We can tell that the writer resents and is frustrated by his father as it says “and he being him can’t help but say.......... and I, being me” which shows that he is frustrated at their relationship. However the Harmonium is used to describe his father so therefore his family life whereas in Nettles it is reversed. The Nettles, that had caused pain for the boy, is actually describing soldiers and war therefore the underlying message is not about family but about war and the underlying message
Very soon I will completely die and all that will be left is my empty body walking with you. It will be quieter than I am.” From the text it seems as if he doesn’t care for life and will do anything to survive. But has Ishmael changed since leaving the army, has he ever recovered. Has Ishmael become a normal person, someone that can fit into a functional society? From what has been told in the book Ishmael did not at first fit into society he was still dark and full of anger, ready to fight at a moments notice.
Brooke writes about the dead soldier instead of one that has survived. According to the first four lines, dying can even be marvellous and sweet: the soldier has died fighting for England, his body rests in peace in the foreign land and becomes a part of it, as if turning the part of foreign land English with 'richer' English dust (the word 'richer' also shows patriotism). 'Does it Matter', however, frankly and plainly tells the consequence of sacrifice in war: 'losing your legs', 'losing your sight' and suffering trauma, the bitter realities that were avoided
When one is bent over, he or she is neither lying down nor standing up. This implies that the soldiers have become so disillusioned that they find themselves in a state of purgatorial numbness. Similarly, the word “double” adds to the idea of being in two places or mindsets at once and builds on the idea of wanting to be in two places at the same time. Owen suggests that on one hand, the soldiers want to be there, fighting for their country, yet on the other hand, war is so traumatic that they would rather be anywhere but in battle. Moreover, Owen says that the soldiers are like "old beggars"; this is peculiar at first, since most of the soldiers were very young when they enlisted.
“The Show”, for example, dehumanises soldiers within the battlefield and arguably has no sense of “passive suffering” whatsoever. Whereas the likes of poems such as “Exposure” and “Spring offensive” show many examples of what could be interpreted as feelings of acquiescence towards the pain that the soldiers he is writing about are going through. In “Exposure” there seems to be large sense of complacency not only in terms of suffering but with the war as a whole. “We only know the war lasts” indicates this idea of submissiveness as it shows this idea of the soldiers understanding the fact that the war is happening and the harm that it brings but also that they themselves can do nothing about this. The subsequent line “But nothing happens” shows the theme of “passive suffering” through the idea that the word “nothing” brings a sense of the soldiers suffering for almost no cause whatsoever, the fact that it is again, repeated in almost every stanza after puts emphasis on this idea.
Wilfred Owen was an active soldier during WWI, who used his horrific experiences during the war to write his poems. His poems stemmed from his views on war, as he believed that although war was sometimes necessary, it was futile and evil. Two of his poems, ‘Exposure’ and ‘Disabled’ both reveal the price paid by soldiers during WWI. ‘Exposure’ examines the more psychological effects on the soldiers and is written from the view of the soldiers on the front line, ‘Disabled’ shows the aftermath and repercussion of fighting in WWI and the physical damage it caused. The first word in ‘Exposure’ is ‘our’ and is written in first person plural, showing the reader that Owen wanted to convey the plight of the universal soldier and how they all suffered the same fate, no matter their side.
Soldiers who go off to war are meant to be healthy and strong, however, this poem portrays the soldiers as old and unhealthy people. Owen uses images that are far from noble. The soldiers are described as, ‘bent double, like old beggars under sacks’ and ‘coughing like hags’, and this highlights the exhaustion the soldiers were feeling. Considering that the exhaustion of the soldiers is representing humanity at its worst, this emphasises how Owens poetry is driven by a passionate exploration of humanity at its worst. The poem is also able to depict how the soldier’s condition is, and what they should be.
Kiowa is more sympathetic, offering textbook comments, such as switching places with the dead man and that he would have been killed anyway, in order to console "O'Brien" whom he believes regrets his action. The fact is that "O'Brien" never expresses what he is feeling — joy, regret, pain, confusion, or any specific emotion. He never says a word throughout the story. His shock is all that we can really know, expressed through his silence. Much of this vignette is full of the personal history of the Vietnamese soldier, beginning with his birthplace, moving through his career, love life, and eventual enlisting in the army.
Firstly, Sassoon effectively uses irony to illustrate the contrast between the soldier’s real and glorified death, as well as the impression of a close-knit military unit, as opposed to the truth that no one had the compassion to care for a fallen soldier. The first, most obvious irony is in the title itself: The Hero. From the title we expect to read a poem dedicated to the fall of a great soldier, courageous and chivalrous, who sacrificed himself to fight for his country. This impression is further affirmed in the first stanza. There, we are introduced to the mother as she receives
Wilfred Owen uses contrast in this poem to help show the major changes for example “ There was an artist silly for his face, For it was younger than his youth, last year. Now, he is old; his back will never brace” This talks about before the war he would have people wanting his picture. But now no-one wants to see him, he looks old even though he is still young and his back will not support him. Many soldiers lost their limbs in battle and this poem helps people realise the pain the soldiers went through both physical and mental. “Mental Cases” is about the men who went crazy due to the events of World War I. it helps explain how these men looked with the use of half-rhymes, metaphors and similes “ drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish, Baring teeth that leer like skullls teeth wicked?” This talks about what the men looked like after going crazy.