War Poetry Analysis
Text Response: War Poetry
Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen and Homecoming by Bruce Dawe are about the disaster of war, yet they speak of different wars with different mindsets of the soldiers. In the following essay I discuss the history behind the poems, the poetic devices that Owen and Dawe used. Each poem addresses their own truths about war.
The first poem is from WW1 where ignorance was common, so common that boys of only 17 years were signing up for “the adventure of a life time”. The “adventure” turned out to be later known as the Great War, which shook families for generations, and its dark tendrils still reaching out today. The battles were bigger, the death counts were unnecessarily high; and the artillery was bigger and better …show more content…
The government tried conscriptions, which backfired on them greatly. Protests started and the people were standing up against the war. The battles may have been fought by soldiers, but the war was played by politicians. This war showed that it didn’t bring disgrace to your family if you didn’t fight, but rather showed your ability to keep up what the politicians were spouting; and in some cases if you went to war people would disrespect you for that choice. The history behind these two poems are overwhelmed with war and all its horrors.
There are numerous poetic devices used in Dulce et Decorum est and Homecoming, that were all used effectively to ingrain the poet’s message into audience.
Dawe uses a lot of repetition especially the words ‘they’re’,‘ing’ words and ‘them’ (in stanza 1, lines 1-6). This helps with the pace of the poem and makes the poem flows a lot better. Both the poems use imagery throughout, especially Homecoming. When Dawe says ‘the steaming chow mein’ (Line 11) that can be related back to the weather and conditions of Vietnam at that time. Dawe also uses imagery, in the example ‘they’re zipping them up in green plastic bags’ (stanza 1, line 4). This gives the audience the ability to picture the horror of the green plastic bags the bodies of the young Australians were taking residence
Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen and Homecoming by Bruce Dawe are about the disaster of war, yet they speak of different wars with different mindsets of the soldiers. In the following essay I discuss the history behind the poems, the poetic devices that Owen and Dawe used. Each poem addresses their own truths about war.
The first poem is from WW1 where ignorance was common, so common that boys of only 17 years were signing up for “the adventure of a life time”. The “adventure” turned out to be later known as the Great War, which shook families for generations, and its dark tendrils still reaching out today. The battles were bigger, the death counts were unnecessarily high; and the artillery was bigger and better …show more content…
The government tried conscriptions, which backfired on them greatly. Protests started and the people were standing up against the war. The battles may have been fought by soldiers, but the war was played by politicians. This war showed that it didn’t bring disgrace to your family if you didn’t fight, but rather showed your ability to keep up what the politicians were spouting; and in some cases if you went to war people would disrespect you for that choice. The history behind these two poems are overwhelmed with war and all its horrors.
There are numerous poetic devices used in Dulce et Decorum est and Homecoming, that were all used effectively to ingrain the poet’s message into audience.
Dawe uses a lot of repetition especially the words ‘they’re’,‘ing’ words and ‘them’ (in stanza 1, lines 1-6). This helps with the pace of the poem and makes the poem flows a lot better. Both the poems use imagery throughout, especially Homecoming. When Dawe says ‘the steaming chow mein’ (Line 11) that can be related back to the weather and conditions of Vietnam at that time. Dawe also uses imagery, in the example ‘they’re zipping them up in green plastic bags’ (stanza 1, line 4). This gives the audience the ability to picture the horror of the green plastic bags the bodies of the young Australians were taking residence