World War One Poets
This week we looked at the world war one poets and the way the war impacted the British culture as well as their lives. Many of the famous poets of this time discussed masculinity, as well as patriotism and even individual alienation. Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen are the two poets who focused on this week. They represent the two ends of the spectrums of time in the war. Brooke wrote in the early half of the war, from 1914-1916. Brooke wrote about idealism and natural purpose. Brooke was from a high, upper middle class. One important aspect to remember is that Brooke was a famous poet before the war. His poetry reflected the poetry of the Georgian poets, who perhaps started a new "romantic" revival of poetry. Many of the idealistic and "natural" sense of the poetry can be seen in his poem "The Fish" in this poem, we actually get the sense of what it is like to be a fish. He expresses a world of unchange and even change in words, something extremely difficult to do. However, the poem we were looking at was "Peace" one of his war sonnets. This sonnet is very traditional, written in the old form of the sonnet. As Professor Kuin said in tutorial, he is probably talking about the decadents, or the English of the older time, who to him were boring and unclean. Therefore, those who were better were those English soldiers of his time who were, like him and the real "soldiers", ready to die and even volunteered to be soldiers, knowing fully well they would probably die. The best line perhaps in the whole poem is the last line "And the worst friend and enemy is but Death". When you think about it, it really is true, especially in time of war. In World War One, no one knew what it would be like to live in times of warfare. No one knew if they would live to see the next day, yet they all understood that Death can be a friend and an enemy. It's an interesting point to think about. Perhaps if Brooke hadn't die in the first part of the war, he would have become a great poet, and perhaps his ideolistic view of the war and the world after the war would have changed. Yet, the poems we have from him are truly breathtaking.
Owen, on the other hand, had experienced more of the war than Brooke. Although he died at the age of 24, much younger than Brooke,he lived in the time of war. Altough he is the least shocking of all the poets, he was realistic, blunt and ver critical of war. Some of the features of Owen's greatness were: 1) he had the subtlety of experience. The experience comes across not out of anger, but as lived experience. Also 2) His use of language. Although it was not as lush as Brooke, his language was more restrained. The best known of his poems is Anthem of Doomed Youth. The image the is very vivid in this poem is the image of a funeral, however it is a proper funeral by a church, not a army funeral. The images used, the passing bell, the blinds drawn, the flowers on the casket are all aspects of a funeral, yet they were are missing in the "funerals" of the soldiers who had died. In a way, he is showing the reality of war, how no one has a proper funeral after war. So many people died, it was not possible to have a funeral as they should, and also, that's the brutality of war. Yet, as the poem closes, we undestand the image he is trying to show us "And each slow dusk ad rawing down of blinds". This analogy to the pulling down the blinds when one dies and the "pulling" down of the darkness over the trenches describes the most important part. The memorial for these boys is the sunset, in a way. This poem is by far one of the best poems of all written in World War One. It shows the bitterness and cruelty of war, yet in a nice and dare I say calm way. In a way, Owen shows us reality through images and words. War changed everyone in Britain, and impacted British culture forever. And it is true, after war, no one is ever the same. Yet at that time, no one had ever experienced war before, it was a mystery to them. These poets made war a reality and showed the world what they all had to experience. It makes us appreciate what we have now, not having to fight in a war or live in times of war.
Owen, on the other hand, had experienced more of the war than Brooke. Although he died at the age of 24, much younger than Brooke,he lived in the time of war. Altough he is the least shocking of all the poets, he was realistic, blunt and ver critical of war. Some of the features of Owen's greatness were: 1) he had the subtlety of experience. The experience comes across not out of anger, but as lived experience. Also 2) His use of language. Although it was not as lush as Brooke, his language was more restrained. The best known of his poems is Anthem of Doomed Youth. The image the is very vivid in this poem is the image of a funeral, however it is a proper funeral by a church, not a army funeral. The images used, the passing bell, the blinds drawn, the flowers on the casket are all aspects of a funeral, yet they were are missing in the "funerals" of the soldiers who had died. In a way, he is showing the reality of war, how no one has a proper funeral after war. So many people died, it was not possible to have a funeral as they should, and also, that's the brutality of war. Yet, as the poem closes, we undestand the image he is trying to show us "And each slow dusk ad rawing down of blinds". This analogy to the pulling down the blinds when one dies and the "pulling" down of the darkness over the trenches describes the most important part. The memorial for these boys is the sunset, in a way. This poem is by far one of the best poems of all written in World War One. It shows the bitterness and cruelty of war, yet in a nice and dare I say calm way. In a way, Owen shows us reality through images and words. War changed everyone in Britain, and impacted British culture forever. And it is true, after war, no one is ever the same. Yet at that time, no one had ever experienced war before, it was a mystery to them. These poets made war a reality and showed the world what they all had to experience. It makes us appreciate what we have now, not having to fight in a war or live in times of war.