The term “if I should die” was probably a used phrase when the soldiers were writing letters to their loved ones. This poem captures the attitudes of the time of much patriotism. The men were willing to sacrifice themselves for England and dying with happy hearts. The beginning of the war was not as volatile so the view on the war was very calm and collective. The enthusiasm of winning the war and the confidence that it would be over by Christmas was very high.
The name of the poem implies that the poet was a proponent of war, but contradictorily we discover that he was not. Undoubtedly, Owen had the practical, realistic knowledge to informatively and effectively portray the war scene. He experienced first-hand the physical, psychological and emotional effects of war on a human being. Although both speakers had contradictory concepts about war based on their own values, knowledge and experiences, they presented their theories with equivalent zeal, tenacity and passion. The speakers are fixated in their beliefs, and adamant about their concepts of war.
On the contrary Charge is patriotic with Tennyson celebrating the courage and obedience of the soldiers – this can be seen in his use of ‘glory, honour/noble’. This positive representation of conflict could be linked to Tennyson’s role of Poet Laureate under Queen Victoria’s reign. Futility mimics a sonnet but the form is disrupted as Owen splits the poem in to two seven-line stanzas. As a sonnet is traditionally associated with love, Owen could be suggesting that the effectively with conflict their can be no love. An alternative interpretation could be that Owen uses the structure to show how conflict has cut short the life of the soldier – in the middle of his life.
The families were happy that Lincoln would set aside a special place for their fallen loved ones. Lincolns address re-addressed war effort and challenged the outcome that favored the Confederate Army. Although an amazing speech during this time the speech sufficient acclaim from the public. The speech was made at a very volatile time in US history. The Gettysburg Address has much significance to The United States of America.
The results of war are shown both similarly and differently in the two poems. The contexts also differ due to the poet’s experiences of war. Wilfred Owen died fighting in World War One whereas Alfred Tennyson learned about the battle second hand therefore they have different perspectives. In ‘Futility’, Owen uses metaphors that could represent the feelings of the soldiers but Alfred Tennyson tells the story of the battle. In ‘Futility’, Owen utilizes personifications such as ‘The kind old sun will know’ and ‘Woke once the clays of a cold star’ to create a sense of desperation on the part of the soldiers.
Although both Birdsong and Regeneration present the horrors of World War 1, the authors also look at the affects of war on relationships. It will be interesting to see how love and sex is nuanced as the relationships experienced during this time have many complications. Both authors portray relationships between men as the most important form of love during the Great War. On the battlefield, love between men is an accepted and desirable occurrence as it means that soldiers have something to fight for and their friendships give them the strength to carry on. In ‘Birdsong’, we see a close bond between Stephen and Weir.
He saw that an action had to cause the greatest or purist happiness. Therefore in the situation of war, Mill would think what would cause the best amount of happiness for people. The general rules that he would follow is: what would be the consequences of war? Would everyone be happy with this? Who would have the most happiness (qualitative).
Although both Homecoming and Weapons Training are based on an anti-war theme, Dawe writes about the different aspects that involve war such as death, weapons, lives lost, soldier’s, families and disrespect. He uses titles that have very strong meanings to people that have been involved in war such as homecoming which every soldier hopes to be able to come home to their families again and weapons training where they are taught to use weapons before the war to prepare to kill the enemy. His poem Homecoming about the Vietnam War; the title itself creates the image of a happy and joyful journey; however Dawe ironically uses this to describe the sadness and sorrow of the dead soldier’s journey as they are transported home back to their families. A soldier’s return from war is supposed to be heroic but these soldiers are treated with a lack of respect.Dawe tries to convey the message to the reader that war is futile and that lives are wasted at war. On the other hand the title of Weapons Training creates the idea that the soldier’s are being trained to use the military weapons although the theme suggests that the soldier’s are actually the so called weapons being trained.
This unspecified and detached account of this action and the death in general, shows the way in which the members of the platoon deal with the complexity of the war experience. So much so that O’Brien is able to turn the story of Curt Lemon to a love story. Many go into a war story expecting to hear about triumph, pride, courage, and sacrifice. However, O’Brien claims that a true war story will shatter all previous expectations of a war story and instead be about evil and more obscene things. O’Brien says, “A true war
Jessica C Anthem for a Doomed Youth: Wilfred Owen Thesis statement: In "Anthem for a Doomed Youth" Wilfred Owen questions the social, religious and political values of the 20th century by using a variety of poetic techniques. Introduction War poetry became an influential genra amongst the British population during the First World War, people admired the truthfulness of the authors who spoke of the horrors that they experienced through poetry. Owen Wilson was one of the most praised authors of his times; his poems depicted the brutality and the horror of war with depth and reality, his art was a mix between criticism of war and patriotism for his country and fellow soldiers. In “Anthem for a Doomed Youth”, Wilfred Owen questions social, religious and political values of the 20th century by using a variety of poetic techniques. Owen depicts the human cost of war and the social and religious ritual’s inability to commemorate properly the dead.