Bombs, death, and gunfire, don’t these aspects of war sound fantastic? Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front develops the theme of the thoughts of a group of students who voluntarily enlist for World War I, and Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker is an intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat. A soldier in the midst of warfare seems heroic, but battle can also cause immense trauma to the soldier.
Maybe nothing is more incessant in the pages of history books than wars. Since the beginning of time, men have battled to hold their ground and vanquish more. However, the images of war are never as victorious that they are painted out to be. The truth of war is dull, devastate, and nerve racking, with conditions unfavorable to mind, body, and soul. The substances of war and the dread experienced are reported and told by writers all through time.
Soldiers who survives in combat decide to write about their experiences, often as a coping mechanism. War can physically and emotionally change a person. Humanity makes a person feel alive, happy and good-natured however, experiences can alter these feelings. Throughout the pieces, The Things They Carried, Soldier's Home and “We Never Know”, the characters experience the horrors of war
This series of paradoxes highlights the complexities of war and invites the readers to question its true nature and effects on a soldier. The anaphora of the word ‘War’ emphasises the severity of its effects and the depth of its complexity as well as establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between the event – war and its outcomes – emotional and mental detrimental effects on soldiers. This is shocking to most readers as they question how such a brutal phenomenon such as war can have upsides. Obrien cleverly provokes thought to these readers by almost romanticising and vividly describing aspects of war, through colourful imagery, figurative language and the ‘you’ pronoun. “You stare out at tracer rounds unwinding through the dark like
The text “All Quiet On The Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque undoubtedly destroys the pre 1914 ‘Romanticized’ assumptions and perceptions of war where fighting was considered as Heroic and Noble. The composer effectively emphasizes, and reinforces the effects of the front on a typical soldier throughout the text who was ultimately encouraged to enlist without having any knowledge of the effects that the battlefield would have on him and his fellow peers. In Juxtaposition to this, “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke is a poem which attempts to promote the romanticised view of war through positive connotations of the battlefield and by alluding to the Nobility and sacrifice of the duty, in order to convince more people to enlist in the war and
War and its affinities have various emotional effects on different individuals, whether facing adversity within the war or when experiencing the psychological aftermath. Some people cave under the pressure when put in a situation where there is minimal hope or optimism. Two characters that experience
In Brian Turner’s work about war experiences as a soldier, battling post-traumatic stress disorder as well as the never-ending violence in the war fronts provide an impression of how wars both unify and separate people. Turner uses structure and imagery to show unity amongst the people affected by wars. Further, Turner gives weight to the fact that war poetry would continue since a culture of understanding through suffering and loss is inevitable as people shift from one war to another. Turner's work provides true accounts of what goes on in the society as opposed to many poets who are not in touch with the reality. Authors employ poetry in times of war to provide their readers with the impression that war is a universal negative, which every
The poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen and “Guns” by W.D. Ehrhart describe the harsh and brutal reality of war through their own eyes. Although both hold literary merit, the one that stands out amongst them as more successful is “Dulce et Decorum Est.” This poem is significantly better structured, uses more complex imagery and also uses better words to explain the poem to the reader. Wilfred Owen, who died in combat prior to the release of this poem, really brings into perspective just how ugly and violent war can be.
the nightmare is not only on the battlefield, but in the sleep of these soldiers, especially Owen. Going back to the first stanza, the soldiers are portrayed as deathly tired, but as seen here, they are not granted the rest of a good night’s sleep but rather plagued by the living nightmares they face when
During World War 1, a poet and soldier named Wilfred Owen wrote multiple poems about what happened around him during the war and his views on it, his view on war was completely different to others such as For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon. Owen shows what the reality of war is and explains what he has seen during the war. Firstly the way he describes war as, Secondly what the soldiers have to deal with during the war, thirdly what the effects on the families and friends of the soldiers. Firstly, the way Wilfred Owen Describes war as is.
Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ structure hints to the uncertainty of war. In the first eight lined stanza, Owen describes the soldiers from a third person point of view. The second stanza is shorter and consists of six lines. This stanza is more personal and is written from a first person 's point of view. This stanza reflects the pace of the soldiers as everything is fast and uncoordinated because of the gas, anxiety and the clumsiness of the soldiers.
Both Dulce et Decorum Est and Mametz Wood present the incompetent results of war. Dulce et Decorum Est indicates the horrible facts and deaths in war. Moreover, Mametz Wood highlights how precious life is and how easily it can be lost as a result of battle. In this poem “Dulce et decorum Est”, Owen portrays the deadly effects of conflict through the use of metaphor: “as under a green sea, I saw him drowning”. Here, he describes the pain of the gas attack.
The poem features a soldier, presumably Owen, speaking to fellow soldiers and the public regarding those atrocities. Correspondingly, drawing on the themes of innocent death and the barbaric practices of warfare, Owen expresses his remorse towards his fallen comrades and an antagonistic attitude towards the war effort through a solemn tone and specific stylistic devices. The poem is structured as free verse, contributing towards the disorganized and chaotic impression Owen experienced while witnessing these deaths firsthand, enabling the audience to understand the emotional circumstances of demise in the trenches as well. Throughout the poem, Owen routinely personifies the destructive weapons of war, characterizing them as the true instruments of death rather than the soldiers who stand behind them. Owen describes how, “Bullets chirped…Machine-guns chuckled…Gas hissed…”
Both Ted Hughes and Wilfred Owen present war in their poems “Bayonet Charge” and “Exposure”, respectively, as terrifying experiences, repeatedly mentioning the honest pointlessness of the entire ordeal to enhance the futility of the soldiers' deaths. Hughes’ “Bayonet Charge” focuses on one person's emotional struggle with their actions, displaying the disorientating and dehumanising qualities of war. Owen’s “Exposure”, on the other hand, depicts the impacts of war on the protagonists' nation, displaying the monotonous and unending futility of the situation by depicting the fate of soldiers who perished from hypothermia, exposed to the horrific conditions of open trench warfare before dawn. The use of third-person singular pronouns in “Bayonet
Firstly within the poems, both Owen and Harrison present the horrific images of war through use of visual imagery. “And leaped of purple spurted his thigh” is stated. Owen describes the immediate action of presenting the truth of war as horrific and terrifying . The phrase “purple spurted” represents the odd color of the blood which was shedded as the boulder from the bomb smashed his leg in a matter of seconds. The readers