Whitman is known for his grim and realistic poems depicting war as a result of his time as a volunteer nurse in the American Civil War. During the war, he saw the horrible results of battle in piles of amputated limbs and field littered with bodies. It is no wonder that after his time as union nurse he would write poems that were transfixed with the tragedies of war and their victims. This obsession with death combined with his fierce nationalism blended with the beauty of nature has made Whitman remembered as one of the great romantic poets. “The Dirge for Two Veterans” is one of his greatest works and uses these themes to create a vividly clear picture of tearful funeral procession. As the poem opens Whitman sets up a scene of beauty and calmness by describing the last rays of light from the day fading into twilight. The peacefulness of these lines is …show more content…
A father and son both struck dead on a brave charge toward the enemy, they were killed side by side in battle and now will be laid in next to each other in their final resting place. In the next stanza “the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded” (23). In this darkness the procession of the drummers and the loved ones of the veterans has come nearer to the narrator and the drum beat has become even more convulsive. The night has now changed from a peaceful sunset to a parade of wails and the banging of drums as the sun sets. Our narrator has become completely enthralled in this depressing scene. He goes so far as to say “the strong dead-march enwraps me.” (24) as if this scene is blanket over his head restricting his world to just his immediate surroundings. He is so overwhelmed by the bravery of the father and son that he finds himself loving them despite not knowing them for their sacrifice to their country. The classic theme of nationalism in the common folk in romantic poetry rears its head in what has become an ode to the brave
It illustrates when troops are back from the war their are considering taking their lives because their feel like murders since; they took someone else’s life and all the killing that happens within the war. For example, when one of their comrade’s is killed they feel guilty, and it will lead them to feel like their should have done a better job protecting each other. As a result, what they experience during the war can cause trauma to the brain, trigger the memory system and every man’s life
In stanza five, the narrator sounds matter-of-fact while describing the soldier’s dead and decaying body, but also seemingly lacks pity as the narrator mocks the dead soldier. The narrator notes that the soldier’s girlfriend “…would weep to see to-day/ how on his skin the swart flies move;” and though another casualty in war is saddening, it is simply another casualty and nothing more. Douglas’ simple and unsentimental language emphasizes that war cannot be sugar-coated, it is bloody and
The first connection I would like to make between the poem and the article is how unconsciously the citizens around soldiers showed a complete lack of concern. The
This description paints the scenes of the poem as they happen, the powerful connotations of the words battling against each other, and to the grievance of the reader, the negative feelings prevail. This battle illuminates the brutality and fear experienced by soldiers, in WWII, during their final moments on Earth - their fear, sadness, and horrified disgust all hidden between the lines of these two sentences. Foreshadowed by the soldier's machine like tone, the speaker alludes to the fact that he will fight for his life, and
A masterpiece in its own right, it reflects a story that illustrates the brave and courageous acts of those who valiantly fought. The soldiers, regardless of which side they represent, pushed through their fear to become men of honor and valor. Many perished and those who survived are cursed to remember it. It reflects the sentiment that “Courage is more than charge; More than dying or suffering. The loss of love in silence or being gallant; It is temperament and, more, wisdom”
Recently, I have read a poem named “In Flanders Field”, written by John McCrae, a Canadian writer. The major theme of the poem is war. Because the poem was written in the year of 1915, during the World War I. At that time, McCrae, as a doctor, joined the army and fought against the Belgian in Flanders, which was located in the northern part of France and the southwest of Belgium.
War carries important morals that heighten the perspective of men and women on their nation, but it also entails many acts and experiences that leave lasting effects on their emotional and physical state. Throughout the following texts, Paul Baumer, the dead soldiers, and Kiowa’s comrades all sustain losses that compel them to persevere and fight harder. All Quiet on the Western Front, Poetry of the Lost Generation, and an excerpt from In the Field all connect to the recurring theme, horrors of war, that soldiers face everyday on the front line through the continuous battle. War involves gruesome battles, many of which lead to death, but these events forever affect the soldier’s mind and body. In All Quiet on the Western Front, men experience horrific sights, or horrors of war, through the depiction of the terrain, death, and the
So the soldier went to the trench to lie down and die. There is also another shift when the author says “and soundlessly attending, dies…”. In the last stanza, the audience can infer that the author is at peace with the death. He says “misted and ebullient seas and cooling shores, towards Amphibia’s empiries.” The audience can feel the relaxation.
This elegy is ultimately written for all soldiers of war and sends the ironic message that the soilders who have fought against each other and could have killed each other are now all floating on the same coastline receiving equal treatment and being buried with their enemy. The theme of anonymity is extensively portrayed throughout this piece as Slessor constantly refers to ‘unknown’ soldiers or ‘someone’. Slessor uses personification and dehumanization to depict the loss of identity within each of the soldiers and the obscured effects of war to show the continuous movement forward of the world despite losses and victories. Personification is shown in the second stanza, 'Between the sob and clubbing of the gunfire '; the use of this technique ironically emphasises that the guns seem to mourn the loss more than humanity does. This leaves the audience feeling distraught and pity for the soldiers as it gives them a sense of the emotions linked to war.
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” This quote by renowned Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana immaculately encapsulates the core message that is conveyed in both the poems “Grass” and “At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border.” The two poems employ disparate writing styles and divergent methods to describe the atrocities of war and violence, however both poems do ultimately condemn these inexcusable acts. Furthermore, beyond denouncing war, both poems greatly emphasize a part of war that is often neglected; how we choose to remember wars and how we must not allow ourselves to forget these brutal lessons of the past. Carl Sandburg and William E. Stafford both lived through numerous periods of violence, epochs where
It is common for a person to admire the stars in the sky. Their brightness and arrangement is a fascinating sight, of course. On the other hand, people tend to forget or plainly ignore what is right under their feet. In “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman focused on what he thought was truly important, details of the green grass. Whitman wrote, “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars” (663).
Louisa May Alcott’s impassioned essay, “Death of a Soldier,” legitimizes the suffering of a wounded soldier named John, who was shot in the back during the American Civil War. Alcott saw John’s pain first hand as his caregiver in a hospital. His pain is instilled into the audience through Alcott’s evocative language. Through detailing her experience, Alcott wishes to inform her audience of the rewards of selfless action. John did not have to go to war, but he felt it was his duty to do so, just like Alcott did not have to care for the dying soldier, but did so out of compassion.
Walt Whitman captures his audience’s attention with his realism poetry and free verse poetry throughout much of his life as a poet. Whitman was a man of the civil war era and in his poem “The Wound-Dresser” shows his life experiences in the war come full force in the way he conveys his contribution in the civil war. His view of the war as a wound-dresser and he describes some of the most horrendous scenes imaginable from the eyes of an everyday man. His poem “The Wound-Dresser” doesn’t show the war from a distance, but from right on the battlefield in its unedited version as written by Whitman. The way Whitman conveys his poems of the everyday man’s life in his time-period is presented by utilizing his realism style to connect to the audience and his gruesomely descriptive vocabulary.
In this grand poem, Whitman glorifies the unity of all people and life. He embraces the geographical diversity as well as the diversity of culture, work, as well as sexuality or beliefs. Whitman’s influence sets American dreams of freedom, independence, and self-fulfillment, and changes them for larger spiritual meaning. Whitman appreciates hard work as well as being simple and non-egotistical. His major ideas are things such as soul, good health, as well as the love of nature.
Secondly, Whitman’s use of imagery shows the power of his imagination and the extent of his sensory impressions. Line twenty-two for example brings forth the energy coming from nature and its spiritual affect on the self. In addition, Whitman uses the senses to draw a picture for the reader. Touch for example, is used in “a few light kisses, a few embraces…”(1150). Hearing is used in “the sound of the belch’d words of my voice…”(1150).