War_Poetry

This essay will be about war poetry. The first poem I am going to discuss is ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen. The second poem will be ‘Before Agincourt’ by William Shakespeare. I will talk about the poets of these two poems and when and where the poems were written. I will also compare the way the poets portray their feelings of war. Dulce Et Decorum Est was written in 1917 during the first world war. The poet Wilfred Owen was a soldier who fought in the trenches during the war. He wrote the poem while being injured in the Craig-Lockhart hospital in Paris. Whilst in hospital Owen met another war poet named Siegfried Sassoon who inspired and taught him how to write war poetry. The poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written to enlighten the British public the war wasn’t how they expected it to be. It wasn’t the luxury they thought it would be actually it was the opposite. The conditions the soldiers lived in were terrible. Other poetic devices such as how Owen creates an emotional link between himself and the reader. This makes the reader believe they are there with Owen experiencing what he had experienced. For example, “If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace.” Here, Wilfred Owen asks the reader to consider if they can imagine seeing the incident happening to them. This makes the reader think about the issue he has pointed out which therefore creates a link where the reader and Owen are linked in there feelings. As a result the reader knows how Owen feels. Another poetic device he has used is 1st person narrative where he has written as he is seeing the event happen at the present time. For example, “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning”. This is a very descriptive sentence about how the soldier’s anguish after the gas attacks. It helps the reader to imagine what Owen is experiencing. In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ the author Wilfred Owen further portrays his feeling of war by way of how he describes the hell in the trenches. For example “bent double, like old beggars under sacks” show how these soldiers were treated. The second war poem Before Agincourt was written in the late 1500’s by the playwright and poet William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare was one of the playwrights. He was English and lived in the Elizabethan era of England. The poem ‘Before Agincourt’ was from one of Shakespeare’s play called ‘Henry V’. The Battle of Agincourt (where the poem came from) was fought in 1415 as part of the hundred year war between England and France. The poem is the speech portrayed by Shakespeare to Henry V making just before the battle. The principle of the poem was to convince Henry’s soldiers to not give up fighting the war even though they were outnumbered by 6,000 to 25,000 Soldiers. He described war as an honourable thing to do. Although Shakespeare has used many poetic devices such as forceful and emotive language I think this poem has been written to persuade soldiers about the wrong belief-that war is right. However Shakespeare himself did not experience war so he did know that war was actually a bad thing. Poetic devices such as inclusive pronouns persuaded the soldiers to carry on fighting for their country. For example “we few” portrays that the king considers the soldiers as equal to him. By saying this the spectators believe that they are as special as the king, this could motivate the listeners. In ‘Before Agincourt’ the author William Shakespeare portrays his feeling absolutely the opposite of Dulce et Decorum est By way of how he persuades them the soldiers that fighting for your country and king is good and should be done. For example “old men forget, yet all shall be forget, but heel remember “ in this passage Henry V is saying that all men will die but will not be remembered but because you are fighting in this war when you will die people shall remember you. In conclusion, I believe both poems are very persuasive. The authors use many different poetic devices to sway their audiences towards their point of view. In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, Wilfred Owen uses gruesome imagery to narrate the horrors of war. Wilfred Owen Gives an insight to the pain and suffering behind the frontline, the pain and suffering mainly due to the fact he wrote it while serving in the war. However, in Before Agincourt, Shakespeare also uses many poetic devices in his poem but does not show many reasons for me to consider that war is right and a honourable thing to do. I think Wilfred Owen has been more successful in persuading me that war is a bad thing. The poetic devices such as the metaphors, the alternative rhyme scheme, enjambments and the increase of pace make this poem a well written poem.