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... and the blood that comes gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, The final section of the stanza refers to the younger generation whose fathers and grandfathers had fought in the war. When these children ask for some old war stories then they must not be glorified thus hiding the true horror of war, purely to satisfy their need for some desperate glory. They must be told with truth and the understanding that there can be no glory in war, only immeasurable pain and loss. The three poems mentioned, have aspects to them, which are very similar throughout.
The first, and most glaringly obvious is the theme of the poems. All three, [It was a Navy Boy], Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Decorum Est, all have a war related theme and story. This may have a lot to do with the fact that they were all written during the time of the First World War and with first hand experience of it. The first poem starts with a relatively good attitude towards war and describes the navy boy who has been out serving his country and has returned home with twenty-five pounds and looking very fit, strong and healthy.
The second poem has a much more negative attitude as it describes death and what young fresh faced boys face on arrival at the front line, none of which is positive or good. The third poem however has a completely anti-war view and describes a lot of the horrible and gruesome things which happen when at war. As the war progressed the soldiers began to have a dull acceptance of the horror of events around them, no longer shocked by the cruel death of their friends and comrades. Owen was no different and as his poems progressed his own experiences of the war showed in his writing, becoming more and more negative towards it. The only real other similarity, which is present through all three poems, is the time at which they were written. All of these poems were war-time poems and Owen used the war as his inspiration for all three.
This point is linked to the previous point of comparison. There are also comparisons between the poems which are present in two but not in the third. The earliest poem [It was a Navy Boy], appears to written in the way of an inexperienced poet. It has nine stanzas all of equal length and with a regular rhyme scheme. There is no variation in length or pace throughout the poem.
The language used is fairly basic. Phrases such as I shared my cigarettes and books with him and as under currents where the waters smile both dont have the depth and feeling found in his later poems. (These kinds of phrases are found in later poems for example, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Monstrous anger and rifles rapid rattle. Monstrous really describes the scale of the subject, and clever ways of emphasising points by the use of alliteration in the second quote) None of these types of language tricks and touches are present in the first poem and we can only put this down to lack of experience in poetry. The second and third poems both have variation and clever language tricks which make the difference between the good and the not so good poems. Things such as, Mood change, Pace change and a variation in stanza length with a very irregular rhyme scheme make this all-important difference. I have already taken examples of this from Anthem for Doomed youth, but from Dulce et decorum est there are many deeply descriptive words which have had long thought on their selection, words like Knock-Kneed, Coughing like Hags and Blood-shod to mention a few.
Pace change is mainly apparent at the start of the second stanza with the opening words being Gas! Gas! which immediately draw your attention to the change of pace. This pace is maintained with the use of words like ecstasy and fitting the clumsy helmets just in time which show the relevance of time, which as a consequence causes the distinct pace change. The point that is being made is that the first poem is not as well prepared and thought about and just follows a pre-planned structure. The second and third are much more creative and effective due to their irregularity. [It was a Navy Boy] was written round about the time that Owen made the decision to sign up for the army.
It does not have any horrible death images throughout the poem. The other two however are full of these sorts of images. These two poems are similar in this way. The anti-war attitude which is created, is done by the use of evil and death related vocabulary in anthem for doomed youth such as Doomed in the title, Die as cattle, which develops the idea of slaughtering each other at war. The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells is a very detailed image which describes the noise made by the shells flying overhead of which any could be coming straight for where you are sitting or standing or in fact sleeping. This poem is a sonnet with eight lines in the first stanza and six in the second stanza.
The first is the question and the second is the answer. In Dulce et Decorum Est the almost disturbing vocabulary and imagery formed is apparent in phrases such as Haunting Flares, Blood-Shod, White eyes writhing and like a devils sick of sin. These phrases all portray death and fear at its most terrifying, setting a scene that is not present in the first poem where there is innocence and lack of understanding of what war really was like. Out of the three poems the second and third are the most similar.
This is because Owen has first hand experience of war when he wrote them whereas, just an idealistic view of how glorious war could be when writing (It was a Navy Boy). Poem one although being of a similar theme has little in common with the other two. The huge similarity between two and three could also be explained by the fact that they were written within ten months of each other whereas [It was a Navy Boy] was written two years earlier before the onset of Owens own war experiences. Other differences I have noticed in the writing of the poems are that [It was a Navy Boy] is written in the I form. This shows straight away that the poet is an important part of the poem, having a slightly glamorous role, being referred to as sir. The boy also is seen as a glamorous character, having Strong silken limbs and a head golden like the oranges that catch their brightness from the Las Palmas sun A very different description to the old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags In Dulce et Decorum Est The poem contains a lot of dialogue, which shows a meeting between the poet and the Navy Boy.
Through the poem there is enough information for us to follow the conversation between the two characters that feature. Towards the end in the penultimate stanza we gain some valuable information about the poet, he has been cleansed of his cowardice whilst having his conversation, and he gained courage from this to enlist himself, for the onslaught of war. In the two other poems there is no dialogue and with the exception of the description of the soldier who was gassed there are no other characters throughout the poems. Another difference between the three poems is the structure and the way they are written. The first poem has its stanzas written in a pattern form with a regular structure, which repeats itself nine times. Each section contains four lines.
This makes the poem a little tedious and repetitive, which could lead the reader to lose interest rather quickly. This could also happen due to the lack of variation in pace or creative vocabulary to paint really clear pictures in the readers head. The second poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth, is written in two stanzas of differing length. The first contains eight lines, and the second only six. This is very similar to the sonnets as they were written in a very similar form. The rhyme scheme also is more varied than the first poem with its repetitive scheme.
This helps the reader to hold interest as there is less repetitiveness altogether. The vocabulary is also much more descriptive and words used to provide vivid impact upon the reader. Dulce et Decorum Est, is, I believe, the most interesting and exciting poem of the three. It is written in four stanzas. (The poem in some publications is shown to have only three as the third stanza is tacked on the end of the second making it all one. ) In the edition I am analysing there are four stanzas. This is believed by most to be the better way of presenting it. The first stanza contains seven lines.
They are all roughly of equal length, with no lines of only a few words and none spreading across the page. This equal line method is apparent throughout the poem, in all four stanzas. Stanza two has slightly fewer lines with six (or eight depending on the edition), this is an important section of the poem as it describes briefly but graphically the gas attack, which killed one of the men. The third stanza has only two lines, In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. These two lines are of great importance and create great impact in the poem.
The final stanza is the longest of the four (three) it contains twelve lines and concludes and wraps up the whole poem. The final two lines, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est, / Pro patria mori, meaning it is good and sweet to die for your country really sum up the poem and in fact Owens very negative view on war. The three poems which I have compared and contrasted, fall into two groups, pro-war and Anti-war. The first poem [It was a navy boy] is a very pro war poem.
It was perhaps inspired by Owens decision to join the army and was aimed at others who he hoped would follow him. The second and third poems of which I have referred, Anthem for doomed youth and Dulce et Decorum est, are both anti war, the latest being more against war. These were inspired by Owens changed view on war as he had witnessed the awful sights and sounds of front line combat. It is almost as if he needs to emphasis that the innocence he portrayed in the first poem was a mistaken and bore no resemblance to the true reality of the horror of death in war.
The poem I personally preferred was the most recently composed, Dulce et decorum Est. When Owen wrote this he was more experienced and had a clear view on what he was writing. The other two for me, particularly [It was a navy boy] was too long and overly repetitive, although some of the imagery created from the words used in Anthem for doomed youth was very impressive. When Owen died at a young age, his friend Siegfried Sassoon was responsible for publishing his work. He may have made some minor alterations to them, yet the large majority of the work was without doubt that of one of the greatest World War One poets that ever lived.
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Research essay sample on Dulce Et Decorum Est Second And Third
