His sonnets were made to be passionate and patriotic and to show hope and rid the fear of future soldiers. The first sonnet is ‘Peace’, already from the title it is focusing on a positive message. Messages and tones that glorify the war and the deaths, focusing on the implementation that death in war is a glorious moment and that it should not be feared. Death was silenced and only the brighter side of war was shown to the public so nobody would be afraid. His use of patriotism, honour and enthusiasm gives across a positive tone to the poem.
Art is good because This pathos and ethos made people, no matter the North or the South, to feel that they are in unity. Both sides were suffering the same war and urged to end it, while they shared a same religion. God plays an important role to connect the people together, which enhances Lincoln’s credibility in his speech besides his position as a president and occasion of this speech. Lincoln ended his speech by claiming that they would “strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations” (Wilhoit 138). This pathos describes how Lincoln would care for his people and how he would put the task of helping the people suffering from the war first, serving as a strong pathos since it is not only emotionally affecting his people, but also encouraging and giving them hope.
Pope thinks that war was good and it was Ok to die during it but Owen strongly disagreed with that. Sassoon uses the title Attack to describe what the poem is about. The poem is about the attack on no-man’s land so he just simply decides not to confuse he reader with what he is talking about. Although in the poem he confuses the reader in a way that they don’t understand the horrors of the war. Owen portrays the horrors of the war by focusing on one person and aspect within the war, the gas attacks.
The tone is respectful because he states in his speech that, "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract." In this quote Lincoln shows that he has a lot of respect towards the soldiers. The tone is optimistic because he says, "-- that we were highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain." In this quote he is optimistic because he is encouraging them that they will not lose the battle so that the soldiers that died wouldn't have died in vain. For example, Lincoln was determined that the soldiers wouldn't die in vain.
Wilfred Owen had a good education as well, but (unlike Rupert Brooke) he went to war, and saw what it was it was really like, the bad conditions, the lack of food and meaningless deaths, Wilfred Owen realised that the war was cold and cruel, not like people imagined it. This poem is very negative, and quite sad, unlike ' The Soldier' it expresses the tormented thoughts and recollections of a teenage soldier in the 1st World War, who has lost his limbs in battle and is now confined, utterly helpless, to a wheelchair. I think Wilfred wanted people to realise that the war was not as glorious and victorious as people thought, there were so many men whose lives were thrown away even if they did physically survive it.. Unfortunately Wilfred Owen died on the 4th of November 1918, before the end of the war. To conclude, these two poems are different in many ways (attitude, mood, tone, ect..) One was to encourage the people to fight for their country and go to war, one was to make people see that the war destroyed many men's lives, it had no mercy.
After reading war poems we are able to get a true idea of how horrific war was and learn of its negative consequences. The main idea in war poems becomes apparent when reading Wilfred Owen’s poem, Dolce et Decorum Est. In the last stanza, the lines: “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie: Dolce et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori” demonstrates the main idea. ‘Dolce et Decorum est’ is a Latin saying, which means ‘it is sweet and right’. The poet is saying that people should not talk about war as enthusiastically as it gives the impression that war is glorious.
The word ‘Anthem’ is used because it is a song of praise, which celebrates the soldiers’ heroism. Originally, ‘Dead’ was used in place of ‘Doomed.’ The title was changed by Seigfried Sassoon, who had taken Wilfred Owen under his wing when they met at a field hospital. Sassoon changed it because ‘Dead’ suggests being at peace; whereas, ‘Doomed’ suggests continued suffering. ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ literally translates to ‘It is Right and Proper’ which is ironic because the entire poem says it is anything but proper and right to died for one’s country. The rest of the poem undercuts the title.
‘The Soldier’ is an Old English poem that believes in patriotism. It narrates how soldier are blessed to be fighting for their country and to die in honor. This poem was written by Rupert Brooke; known for his idealistic sonnets written during World War I. Conversely, ‘Why Patriots are a bit Nuts in the Head’ is a free verse poem that emphasizes the reality of war and criticizes people who are patriotic; believing that it is neither delightful or joyful to die for one’s country. This poem was written by Roger McGough. By contrasting these two poems, both poets used different poetry form and theme.
The poem is also written in a rather rigid iambic pentameter. The Volunteer is typical to that of Rupert Brooke’s poems for example The Soldier is also a patriotic poem; it describes that of an idealistic England which the men of our country should preserve by fighting in the war, this is shown in the chosen language such as “English heaven” “Peace” and “gentleness”. And death is described as the ultimate sacrifice and joy for your country just like in The Volunteer. The Soldier also has the simple message of sacrifice and patriotism for example England and Englishmen is mentioned six times throughout the poem which continually reinforces this message by using repetition. The fact that the poem is written in a sonnet form also reinforces the message of patriotism because a sonnet represents a love poem and The Soldier is about a love of your country again like The Volunteer.
Owen starts the second stanza with an ironic ‘merry.’ The war front was not a happy place, but a place filled with intense pain and death. In the next line Owen exposes reality of how ‘death becomes absurd and life absurder’ and how soldiers lost all morality and became desensitised as they felt no ‘remorse of murder.’ The soldiers were trained to be mindless tools of their government as they did what they were ordered to do without questioning the morality of what they were instructed to do. Owen personifies fear as something which can be ‘dropped off’. Fear can be paralysing which can be disastrous for a soldier. ‘Behind the barrage, dead as my platoon’