War Poetry

Name:

Course:

Tutor:

Date:

War Poetry

The six war poems deliver different messages and tones to the audience. Having been written by different poets, each poem delivers a tone that makes the reader view the war in a different perception. If tone is taken to be the tone in the persona’s voice, then the poem written by Wilfred Owen with the title Dulce et Decorum est has a sarcastic and solemn tone. The poem ends with a statement such as “The old lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori” (line 15). The Latin part of the sentence literally means that it is sweet and right to die for ones country. The whole sentence means that it is a lie when they say that it is sweet and right for one to die for their country. This is after the poet has described the many painful experiences that the soldiers have to go through when in war.

Contrary to the first poem this poem written by Henry Reed with the title Naming of Parts portrays a different tone. The tone evident here is that of enthusiasm and pride. The poet shows the excitement of learning the parts of a rifle. He is also excited about the progress they have made since they became recruits of the war. He states that “Yesterday, We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning, We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day, To-day we have naming parts” (1-4 lines). While the poet in the first poem is sarcastic about the encouragement given to soldiers when warring, the poet in the second poem tells of the enthusiasm and the anticipation in the war recruits.

The poem written by Stephen Crane by the title War is Kind had an ironic tone. The poem is directed to the loved ones and the family members of the soldiers in the battle field. The poet constantly states that “do not weep, war is kind” (last two lines of the 1, 3, 5 stanzas). This is an ironic and false consolation given to the family members and the loved ones of those warring. It is quite clear that war is brutal and unsparing. The poem tries to criticize those who console those who have lost their loved ones with words such as “it is okay” for it is usually not okay. War is painful and not merciful.

The tone of the poem written by Randall Jarrell by the title The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner is that of fear. He begins his poem with the lines “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State,” (line 1). This line depicts the state in which most of the teenagers were forced by the government to go into war. The poet has the fear of dying in the battle ground. He is also afraid of the way he will die. As though he will not be significant and that is why he uses the word “washed me out” (last line). The poem showed the state of mind of most soldiers being recruited or going into war.

William Butler Yeats’ poem entitled An Irishman Foresees his Death has a tone of balance and reason, which can also be identified as realistic. It gives an encounter of an airman who is about to meet his death. The poet expresses the encounters of a soldier and how he perceives the approaching death. The balance is seen when he states that “Those I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love” (3 and 4 lines). This shows the balance that he has no hatred for the ones he is fighting and his country will not be hurt by the war. He chooses to be realistic of the approaching death and stays off what lays contrary to his situation.

The poem by Thomas Hardy entitled The Man he Killed has a brutal and a condemning tone. The poet shows the senselessness of war when one kills the other because they were simply on the opposite side. He criticizes the way men kill each other as though they were hunters. This is depicted by the lines “I shot him dead because- -Because he was my foe,” (lines 9&10). This shows the unreasoning and brutality in the battlefield.

The six poems analyze the different perceptions and situations of the war. All poems seem to criticize the war situation. They bring out the brutality, the fear, sadness, the pain and the false hopes that come with the war. All the poems bring the real scenes of the war from the soldiers in the war to the people who have loved ones in the battlefield.