Comparing Poetry
Institutional Affiliation
Student’s Name
Course Name/Section
Professor’s name
Date Submitted
?
I. Introduction
War is a calculated effort by a regime or other large organizations to end or overcome something that is perceived as bad or dangerous. War is described by extreme economic destruction, violence, social destruction, and death. “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “The Charge of the Light Brigade” were composed through the eyes of two different individuals. They each have different understandings of war, one leaning to the side of bravery and the other accounts a more tragic side. Through the use of literary devices in these two poems, the authors depict two different wars which have the same tragic outcome; death.
II. Discussion
In “Dulce et Decorum Est,” the poem is an account because it is extremely descriptive and it reveals the misery and truth that follows the war. The poet strategically uses alliteration to express the agony of the gas; “watch the white eyes writhing in his face.” To everyone who breathed it, the mustard gas caused immense pain. In “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” the poet uses personification to show the horridness of the place they were riding into “the jaws of death.” This phrase asserts that they were riding directly into death’s palace where they would soon meet their death. In “Dulce et Decorum Est,” the poet uses a rhyme scheme to demonstrate the repetition of marching steps. The poet asserts, “Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots”; this shows that they marched on despite the circumstances they faced. By strategically using literary devices, the poets present different viewpoints of war.
In “Dulce et Decorum Est,” the tone of the poem is depressing, tragic and acerbic. The poet shows the demise of the “innocent tongues” when he asserts, “the choking, guttering, and drowning.” This phrase demonstrates how agony and death are surrounding the poet. In “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” the poem exhibits an exhilarating and proud tone. The soldiers in unison ride into the “valley of death.” The soldiers bravely rode into battle. There exists an inescapable repetition of death; the six hundred are warring against cannons to the front, back, left, and right of them. The poet trusts that they battled bravely, but the commander was greatly mistaken in sending the “six hundred” into the “mouth of hell.” There is a significant difference in the tones of the two poems because one exhibits the glory coming from a battle well fought whereas the other shows truth and bitterness.
In “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” the poets talk about war and the death resulting from it. Death is presented as a heroic event in “The Charge of the Light Brigade”; “Honor the charge they made, Honor the Light Brigade, the noble six hundred.” By honoring the soldiers, it demonstrates that they did a very heroic and glorifying act, charging their opponents even if they lost the war and succumbed to death. Death is presented as ugly, horrible and miserable in “Dulce et Decorum Est.” The poet uses irony to demonstrate that death is the ugly truth which usually follows war and the two poets use death to show two different representations of war.
III. Conclusion
The war poems “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” represent two separate wars that have two different tones. The poet who composed “Dulce et Decorum Est” utilizes a rhyme pattern and alteration to show how horrible war is. The poet who composed “The Charge of the Light Brigade” utilized metaphors to exhibit how the noble six hundred were riding directly into death jaws. Literary devices were used by both poets to show death.
?
References
Celebrating English Poets ; Poetry Alfred Tennyson
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/charge-light-brigade
Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen Wilfred Owen https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est
