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Analyse short Written Text(s) Of all of the poetry we have studied this year, the poems of Rupert Brooke are the only ones which look at the idea of war in a positive way. Brooke uses rich majestic language and “polite” words to convey his idea that war is one’s “glorious” opportunity for redemption. Other poets such as Siegfried Sassoon and F.S Flint use darks words and horribly start contrast and irony to effectively make the reader understand that war is a horrible and cruel hell.  Rupert Brooke died of blood poisoning before he could experience the true cruelty of war, so one would assume this is why he views war in such a manner. In his poem “1914 peace” he wraps the idea of war up in his romantic vocabulary so that the reader is cushioned from the literal blow that war truly emanates. Brooke does this because he sees war as a magnificent ordeal and a great opportunity to defend his queen. He writes: “Now God be thanked who has matched us with this hour…” Here he praises God for the war and thanks him for the opportunity “who has caught our youth and wakened us from sleeping.” Brooke utilises emotive language like “wakened” and “caught our youth” to stir up emotions in the reader so that the reader will have no choice but to run off to the war and fight with pride as he has done. So although I do not agree with war, I can see why officials chose to use his poetry as war propaganda because he is quite persuasive in his writing. Brooke uses techniques that helped me to understand that to fight for your country in the war would be an honourable experience, no matter how wrong the idea of war is. In his poem “Lament”, F.S Flint uses vocabulary and individual words to the opposite effect. He portrays war as a hellish nightmare where we are sending our young men to their deaths. The words he chooses to use create a dark and cruel perspective of war. For example he writes: “The young men of this world have been condemned to death.” He chooses to use words like “condemned” and “death” to strongly enforce his negative views of what war causes. Flint goes where Brooke didn’t and blatantly screams the consequences of war at the reader, helping me to acknowledge and understand the “cost” of war. Siegfried Sassoon is another poet with a strongly negative opinion of war. In his poem “Survivors” he words drip with sarcasm which command the reader to understand the effects war has. For example Sassoon writes: “No doubt they’ll soon get well. The shock and strain has caused their stammering; disconnected talk.” He does actually mean what he writes here when he says “they’ll soon get well.’ Sarcasm is used to portray his hatred of the horrible consequences of war he experienced. Sassoon also uses start contrast in his poem “Suicide in the Trenches” to shock the reader in to the same realisation. For example he writes: ‘I once knew a simple solider boy, who grinned at life in empty joy…” and then he goes on to say : “ he put a bullet through his brain and no one spoke of him again.’ The immense contrast between these two phrases is so “straight-up” and “stark” that the reader realises the pressure of the horrible circumstances the young soldiers were in. Sassoon was the most effective poet, utilising his near-malicious techniques to “shock” me, the reader, into the realisation of how cruel war is and the horrible consequences it brings.  In conclusion, whilst all three poets were completely convinced that their views on war were correct, techniques were used to impact the reader in opposite ways. Brooke used majestic, romantic vocabulary to convince and persuade the reader of the glorious opportunity he saw war as. Alternatively, Flint and Sassoon used “dark” vocabulary, Irony (sarcasm) and contrast to help me understand the harsh penalties of war. No matter where it is, no mater how big or small; war claims lives.  --- No. 2
 * __Essays about World War One Poetry__**

The two poems “Cannon Fodder” by Alec Waugh and “Peace 1914” by Rupert Brooke both effectively use language techniques to help me, the reader, imagine the situation being described in the poems. The poems both use language techniques; imagery, rhythm and symbolism to **help the reader imagine the situations of the texts.** In the poem “Cannon fodder” by Ale c Waugh there is use of the language technique of imagery. The text helps me imagine the body of a dead man lying in the battlefield in the First World War when he writes: “the circlet of flesh loosening its hold on muscle and sinews and bones feeling this slip.’ This examples uses strong imagery mixed with sibilance which helps me imagine a gruesome decaying body. Sibilance is the repetition of the sound “s’ in this poem and so I can “hear” the flesh slipping from the soldier’s bones. In the poem “Peace 1914” by Rupert Brooke, however, he uses imagery to help me imagine a death on the battle field as if dying there was a glorious thing to happen to someone: ‘Naught broken save the body, lost but breath.” This example helps me imagine that dying during war is anything but gruesome, but more triumphant. From these two examples of vivid imagery, I have found that they both help me imagine two very different opinions about death on the battlefield during the First World War.  In the poem “Peace 1914” by Rupert Brooke there is use of the language technique of rhythm. The rhythm used helps me to imagine a war scene during the First World War. It helps me imagine the uniform march of countless soldiers entering battle. He writes: “No got be thanked, who has matched us with this hour.” This example uses a small bit of Iambic Pentameter which gives the sentence a slight marching rhythm creating an image of stomping boots of the soldiers. In the poem “Cannon Fodder” by Alec Waugh, enjambemant and rhyme is used to help me imagine the loneliness of a man’s lifeless body, lying in a battlefield when he writes the rhetorical question: “Poor lonely thing, is death really a sleep? Or can you somewhere feel the vermin creep across your face…” The run on effect of the sentence gives the image of the body slowly, ceaselessly decaying into the earth, forgotten by everything else, but certainly not by us, the readers, who are forced by the effect of the rhyme of “sleep” and “creep”, to pause and reflect on image of the rats devouring his face. From these examples I was helped by the use of language techniques to imagine – too vividly – the situation of the soldiers in these two texts. The poem “Cannon Fodder” by Alec Waugh uses the language technique of symbolism to help me imagine “loss”. Waugh writes: “the face of the lover, sightless and raw red. You have not seen the cloak o9f the vermin swarming over the newly dead.’ This example helps image the symbol of loss by describing the face of a lover, obviously dead, and the person he loves is now lost to him forever. This loss is conveyed through the rhyme “red” and “dead’ which forces the reader to pause and imagine the loved soldier decaying. The pause forces us to reflect on the strong personification of “cloak of vermin” and feel the soldier wrapped in rats. In the poem “Peace 1914” Brooke includes symbolism to convey the powerful concept of redemption when he writes: ‘Oh! We who have known shame, we have found release there.” This example helps me imagine all of the men who have gone to war, with criminal convictions or shame of their own, to be forgiven for their sins back home through their taking part in the war. Or better still, dying. They can return home or not, as heroes. From these examples we can see the use of the language feature of symbolism helps me, the reader to understand the situation in the two texts.  In conclusion, the two poems “Cannon Fodder” by Alec Waugh and “Peace 1914’ by Rupert Brooke both use language techniques which help me imagine the situations conveyed in each text. Imagery, rhythm, rhyme, sibilance, symbolism and personification were used effectively for this. The images of war that we received were, on one hand, of the grotesque waste of human life, and on the other, the glory and optimism of marching off to the adventure of war and the opportunity to fight for King and Country. The situation of war still exists today, and I’m sure it is still glorified by those who wish to promote the battle. One in ten soldiers fighting in a theatre of war in today’s world is a child, I wonder which way they would prefer to view the situation that they have been forced into?