It was doubtfully his goal, as his pointed words are directed at a public that is no longer alive and could not have been completely ignorant of the plight of its soldiers during those days. Although contemporary poets of his day wrote equally moving and powerful words that describe in detail the horrors of the Great War neither Owen nor Graves bring direction to their words like Sassoon does. “A Repression of War Experience” leaves the reader following Sassoon through the hospital corridors, wishing for rain, and trying desperately to steady a shell-shocked hand. As he wonders if there are ghosts in the trees it’s the reader checking to see if they are there while, Sassoon fights the sounds of canon in his head, this is why this poem rises above its
By starting with the image of collapsing soldiers, Owen hooks the reader’s attention by revealing the real situation in the trenches unlike war propaganda, which created joyful, energetic images of war. In ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, Owen writes that soldiers are ‘bent double’ like ‘old beggars’ and in ‘The Dead Beat’, soldiers are ‘dropped’ ‘more sullenly than wearily’. By using the word ‘beggars’, the poet tells us about the inhumane condition of soldiers during the war. This contrasts with the young and energetic image of other soldiers depicted in another poem, ‘The Send-Off’ when ‘they sang their way to the siding shed’. Also, by using the word ‘dropped’ rather than ‘fall down’ emphasizes their inhumane condition where the soldiers were not considered human, but rather objects that can be thrown away after use.
His romantic notions of war were crushed by the chilling realities that were rarely seen or talked about up to this point in American history and literature. In this novel, Crane allows the reader to experience the first hand development of the young Henry Fleming as his childish and romantic notions of war are violently shattered by the realism and naturalism that war truly portrays and the reality of nature’s disregard for human life. To start with, the novel introduces us to Henry’s romantic ideas about war, “He had long despaired of witnessing a Greeklike struggle,” (Crane, 3). He initially thinks of war as glorious and grandiose. He expects nothing less than a hero’s send-off from his mother: tears, screaming, begging him not to go, but that just
The overall point of this poem is to convey the cruelty of war and what it accomplishes. The poet expresses the dilemma faced by the photographer in these circumstances through the way he ‘sought approval’ and tried to make ‘the readers eyeballs prick’ so that they would care. Duffy was inspired to write this poem by her friendship with a war photographer. She was especially intrigued by the peculiar challenge faced by these people whose job requires them to record terrible, horrific events without being able to directly help their subjects. The use of a semantic field of death shows the very dark side of conflict and gives an almost savage and sinister edge to the poem to make the act of war all the more evil.
Society has long misunderstood the widespread emotional toll that the soldiers endure. The horrors and tribulations of war are unique in which only a veteran can understand thus leading to the soldier’s difficulties of rekindling with their friends and family upon return. This is seen in All Quiet on the Western Front, a fictional novel set in World War I written by Erich Maria Remarque, and in David Wood’s “A Warrior’s Moral Dilemma” which focuses on the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. These two pieces were written in dramatically different times, which allowed the advancement in information and communications technology, and despite that, the civilians and soldier still have trouble understanding one another. While in “A Warrior’s Moral
Paul and his comrades had no idea what the war would do to them and sadly learned that the war was more a misfortune than an honor. Paul and his friends were eaten out, mentally, by the war and remained casings of their old lives. Further exemplifying their inability to reconnect to their past lives and in turn the normal world. Remarque creates Paul Baumer to represent a generation of men who are know to the outside world as ‘the lost generation.” He has written a tale of inhumanity and unspeakable terror. Paul develops a difficulty understanding the outside world and the people that have never been in the war because he has witnessed the horror and brutality of the battlefield.
Often, poetry is used to portray the highlights of this life or maybe even some of the small bumps we encounter along the way, yet, none really compares to that of war poetry. World War I, much like any other war, was nothing shy of a horror story. Innumerable deaths, traumatizing situations, and the lives of returning soldiers changed forever were, and still are, products of war. From our side, we have our own idea of what war might be like, but Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenburg choose to give us a small glimpse of what “serving our country” is about. Both men chose to write about the harsh realities of war and while these poets have several differences, they share very common ground: educating many about reality of war.
Throughout war and particularly World War 1, soldiers may encounter atrocious, terrifying experiences that sometimes no one could even imagine possible. War’s brutality overall can be extremely damaging to those who have served, with the loss of comrades and scaring deaths, potentially causing psychological damage. In the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the group of men fighting and struggling for their country together overtime develop a special, strong bond with each other. When going through similar types of experiences, they are easily able to understand one another and eventually love and trust with a extreme bond like no other. The main character Paul Baumer and comrade Katczinsky especially express a powerful brotherhood, shown in many occasions.
Leaders are not only confined to the pages of literature, but in history as well. Winston Churchill, the former prime minister of Great Britain, pulled Great Britain by its strings at their darkest hours: World War II. After six years grueling fighting, Great Britain won on behalf of Churchill being a witty but somber orator whose encouraging speeches inspired the Britons to fight back. As a former soldier and general, he understood war at every angle, but he had to convince the rest of Great Britain into being soldiers as well. He was able to form a relationship with the Britons by expressing their sorrows and anger and turning it into productivity for the war in all of his speeches.
Remarque includes sections throughout the novel that emphasize this deep bond that the soldiers share with one another. At the beginning of the novel, Remarque begins by sharing the close bond the comrades’ share with one another. The bonding between them has already started as Paul notes that activities such as using the bathroom in public bothers the new recruits, however they have come to realize there are much worse things in this war than their modesty. Himmelstoss’s extreme discipline and punishments also strengthens the Company’s