A Critical Analysis of Three World War one Poems

A Critical Analysis Of Three World War One Poems.

'The Soldier' Rupert Brooke

'The General' Siegfried Sassoon

'Dulce Et Decorum Est' Wilfred Owen.

Sassoon and Owen where treated at the same mental hospital during world war one. Do their poems appear to be the work of madmen?

Rupert Brooke's poem 'The Soldier' was written at the start of World War One, this was before the horror of the trenches was known. The poem is a traditional sonnet in which Brooke expresses his love for England and how he believes it is right to fight and die for his country. However Brooke never discovered what war was like in reality as he died in 1915, before he actually got to fight in the war. Therefore his poem is very idealistic and has a very traditional viewpoint.

Brooke's poem is written in iambic pentameter and has alternate line rhyme he also uses metaphors and euphemism.

Brooke's poem would inspire young men to enlist and would bring comfort to the families of the victims of war. In his poem Brooke uses repetition of the word England in a very patriotic style. He also uses personification to describe England as if it were a person, for example, 'her sights and sounds, dreams happy as her day'. Sassoon's poem 'The General' and Owen's poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est.' could be considered as deliberate responses to Brooke's 'The Soldier.'

'The General' points out the contrast between the soldiers who die and the Generals who send them to their deaths. He says in his last line ' But he did for them both by his plan of attack' which shows how the Generals killed their soldiers by sending them of to their deaths. This is a good end for the poem as it leaves the reader thinking about the incompetence of the general. In this poem Sassoon uses irony to criticise the folly of war. Sassoon's poem is written in iambic hexameter and has alternate line rhyme except for the last three lines, which are rhyming triplets.

Sassoon's poem shows that he is an intelligent man and knew how to use his wit.

Sassoon's poem 'The General' is a very effective poem even though it is only short and has no graphic description. It also gets its message across to the reader strongly.

Wilfred Owen's poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' could also be considered as a response to Rupert Brooke's 'The Soldier.' The readers of Owen's poem, looking at the title would expect to read something similar to Brooke's poem, something that would bring them comfort and pride. The traditional image of soldiers engendered in such songs as 'The British Grenadier' was of heroic patriots, Wilfred Owen destroys this traditional image, right from the start of his poem and the reader discovers what war was like in reality.

The poem begins by describing the soldiers but instead as describing them as tall noble and handsome, he describes them as 'like old beggars under sacks' and 'Knock-kneed, coughing like hags'. Owen included this description because it gives the reader an idea of how they were living in reality, as their accommodation was in dugouts, which were holes made in the sides of the trenches and covered in tarpaulin sheets. These poor living conditions gave rise to health problems apart from wounds caused by gunfire and gas. Owen describes the soldiers in a way that helps the reader visualise the appalling living conditions. The very first line of the poem would shock readers who had no idea of what war was like for the soldiers in the trenches. Owens poem is very realistic and is not idealistic, like Rupert Brook's poem 'The Soldier'. In his poem Owen is trying to convey to people who have no idea of what life in the trenches is really like, the hellishness of the conditions

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