However, the men in the trenches were often passive and inactive as most were suffering from exhaustion and for some, shell shock: a disorder that frequently emasculated the men. The men who suffered from this disorder were seen
Which sets the book of to a strong start, as the declaration was passionately written during the war. Siegfried Sassoon used repetition through his declaration , making sure that he feels strongly against war. During the declaration Sassoon explains the horrors if war in many different ways. He repeats the word “suffering” throughout the declaration to put emphasis on what the war is really like for the soldiers that are fighting for our country. He also talks strongly about how the sufferings are being “prolonged” as he tired of witnessing men “being sacrificed” to this awful war.
Since he is more weak spirited than Hester, as shown in “His spirit lacked the strength that could have borne up, as thine has been, beneath a burden like thy scarlet letter," (ch.14) The letters weight affects him more. The man suffers physically more than any other character in the novel. He fasts vigorously until he grows so weak he almost cannot stand, “It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast, - not, however, like them...but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance”. (ch. 11) He would even whip himself at night, “bloody scourge… plied on his own shoulders.” to punish himself for the sin he committed.
I noticed that the speaker and the poet are both soldiers. So, I think that the poet himself is the speaker in the poem about the World War I. Wilfred had experienced it so he wrote the poem. The literal context of the poem is: Bent Double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, and towards our distant rest began to trudge. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, but limped on, blood-shod.
In some way psychologically dead, possibly seen stuff far worse as a soldier so this has no emotional effect on them, they are described as not realising or aware of what they are doing, the quote “men marched asleep” supports that and I found this contradicted itself, marched is an energetic walk and asleep is the complete opposite. The word “blood-shod” played on my mind when I read this at first, and after analysing it I realised it was a play on word, by changing letters it gives you a complete different impression. Owen then refers to the senses “drunk with fatigue; deaf” suggests the soldiers weren’t alert which meant they weren’t in the correct frame of mind to fight. In contrast to the first stanza, the second stanza is full of action. The oxymoron, "ecstasy of fumbling", seems at first odd, but then perfect, as a way to describe the
As shown, Holden is depressed in many ways: he fails in life, he is lonesome, and he still is affected by his brother's death. Holden is a failure because he cannot pass any classes in school, except English, and he cannot do anything right. He is lonely because he simply hates mostly everyone and, therefore, does not have any friends. Holden is depressed by his brother's death because that was his best friend. Holden's depression started with the loss of his best friend/brother and continued on with failure and loneliness throughout the rest of his
Throughout ‘The War poems’ Owen creates a sense of sympathy for the soldiers who fight in war and are forced to endure horrific atrocities that either they themselves commit, or are committed against them, the continual assaults on their physical and emotional wellbeing. In the poems Owen recreates his experiences being an officer on the ‘Western Front’ in World War I, and voices his bitterness towards and rejection of the futility of war; the never ending loss of life at the hands of the British Military. Owen condemns those who encouraged young men to go to war and used rhetoric to give off the impression that war rewarded young men with glory. Owen rejects this in his poems by reflecting his own experiences as ‘Glorious’ and investigating the horrors of war, and their effect on the physical and emotional wellbeing of soldiers. Owen’s poems are riddled with references to the loss of youth, innocence and life.
A common theme used throughout the novel was dehumanisation in which the soldiers were deprived of their basic human qualities and personality due to the numerous horrors of war they faced each day. Remarque manages to introduce and develop the theme of dehumanisation through such techniques as symbolism, imagery and first person perspective which therefore effectively engages the reader’s interest in the novel. In the epigraph Remarque says that he “simply try to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by war.” Ironically Paul and his comrades represent a whole generation of men known to history as “the lost generation” in which eight million men were died in battle, twenty one million were injured and over six and a half million civilians were killed. This also reveals Remarque’s hatred towards the war and how affective it can be although soldiers may escape its physical injuries. The novel is continuously in first person from Paul point of view which makes it seem more real and dramatic as we can see exactly how he feels at a specific time.
Turner does an exceptional job capturing the painful and terrible moments of the war in Iraq. I can imagine a retired veteran reading this poem and instantly relating to it, which is why this poem is so powerful. The first half of the poem uses explicit language that says “Nothing but bullets and pain/ and the bled-out slumping/ and all the fucks and goddamns/ and Jesus Christ’s of the wounded/”(2-4). This powerful, yet vulgar language is what sets the tone for this poem and also delivers the message to the reader that going overseas was no easy experience. This helped in adding more of a reality and complexity to the poem.
A poem we have recently studied in class is Dulce Et Decorum Est. It was written by a highly acclaimed poet called, Wilfred Owen. Wilfred Owen is a poet that writes about the horrors the soldiers faced and witnessed as he fought on the front line and experienced it first-hand. He named his poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est which means it is sweet and right. The title of the poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est is a contradiction of what the poem is about.