Speech On War Poetry

Once we had such desires – but they return not. They are past, they belong to another world that is gone from us” (100). All Quiet on the Western Front is a war novel unlike all the rest. Remarque does not romanticize the horrors of looking death in the eye every day, while fighting for what you believe in. While illustrating young soldiers losing their innocence on the battlefield, moments of perfect serenity and happiness arise, helping to balancing all the terrible realities of

Abraham Lincoln, "proved to be a shrewd military strategist and a savvy leader during what became the costliest conflict ever fought on American soil." (History) Lincoln read and understood works on military history and strategy. He noticed failures and successes of himself and other military commanders, he was sure to correct these mistakes. Historian T. Harry Williams said President Lincoln was," a great natural strategist, a better than any one of his generals." (abrahamlincolnsclassroom) President Lincoln gave a famous speech, the Gettysburg Address.

Even the normal people tried to aid the process of finding a cure. Also, the American people did not spiral down into a pit of self-pity and apathy. The most destructive war in history up to that time had just been fought, a tenuous peace resolved, and when Americans should be enjoying the fruits of their hard work the Pandemic hits. Instead of self-pity, “In the years following 1919, Americans seemed eager to forget the pandemic”(flu.gov). Americans were resilient and able to stand firm under all that pressure and still throw themselves into the most destructive war in all of history and win.

Siegfried Sassoon’s “Repression of War Experience” is rises above other contemporary poems of its time because it brings to light the world of the shell shock or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) of World War One and shares it with the public in a way that inspires compassion but is also damning to those who would continue for their blind praise for a war that took so many lives. Sassoon’s description of being in a convalescence home brings the reality of what he was experiencing to light for those he would accuse of being so ignorant to the reality that lurked across the English Channel. Sassoon describes the house that he is convalescing in briefly. “Books; what a jolly company they are/ Standing so quiet and patient on their shelves/, Dressed in dim brown, and black, and white, and green/And every kind of colour. Which will you read?/Come on; 0 do read something; they’re so wise/I tell you all the wisdom of the world/ Is waiting for you on those shelves.” Sassoon was sent to

If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie” (O’Brien 65). O’Brien continues that when hearing a true war story it can be very difficult to separate the truth from the lies of the story, this is simply because the war is so unpredictable and horrendous it has the ability to make some seemingly impossible events a reality. Everything that goes on in a war a true war story will live the listener speechless, despite all the unbelievable events that may have taken place on the battlefield because “you can’t help but gape at the awful majesty of combat” (O’Brien 77). In conclusion, Tim O’Brien states that a true war story will not leave anything out no matter how grotesque the truth may be, also a true war story makes it nearly impossible to distinguish fact from fiction as “war is hell, but that’s not the half of it” (O’Brien 76). The tell-tale sign of a true war story is

People trusted the idealised version of the war and were enthusiastic in their efforts of enlisting in the war. However, when they were sent out into the midst of the war many of them realised the misconceptions they had and were led to believe. They became disillusioned as they realized that the war was much more brutal and horrific than they had previously believed. In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque effectively comments on the horrors of war from Paul’s perspective, especially when Paul comments on injuries the soldiers endure and witness by stating “We see men go on living with the top of their skulls missing; we see soldiers go on running when both their feet have been shot away…Another man…with his guts spilling out over his hands as he holds them in.” (Remarque,

According to O’Brien, a true war story often can’t be told and that factual truth is often blurred by the emotional truth as told by the storyteller. With this, the line between reality and fiction is often has to be determined by the reader. Defined reality is what can be proven, while perceived reality is what is believed to have happened. In The Things they Carried, O’Brien is seen changing the truth in order to provide the reader a sense of the emotions of war, not a factual account of

They do not wish for a simple victory without fighting, but plea for horrible things to come to their opponents. In these lines from the messenger we get Twain’s personal view of imperialism. It seems as if Twain is the only one that realizes that everybody thinks that God is in favor for only their side. Due to the controversial aspects of this story, The War Prayer does not fall in line with the other national literature pieces that were read and discussed in class, which is why it is an excellent piece to add to the curriculum. It is its own unique version of national literature that focuses more on the issues of war rather than national

Gratitude, happiness, and fulfillment are just a few things of the enduring list that most commonly defines love. However, love can also show the worst in people through destruction, agony, and desperation. Love does not always bring eternal happiness the way most people want it to, and often times love only lasts a short period of time. Through Lieutenant Cross, Rat Kiley, Mark Fossie, and his own personal experiences, Tim O’Brien uses The Things They Carried to show that love can lead to hopelessness. Lieutenant Cross carried many things, however the most important were his letters from Martha that allowed him to create something that did not exist.

Tim O’Brien never lies. While we realise at the end of the book that Kiowa, Mitchell Sanders and Rat Kiley are all fictional characters, O’Brien is actually trying to tell us that there is a lot more truth hidden in these imagined characters than we think. This suggests that the experiences he went through were so traumatic, the only way to describe it was through the projection of fictional characters. O’Brien explores the relationship between war experiences and storytelling by blurring the lines between truth and fiction. While storytelling can change and shape a reader’s opinions and perspective, it might also be the closest in helping O’Brien cope with the complexity of war experiences, where the concepts like moral and immorality are being distorted.

1. The book 1776 by David McCullough portrays the war in a realistic manner. It is written from a point of view that makes you feel like you’re right there with Washington as he writes all of his letters and does everything. The book was written to explain the war as not being always glorious, but being full of defeat. This book is a good book to read if you know absolutely nothing about the American Revolution.

Tim O’Brien and Brian Turner are both war veterans, who published books based on their war experience. Both of their books expresses their feelings and both have a unique way of telling war stories. However, Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried book captures the reality of war better than Brian Turner’s Here Bullet book. Tim O’Brien is very descriptive with his story, He is very direct and very good at telling a war story to make it more interesting. I can imagine myself in the story when I read it.

The novel, All Quiet on the Western Front is the harshest story about war ever written. This novel was written by Erich Maria Remarque, based on his real life experience about World War 1. It tells a story about a group of companions at war and how they live their life everyday there. After analyzing the novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, readers realized that almost all the characters were either very noble or not noble at all. The one character that stood out of all the character for being a noble man was the narrator, Paul.

“Next To Of Course God America”: Rushing into Despair E.E cummings “Next To of Course God America I” is a poem about patriotism and war like anthems which convey how excessive patriotism can be used to rally masses to a cause. The poem starts off as being patriotic and showing a bit of nationalism but later seems to become a bit sarcastic.The speaker loves america but does not like war. Patriotism can make one do things such as dying for their country. This stems into a sense of anger which sets the tone. The speaker mentions “heroic happy dead” meaning young soldiers that fought and died for their country without really knowing why nor did they have any say in the matter but were swayed with patriotic words.

“A good war story is not simply about blood and death. It examines war as a transformation in the lives of those affected.” Comment on this statement, making close reference to David Malouf’s Fly Away Peter. War is a subject that fascinates us all in many ways; our reasoning is usually out of pure curiosity as most of us have never been, although we know that war is hell on earth. Know one wants to read or watch a war story filled with blood and death, what a miserable way to spend your time, but it is just a fact about war that can not be ignored. Human transformation is what really appeals to us; it fuels our knowledge about things we do not understand fully, just like Jim Saddler does in “Fly Away Peter”, he chooses to go to war because he has a similar curious drive that motivates him.