Thinking Activity : War Poetry
War poetry
• Compare any two poems concerning the subject, style of writing, and patriotism.
The Hero - siegfried sassoon
Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Hero” dramatizes society’s attempt to maintain an ideal about war and honor inapplicable to modern warfare. In the poem, an officer delivers news to a soldier’s mother about her son’s death using romantic old-war rhetoric.An Honorable Satire: Siegfried Sassoon’s “The Hero”for thousands of years, war poets often ignored the irony of battle in which such insignificant events lead to such magnified consequences. Instead, many poets focused their poems on the typical theme of honor.A heroic death no longer exists since traditional battle no longer exists. Fussell argues that “to call these things battles is to imply an understandable continuity with earlier British history and to imply that the war makes sense in a traditional way”.
The Fear - wilfrid wilson Gibson
I do not fear to die
Neath the open sky,
To meet death in the fight
Face to face, upright
But when at last we creep
Into a hole to sleep,
] tremble, cold with dread,
Lest I wake up dead.
Wilfrid left Hexham for London in 1912. He lived above the famous “The Poetry Bookshop” and met a group of poets, including Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke. During the First World War, Wilfrid tried to join the army on a number of occasions. He was rejected as physically unfit until late 1917 when he enlisted as a Private. Wilfrid did not serve abroad and was not involved in any fighting. However, much of his war poetry is written from the point of view of a soldier in the trenches. he wrote during the First World War, they are part of his “Battle” collection (see British Library link below). “Battle” was an influence on Wilfred Owen who read Wilfrid Wilson Gibson’s poetry while he was being treated for shell shock.
Subject
The poem "The Hero" is written from the perspective of an officer who has been tasked with delivering the news of Jack's death to his mother. The officer attempts to comfort the mother by telling her that Jack died a hero, but he is haunted by the reality of Jack's death, which was anything but heroic. "The Fear" is the primal fear of death and mortality. The speaker, seemingly a soldier facing the possibility of dying in battle, grapples with the terrifying prospect of annihilation and non-existence.
Styles of writing :
The poem uses everyday language and a relatively unadorned style, reminiscent of casual conversation. This creates a sense of immediacy and authenticity, drawing the reader directly into the scene and confronting them with the raw emotions of the mother and the officer.The poem is written in free verse, without a set rhyme scheme or meter. This simplicity reinforces the realism and directness of the poem, allowing the emotion to speak for itself without the distraction of complex forms.
Patriotism
The poem critiques a romanticized, glorifying version of patriotism that sends young men to war based on false promises of heroism and honor. The lines "He's for a bullet; they've told him he's going to die/ For his King and Country" expose the manipulation and deception used to fuel the war effort.The poem centers on a young man grappling with the call to war. He feels a sense of duty towards his country and king, yet this patriotism comes at a heavy cost. The speaker imagines the horrors of the battlefield, the fear of death, and the potential loss of his loved ones. This portrayal reveals a patriotism intertwined with sacrifice and personal fear, challenging the romanticized image of the brave soldier.
• Do you find any such regional poem/movies/web series/songs that can be compared to any one of the poems Also, give a proper explanation of the similarity.
"Ae watan " song
ऐ वतन ...
मेरे वतन ...
ऐ वतन .. आबाद रहे तू
आबाद रहे तू ..
आबाद रहे तू
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