of an Aboriginal soldier who helped off the German army at Tobruk at the time. The message in the poem is that the Aboriginal soldiers did not receive the benefits that European soldiers received, like farming lands after the war ended. This tells how unjust the European society was in Australia’s history.
The powerful poem ‘Weapons Training’ showcases a sergeant, through malicious words, guiding his troops. However it is through ‘Homecoming’, where Dawe exposes the brutal hopelessness brought forth by the futility of war. Therefore it can be seen that war has an emotional toll on both families and the soldiers. Both poems have a recurring message that all war does is bring loss, death and mourning, showcasing Dawes strong opinions about a futile
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.
Using references and quotes from three wartime poems I will explain what they tell us about wartime life and the thoughts and feelings of civilians and soldiers. I will also clarify how the poets communicate emotional and moving responses to the disturbing war. The three poems that will be analysed are: · Route March Rest - by Vernon Scannell, · Night Raid - by Desmond Hawkins, · The Battle - by Louis Simpson. I have selected these poems because they contain both similarity and contrast. These aspects are important in order to produce a high-quality essay as they provide a more balanced view of the poems.
Australia’s sense of pride and admiration that is declared by Dorothea Mackellar in ‘My Country’ is challenged and questioned by Kevin Gilbert. The title of the poem ‘The New True Anthem,’ suggests Gilbert’s position from the very beginning and implies the fact that this poem is going to be rather bitter and pessimistic. Gilbert criticises Mackellar’s point of view, “Despite what Dorothea has said,” through the use of high modality language such as “hate and tyranny”, “bitter anguish” and “writhing bodies.” The negative connotations in these phrases emphasise the poet’s disgust
Understanding the effects of war and the appalling experiences our soldiers have to endure while fighting for their country facilitates communicating effectively about literature and its function in the context of American and world history and culture (SLO2). The purpose of imagery is to help get the poet’s message across in a language that is strong and vivid.
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...
Once the reader has been successfully drawn into the poem it becomes clear that the soldier telling the tale is both proud of his Queen and scornful of his role in her life. Pride for Queen and country shines t...
The title ‘Anthem of Doomed Youth’, is juxtaposed to its real meaning of anthem being something to celebrate and be proud of. The assonance between the ‘Doomed’ and collective noun ‘Youth’ can come as a shock to society as topic of death and youth do not go together. In other words, the soldiers are too young and are already fated to death by enlisting in the war. This highlights how war is cruel as the soldiers are stolen of their youth, entering a battlefield designed to ‘sapt the soldier 's spirit.’ Furthermore, Owen shows that the fallen soldiers themselves will not get a proper burial of “candles,” “pall,” nor “flowers.” Instead, these are substituted with negative imagery “The pallor of girls’ brows” and personification “patient minds” to demonstrate that the thoughts of the ones waiting for the fallen soldiers back home are the closest thing they will have to a funeral. This is epitomised in the personification “bugles calling them from sad shires,” which conveys a nation in mourning back home. Collectively, these poetic devices in “Anthem for the Doomed Youth” shows that the death of the young soldiers negatively affects the people around
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.
This track is a 1957 jazz standard composed by John Coltrane. This is the first track featured on the album named “Blue Train,” like the first track. The song starts with the melody in E-flat minor and the chord progression changes to E-flat major for the improvised section, eventually returning to the original minor key to recreate the original melody.
Within this poem Bruce Dawe dramatizes the homecoming of Australian veterans' bodies from Vietnam. This is clearly an anti-war poem, reproducing the sentiments of those who opposed the time when this war occurred.
The First World War is the first war Australia had been involved in, and consequently, a feeling of excitement and patriotism swept the nation. Some poets took to writing about the glory and romanticism of the war, while others wrote poems as a form of passive resistance and defiance towards the war. [Olsen, 2013] One of the most influential Australian anti-war poets was Dame Mary Gilmore, who wrote poetry that revealed the harsh realities of the war, and questioned its essentiality. It was through the tragic and melancholy scenarios depicted in her poetry that Gilmore was able to inspire pity in readers,
William Butler Yeats wrote the poem, “On Being Asked for a War Poem,” after he was asked to write a political poem on the first World War. Many feel that this poem reflects Yeats’ inner conflict over whether poets can write war poetry. To others, this poem considers a recurring question, what is the role of the poet in society, and what is the function of poetry? In this poem, Yeats communicates his opinion that a poet should speak only about traditional romantic subjects and leave the war to soldiers and politicians. In one line in particular he states that poets “have no gift to set a statesman right.” The position taken by Yeats is that poets have no “gift”, or ability, to tell statesman how they should make decisions. In his opinion,
The vision of war is presented in several different ways through the three poems. John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields, gives a voice to the dead, and presents a different type of patriotism to encourage men to fight in the war: guilt. The purpose of continued fighting that it presents is to avenge the deaths of all of the soldiers who have already died. If, in the nation of France, the French don’t win, then all the already deaths would be for nothing. The alive have a responsibility, a duty, to more than something than just their country.