written by Jessie Pope, and finally contrast this with the poems by Owen. DISABLED I think that in the poem 'Disabled', Wilfred Owen is trying to convey the real tragedy of war. Many people think only of those killed but reading the poem you remember that many people who were not killed in the war could still have suffered a lot more. In the poem Owen focuses on one young man, a single victim of war. It shows the effect the war has on the young man's life, when on returning from the war he has been maimed "legless, sewn short at elbow" Owen writes the poem with style.
According to Paul, Paul and his friends are, “forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, we are crude and sorrowful and superficial - [I believe we are lost]” (123). Being drafted in the war at the age of eighteen has changed the mental thoughts of Paul as the transitions from a teenager to adult is quickly hastened and heavily weighted on him due to the war. The physical age of Paul is disconnected to how he mentally is, which is having the mind like old men, and in the struggle of how old Paul actually is versus how old he mentally is demonstrates how Paul has been mentally affected by the war. While Paul is in the hospital, he reflects how he is, “[I] am young, [I] am twenty years old; yet [I] know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow” (263). For Paul to think that he only knows what “despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality” is at the age of twenty demonstrates how Paul is mentality affected by the war, as most teenagers do not think about such things.
An important theme throughout the poem is the concept of war used to glorify violence. The title of the poem which was widely used propaganda at that time exalts the concept of war, saying it’s a good and honourable thing to die for your country, but in reality, as evidenced by the soldier in the poem could not be more different. The idea of suffering is explored with the use of depressing and dismal language. The use of simile such as “bent double like old beggars” gives the impression that the soldiers have been prematurely aged, and seemingly deformed by the harsh conditions of war. This simile is an important contrast of the information people were fed at the time of soldiers being strong and proud.
They also suffered from shell shock which could take a lifetime to recover, majorly affecting their abilities. They suffered daily as their bravest and best were dying fighting, leaving behind only the most not useful and unwanted soldiers who chaff to go to France for a better life. The source is a form of complaint about their horrible conditions and danger that threatens their soldiers. This letter is written by a leader on the Western front to
Poetry is an art form where the author uses different poetic devices to convey feelings, emotions and ideas to get the reader emotionally involved. Australian author Bruce Dawe, who is an anti-war poet, expresses his poetic art form by showing the different aspects of the war, particularly the Vietnam War. He shows this through the title, structure and imagery by comparing the differences and similarities of his anti-war poems Homecoming and Weapons training. The title and theme of a poem is carefully selected by the author to explain or sum up the main topic or message of the poem. 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.
“We paused over a snapshot of Ted Lavender, and after a while Jimmy rubbed his eyes and said he’d never forgiven himself for Lavender’s death. It was something that would never go away, he said quietly” (27). Cross believes that because he was so obsessed with his fantasy of Martha and the life they might lead after the war, he was negligent. Therefore, Cross sees Lavender’s death as the result of his negligence. His confession to O’Brien, years later, testifies to his intense feeling of guilt about the incident.
Although O’Brien is unclear about whether or not he actually threw a grenade and killed a man outside My Khe, his memory of the man’s corpse is strong and recurring, symbolizing humanity’s guilt over war’s horrible acts. Norman was right on the side of him when he died, after about a couple of years passed by after the war he was in Kiowa home town he started crying because he didn’t do anything to try to save him. In Fallen Angels Richie see’s how almost his whole team died he and Peewee were the only ones that survived, which emphasizes the theme of youth and innocence. In calling the novel Fallen Angels, the author implies that the soldiers’ youth and innocence are more important than any of their other aspects, such as their religion, ethnicity, class, or race. They wanted them to know what war is really like and wants to help them understand what is experienced.
‘Mental Cases’, written by Wilfred Own, is a poem about the devastating effects of modern warfare and the men who die and suffer through it. Owen candidly states the truth about war and how it affects the men who fight in it. ‘Mental Cases’ is about World War One and the shell shock men endured when they came back from war. He uses imagery, diction and irony to make his ideas more clear to his audience. The first stanza directly addresses the reader, he opens with two rhetorical questions, “Who are these?
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.
As the poem progresses, Mikhail begins to mock the routine of war, (wakes the sirens…dispatches ambos…swings corpses through the air) therefore showing us the harmful effects of war. Dunya Mikhail portrays the realities of war through the use of personification and lack of punctuation. As you can see the structure of the poem almost resembles that of a list, creating the effect of life during the war, long and routine. Through the use of action verbs such as swings, summons and digs for example she is using this language to show what the war does by giving it human qualities (read examples). The start of the poem (read first 3 lines) has quite a sarcastic tone and I think this shows how she feels towards the military glorifying war, doing whatever they can to convince you to join.