war1
The two poems "Suicide in the Trenches" and "Dulce Et Decorum Est" show resentment toward the war. The reason for this is because both poets Sigfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen had first hand experience in the war unlike their contemporaries Stephen Crane and Rupert Brooke who glorified war and the theme of patriotism. Since Crane's and Brooke's poems glorified war and encouraged young men to enroll in the army they would be popular in the war period and so were published before Sassoon's and Owen's works. As described by Richard Aldington in Life for Life Sake, "It is only after a war that the experience of the individual survivor seems to have either interest or value. During a war civilians only think in terms of 'our side' and 'their side'.". Sassoon and Owen are graphic in their imagery depicting suffering as they try to get the attention of the civilians during the war. Both poets use various poetic devices and techniques in their poems thus creating vivid images to show their fellow countrymen the true facts of the war."Suicide in the Trenches" and "Dulce Et Decorum Est" deals with the struggle of soldiers in the war. The poems are graphic as they display suffering in ghastly detail. While "Suicide in the Trenches"
Sigfried Sassoon starts off by introducing a common soldier and describing his life in the war. Another device used by Owen is triple rhyme in line sixteen "He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. The purpose of both poems is to prove to the civilians that war is not all glorious and it is not all " sweet and becoming to die for ones country". In the first stanza he creates a situation in the battlefield where the fatigued soldiers are being killed by falling shells, while in the second stanza he creates a dreadful image of soldiers being killed by gas attacks. Here Owen describes the look on the dead man's face comparing it to a hopeless devil that no longer wants to indulge in sin. They are given the human characteristics of being cowed and morose. In the poem "Suicide in the Trenches", Sassoon tells his fellow countrymen back home, that by cheering the soldiers in the parades they are not cheering them on to glory but rather to "hell". Owen's frustration regarding false glorification can be proved in the last stanza when Owen states "Sneak home and pray you'll never know/ The hell where youth and laughter go" (Owen 11-12)Wilfred Owen like his contemporary Sassoon informs the people that if they could imagine the conditions in which the war was fought they would not think that the war was glorious. Besides being a similarity it could also be evidence of mood because it creates an atmosphere of hopelessness. Owen uses triple rhyme as a musical device and also increases the pessimistic mood of the poem. Both poems deal with this main theme in the last stanzas. They then narrowing the war front anguish down to their own suffering or the suffering of one particular individual. He states that the soldier does not have food and is infected by lice. He wishes that the people would go home and pray for the soldiers instead of wasting their time at the parades. They want the people to lose their hunger for glory and instead turn humble and pray for the soldiers' safety and the end of the war.
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Acceptance Essays
