How is conflict presented in the poems Futility and The Charge of the Light Brigade? The title of Wilfred Owen’s ‘Futility’ captures the dominant sense of uselessness and helplessness in relation to conflict, felt by the soldiers in the face of their comrade’s recent death. The poem focuses on the effect of conflict and is focused on an injured, probably dead soldier. Owen uses this soldier to question to point of life being created it can be destroyed so easily. In contrast Tennyson’s Charge depicts a disastrous battle during the Crimean War and therefore shows the disbelief and horror of conflict.
His aim is not poetry, but to describe the full horrors of war. In this essay I have firstly decided to analyze two poems by the war poet Wilfred Owen, taken from his writings on the First World War. Both 'Dulce et Decorum est' and 'Disabled" portray Owen's bitter angst towards the war, but do so in different ways. Then I will analyze a very different poem 'Who's for the Game?' written by Jessie Pope, and finally contrast this with the poems by Owen.
One of the soldiers fails to fit the gas mask in time, and Owen masterfully describes himself witnessing the soldier’s gruesome death. Owen ends the poem with the Latin proverb from Horace's Odes (III.2.13) ‘Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori’, meaning 'It is sweet and proper to die for one's country' (Dr. Stuart Lee, 1997). With those last few lines, Owen expresses his deepest disapproval of the war. He is rejecting the traditional view that glorifies war, calling it ‘The old Lie’ (line 27). Owen is addressing the reader, who possibly doesn’t have the first hand experience of the war, and criticising the enthusiasm with which the war is described, particularly to vulnerable children (BBC, 2013).
This notion is further emphasised through the use of jargon in the lines, “The Japs used to weigh us, to see how thin our bodies could get before we started dying”. This statement implies the nature of the camp to be brutal and unforgivable. Misto has incorporated both visual images and jargon to create an effective sense of authority to therefore relive their experience of war through memory. Likewise, the poem Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen is how the post himself saw war with no knowledge, imagination or training which prepared Owen for the shock and suffering of front line experience. Its horrifying imagery has made it one of the most popular condemnations of war ever written.
I’ll plug him right between the shoulder blades.” Brown believes that Clark is being unreasonable and abusive towards his authority as brown tore his uniform while doing fatigues. Clark has no mercy towards his men which ultimately leads to his death. The soldiers lack of mercy and resentment unfortunately led to them dying is a very sadistic emotional state and not in a noble and courageous
Eric Bogle’s poem, The Green Fields of France, depicts the detrimental effects of war on individuals and the society. The use of hyperbole in, “The killing and dying was all done in vain…whole generation that were butchered and damned,” reflects how the society was ripped apart due to the death of loved ones, which lead to an unhealthy community. It further explains that families had to go through so much grief and anxiety for a war that did not achieve anything. Likewise, Bogle demonstrates the pointlessness of the war. “…Did they really believe that this war would end wars…it all happened again, and again, and again,” this use of rhetorical question and repetition emphasises the anti-war sentiment that both Bogle and Dawe capture.
The poem focuses on the effect of conflict and is focused on an injured, probably dead soldier. Owen uses this soldier to question to point of life being created it can be destroyed so easily. A Charge, which is what is what Tennyson portays, is patriotic with celebrating the courage and obedience of the soldiers. This can be seen in his use of glory, honour and noble in the poem. This positive representation of conflict could be linked to Tennyson’s role of Poet Laureate under Queen Victoria’s reign.
A.P. English 11 May 27, 2014 What is a true war story? One that tells of death and gloom, or one that defends the peaceful front? The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien explains to the world of readers what a true war story is. O’Brien tells these stories with different tones depending on which recollection; it is light and hopeful during “Love” or dark and hopeless within “The Man I Killed.” To create these works he uses imagination and invention to describe the true difficulties of a true war story.
This simile is an important contrast of the information people were fed at the time of soldiers being strong and proud. Owen strips away the image of a glorified war to reveal the bitter and cruel nature of the war. The bitter imagery “Coughing like hags” and “but limped on” also develops the idea of these young man seeming old. Owen takes pity on these tired and weary soldiers as he describes them in the most unglamorous, inglorious manner. The statement “all went lame, all blind’, while being somewhat hyperbolic suggests that the soldiers had lost all previous objectives of war along with the line “cursed through sludge”.
Die for your country Moral contradiction in a moral principle: utilitarianism. Homicide can be an appalling achievement, but while killing under utilitarianism jurisdiction of war can dismiss the horrific matters of taking lives. When putting death in a context of “dying for your country” the direness of the situation transforms into an admirable one. Propaganda, and the sociological aspects of not going to war, utterly employs all men into the army in complete blindness of reality. This is portrayed through WW1, in books such as Quite on the Western Front.