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Stylistic Analysis Of The Poem Staying Alive

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In this essay I have been asked to choose one of the twelve sections from ‘Staying Alive ‘and discuss why I believe it to be the most effective. It is clear that section 9 ‘War and Peace’ is the most effective. War poetry is harsh and to the point. It is filled with gruesome images and vivid descriptions of war time. The poems in this section will resonate with you for a lifetime. .Most poetry of this genre is based around the topic of World War One and World War Two. But also around other famous wars in history such as the American Civil War and Troubles in Northern Ireland. This poetry contains messages of hatred towards war and towards the idea of war. This section includes poetry of very famous poets who not only were alive during the war but some of whom also …show more content…

This is different to the other poems already mentioned in this essay as it refers to the innocent citizens killed as opposed to the soldiers or upper class ranking officials at the time. A theme throughout the poem is that the first line of each verse contains the person who survives and the second line contains the person of is dead or about to die.
“One man shall wake from terror to his bed.
Five men shall be dead”
This poem has an apparent rhyme scheme. The last word in each line rhymes with the last word in the line directly under it. This lets the reader almost sing through the poem. There is a very nonchalant tone and feel to the poem. The lack of detail in the poem lets the readers imagination create the situation in which the person dies.
“One man shall smile one day and say goodbye.
Two shall be left, two shall be left to die”
The writer could be saying in the poem that war is unpredictable. In wars you never know who will survive or not.
“One man to five. A million men to one
And still they

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