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Using three poems compare the poet(TM)s attitudes and feelings to war, and how they are expressed.

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Using three poems compare the poet's attitudes and feelings to war, and how they are expressed. During the First World War there were a series of different attitudes to the concept of war and death, some held a very patriotic view, such as Rupert Brooke, the writer of 'The Soldier'. Brooke never did experience war first hand, as he tragically died as he developed sepsis of an insect bite on his way to a battle in Gallipoli, and was buried on an island around that area. Other poets such as Wilfred Owen used their poetry to reflect his own shocking experiences from battle. Owen died in action just a week before the war came to an end, at the age of 25. Owens friend and mentor, Siegfried Sassoon also uses brutal realism and satire. Sassoon, like Owen, had a positive attitude to fighting for his country at the beginning, but his terrible experiences drove him to madness. He was nicknamed by other soldiers as 'Mad Jack', because of his almost suicidal acts of bravery during the battle. However, Sassoon survived the war and lived until 1967, at the age of 80. Brooke, Owen and Sassoon all used the sonnet form at some point in their poetical journey. Both Brooke and Owen's poem that I have chosen are examples of the popular fourteen lined verse, but Sassoon's chosen poem has been specifically changed for effect. ...read more.


As for the meaning of the questions, Owen is trying to point out that it is a common mark of respect for a person to be given a decent funeral, but the soldiers who "die as cattle", the metaphor meaning they have been brutally killed, have not even had any "passing-bells" or "candles held to speed them all", despite them deserving it more that most people would. Sassoon's poem: 'Attack', uses the desperation of the soldiers to express just how angry he is at war, but similarly to Owen, he also personalises his poem using something comparable to speech, to make the readers feel even more responsible for this desperation of the soldiers. The last of the poem reads: "O Jesus, make it stop!" which sounds almost like the soldiers are calling out to the readers to save them from their heartbreak, therefore very emotive. However, it could also be said that this is Sassoon's anger speaking, and he is the one almost pleading with the readers to come over to his side and do something about all these horrific deaths. Either way the quotation "O Jesus" gives even more passion to the line, and using this name in vain was likely to have only been used when in the highest point of calamity. The fact that the poem ends on its thirteenth line, also leaves further impact, as it is an incomplete sonnet, and the "O ...read more.


Sassoon makes the soldiers seem small as he writes they are "smouldering through spouts of drifting smoke that shroud", the fact that the soldiers are "smouldering" shows they are almost being engulfed by the smoke, and therefore that they are virtuous and without a chance in such a hostility. Owen too has understood the soldier's innocence, and has used hyperbole in 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' to create more sympathy towards them. This is seen when he refers to the soldiers as "boys" when of course they are young men, but when talking about children the language is always far more emotive and therefore creates far more impact on the readers, this can also be seen as an annoyance at how young these men are dying. The quotation "Not in the hands of boys, but in their Eyes shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes" shows again Owens anger at the lack of respect given to the young men who were dying, as the only grief they are given is from their fellow men in battle, whose "eyes shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes", again the only ones who will cry for the dead. In addition the word "holy" could be a possible extract of sarcasm, as many Christian values not to kill and to live in peace had become irrelevant to anyone, as men were continuing to die in action. ...read more.

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