The desire for superiority and domination has plagued the twentieth century by power struggles between nations in the form of wars and large numbers of casualties. Over the centuries, poetry has endeavoured to communicate human emotions and ideas. Some present a glorified war in order to portray their love and patriotic attitude to their audience. Such a view is presented in “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke. Quite alternatively, some poems demonstrate a more realistic representation of war such as Kenneth Slessor’s poem “Beach Burial” and the first excerpt from the film production ‘Saving Private Ryan’ which encapsulate the futility of war and the intolerable atrocities on innocent lives.
The difference is that The Soldier is set before anyone has died, and The Fallen is set after many have been killed. Both poems had different views on the apparent glory to be gained from war. The subject of these poems is generally the same – World War One. The main difference on the subject is the time of the war the poem is set in. The subject of The Soldier is set before the war has actually happened, written through the eyes of a soldier who has signed up for the war, but has not actually gone yet.
How Does Duffy reveal her attitude to war and soldiers? In The Falling Soldier, Duffy takes the opportunity to use the photograph of the man’s ‘last breath’ to try and rewrite history, creating several different pleasant images of what the photo could of been representing, compared to the harsh reality. Duffy in both The Falling Soldier and Last Post shows the same theme of her trying to show what she wished, could have happened to the innocent soldiers. ‘If poetry could truly tell it backwards, then it would’ this is Duffy basically telling us that if she could rewrite history with her poems then she would. In the poem The Falling Soldier, which is in relation to the photograph by Robert Capa, Duffy begins the poem by using colloquial language such as ‘flop’ and ‘kip’ to create a very casual everyday image about how the photo could be interoperated.
PARRA 2- homecoming In the Australian poem ‘Homecoming’ the author, Dawe uses vivid visual and aural poetic techniques to construct his ongoing attitudes of the war. The universal theme of moral outrage at the dehumanising aspects of the war can be seen by the repetition of particular words in the poem such as ‘them’ and ‘they’re’. Dawe chooses words which lack individuality ‘bagging’, ‘tagging’, ‘green plastic bag’ and categorises the dead soldiers into similar groups ‘curly heads’. This is done to provide a further insight into the journey by chronicling the repatriation of the Australian soldiers. Therefore journeys do not always involve an
Affield’s memoir illustrated the very real and raw aspects of war. Wendell’s personal account of life as a soldier started with the horrors of boot camp, eventually explained the terrors of war and finally ended with the rejection and ridicule that he and other soldiers endured on his return home. His detailed accounts helped readers better understand the situation and events that occurred during and after the war in Vietnam. Once Affield enlisted with the United States Navy he was originally stationed on a gunner Naval ship, USS Rogers, and traveled to Vietnam to aide in fighting the Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. This West Pac cruise was difficult, yet it ended up being one of the least devastating assignments of his Vietnam experience.
How does Wilfred Owen present war though his poems? Wilfred Owen produce a poem called dulce et decorum est. In this poem Wilfred Owen explores the many horrors and cruel ordeals of World War One. He does this by using horrific imagery and techniques such as vivid imagery and dramatic descriptions. Owen then seeks to convince the reader that it is not honourable or right to die for your country, as the title of the poem suggests so.
Wilfred Owen Essay. Question: Compare ways in which Owen powerfully portrays the physical and mental consequences of war in both poems. The poem’s ‘Mental Cases’ and ‘Disabled’, both consider and explore the debilitating effects in which war can have on soldiers. Owen reveals the reality of war rather than the appearance created by war propaganda; he portrays the horrific experiences of the battlefield. By exposing his ideas through linguistic sound devices and techniques, in which are vital, he demonstrates his perspective on war, additionally he uses this to create an understanding of what the impact has had on the individual soldier and their lives.
Tim O’Brien writes his short story How to Tell a War Story in 1990, giving him plenty of time to reflect on his past experiences in Vietnam fighting alongside his buddies. The author has compiles some of own personal stories of the field, telling them in first person. He uses other soul dredging stories from his friends creating a deep sense of despair. The author never strays from the purpose of his story. He uses the stories in his short story as an example—almost like a template to show his point of the importance of telling a true war story—to show the true depth of the event.
"The letters in Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam recount the personal experiences of their writers, they also challenge the assumptions of mainstream America towards the war and those who fought it. Discuss." The text Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam (Dear America) is an emotional tabloid of personal letters from combatants in the Vietnam war. Bernard Edelman uses these letters, detailing their experiences, to challenge the assumptions of mainstream America towards the war and the people who served in it. The erroneous assumptions about the value of war as a political mechanism made by the large conservative body of America are challenged and subverted by the encounters by our encounters with real soldiers in this anthology.
The characters in “The Things They Carried” and "How to Tell a True War Story" appear to hold on to or carry sources of necessities that fit would that specific assignment (p. 84) or memorial pieces that help boost their motivation emotionally. In the “active line of duty” you (as a Servicemen) would create the mind-frame of do or "men who might die” (p.89) [not knowing if their life would be spared in the process. ] "How to Tell a True War Story" was an insert that the narrator provided the readers with flashback and reflection able memories about information on the life and experiences in the Vietnam War. The Narrator provides us with the caption of Curt Lemon's death (O’Brien p. 362), following a hallucination of hearing, "strange gook music" (p. 364) while in the