Hello Friends,
I am Bhavna Sosa, Student of MK Bhavnagar University. This task given by our Pro. Vaidehi ma'am. Here I have discuss war poetry.
1) What is your understanding of war poetry?
War poetry is, simply put, poetry that deals with the subject of war. War poetry as we know it effectively began during World War I.
Often composed during a particular conflict, these poems are usually written by soldiers. However, nurses and doctors in military hospitals, and even war correspondents have written war poetry. In general, the authors are all people who have seen what really happens on the battlefield with their own eyes. Although people have been writing verses about war for thousands of years, war poetry differs considerably from previous eras’ poems about conflicts. The poems written by soldiers from World War I and later conflicts were not epics; these verses did not praise heroes or epic battles. Rather, they often questioned the purpose of war, why people fight, and overall an unflinchingly realistic portrayal of the nature of battle. War poetry is exclusively realistic, showing warfare in an unglamorous and unromantic light.
What is a War Poet?
Rupert Brooke : 1887-1915
Robert Graves : 1895-1985
Edward Thomas : 1878-1917
Ivor Gurney:1890-1937
Note down the difference of all the War Poets.
Rupert Brooke : 1887-1915
Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially "The Soldier". He was also known for his boyish good looks, which were said to have prompted the Irish poet W. B. Yeats to describe him as "the handsomest young man in England".
Siegfried Sassoon: 1867-1967
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war. Sassoon became a focal point for dissent within the armed forces when he made a lone protest against the continuation of the war in his "Soldier's Declaration" of 1917, culminating in his admission to a military psychiatric hospital; this resulted in his forming a friendship with Wilfred Owen, who was greatly influenced by him. Sassoon later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the "Sherston trilogy".
Wilfred Owen : 1893 - 1918
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by his mentor Siegfried Sassoon and stood in contrast to the public perception of war at the time and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke. Among his best-known works – most of which were published posthumously – are "Dulce et Decorum est", "Insensibility", "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Futility", "Spring Offensive" and "Strange Meeting".
Wilfred Wilson Gibson :1878-1962
Wilfrid Wilson Gibson was a British Georgian poet, associated with World War I but also the author of much later work.
Ivor Gurney : 1890-1937
Ivor Bertie Gurney was an English poet and composer, particularly of songs. He was born and raised in Gloucester. He suffered from manic depression through much of his life and spent his last 15 years in psychiatric hospitals. Critical evaluation of Gurney has been complicated by this, and also by the need to assess both his poetry and his music. Gurney himself thought of music as his true vocation: "The brighter visions brought music; the fainter verse".
3.)Compare any two poems with reference to the subject, style of writing and patriotism.
1) The Soldier
The poem "The Soldier" is one of English poet Rupert Brooke's (1887–1915) most evocative and poignant poems—and an example of the dangers of romanticising World War I, comforting the survivors but downplaying the grim reality. Written in 1914, the lines are still used in military memorials today.
Subject :-
If I should die, think only this of me:
From the first line, the reader is asked to pay close attention to what the speaker (henceforth referred to with male pronouns) has to say. The reader will be instructed on how best to commemorate the speaker once his time has come to pass. This is clearly a very important matter.
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
These two lines form a rather confusing sentence. How will a foreign place be another place, specifically England? The wording "some corner" also makes it sound like the place being referred to is out of the way and likely to be forgotten. This presents another type of conflict because the reader is being told how to remember the speaker.
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
As the stanza continues, the reader may continue to be confused. Now the speaker claims a "richer dust" will be covered by a "reach earth." By earth, the speaker most likely means dirt or soil. If the dirt is covering something, the conclusion of burial can be drawn and the three lines begin to come together.
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Now, the ideas formed from the previous lines really begin to be more cohesive to the reader. The "dust" that will be buried was born and raised by England. This strongly suggests the speaker is referring to himself. He will pass away and be buried; he will be forever English just as sure as he was born. With these observations, the lines "That there’s some corner of a foreign field / That is for ever England" make sense. The speaker is the piece of England and, should he die and be buried in a foreign land, that area right around him will be English.
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
The "her" in this line is England personified in a nurturing, or motherly, role. Along with the previous line, the reader truly begins to feel the strong attachment the speaker has with his homeland. The speaker’s English background is brought up within the first three lines of the poem and further explored as it progresses.
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
The speaker’s attachment to England becomes all the more evident in these lines. He is not only very devoted to his homeland, but very proud of it as well. This is perfectly plausible given he is a soldier and out fighting for his country. He even goes so far as to claim his body belongs to England. "A body of England’s" sounds quite possessive, given the use of the word of rather than for. He is entirely English and belongs to England, so much so he has proudly served his country’s military force. It is unclear if the soldier is thinking of death or is dying due to warfare.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
This is the first line of the sestet, marking a turn in the poem. The reader is directly addressed again for the first since the first line of the poem. Similar to the beginning, the speaker is instructing the reader’s thoughts. In essence, he is asking to be remembered in a positive way. This is insinuated with him saying his heart has "shed away" evil.
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
A pulse is a sign of life. However, it is death that is being discussed. For this reason, the "eternal mind" is mentioned. The mind is what lives on, not the physical brain. Once again, the speaker’s devotion to his homeland of England is demonstrated. He claims his thoughts were "given" to him by England and to England they shall return. He attributes everything he has and is to his homeland, including his very body and his thoughts. He was born from England and he will die to and in England, even if just spiritually.
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
The poem ends on a peaceful note of death. The speaker describes the calming effects of England. The "her" in these lines is used to refer to England, as was previously done in the poem. Through the use of words such as dreams, laughter, and gentleness, the reader is able to feel as tranquil as the speaker does. The final line may be taken as the end of the soldier’s life. Now that he has said what was on his mind and what he would like the reader to think of, he is able to rest peacefully "under an English heaven."
Style of writing :-
The Soldier” borrows from both the Italian, or Petrarchan, sonnet tradition and the Elizabethan, or Shakespearean, tradition. Like a Petrarchan sonnet, Brooke’s poem is divided into two main parts, the octave and the sestet.
However, Brooke’s octave is rhymed in the Elizabethan tradition, ababcdcd, while his set follows the Petrarchan rhyme scheme, efgefg.
Patriotism :-
Brooke’s poem was famous for its expression of patriotism. The speaker’s unflinching acceptance of his possible death and the way by which he assigns meaning to it, all underscore his unquestioning pride in his country and his devotion to it.
He equates his very body with England in the first stanza, stating that the earth in which it is buried is richer because of his nationality. Even the speaker’s thoughts are “by England given,” and the sky his corpse lies beneath is “an English Heaven.” Extreme patriotism, where one not only loves and is devoted to one’s nation, but also holds that nation as better and more important than any other, is called nationalism. Nationalism ran rampant in the Western world at the beginning of the twentieth century and was a primary cause of World War I.
Ironically, it was the language of nationalism that both the attacked countries and the attacking countries used in justifying their actions.
2) The Hero :-
The Hero, by Siegfried Lorraine Sassoon (1886-1967), is one of the disputed war poems this British officer and poet wrote in the period 1915-1918. When The Hero appeared in print, in 1917, many people were shocked. Fellow-officers condemned him.
Subject :-
Jack fell as he’d have wished,’ the mother said,
And folded up the letter that she’d read.
‘The Colonel writes so nicely.’ Something broke
In the tired voice that quavered to a choke.
She half looked up. ‘We mothers are so proud
Of our dead soldiers.’ Then her face was bowed.
The diction in the first stanza imitates older war poems that focus on honor, misleading the reader. The mother’s diction in this stanza is characteristic of old-war rhetoric and alludes to themes such as honor and pride about a soldier’s death.
In this stanza the mother comments on the colonel’s nice writing almost immediately. Readers wonder why the mother focuses on something as insignificant as the colonel’s writing when she should focus on her son’s death. By emphasising the inappropriate comment on the colonel’s writing, Sassoon demonstrates how World War I made romantic diction in poetry appear inappropriate. Sassoon accentuates “dead soldiers” by dividing the mother’s sentence between two lines. By emphasising that the soldiers are dead, the poem suggests that mothers are only proud of their soldiers when they die. Sassoon overstates this pride mothers have for their dead sons when, later in the poem, the mother is so proud of her son that she “brimmed with joy”. Such seemingly incongruous diction Sassoon dramatises society’s obsession with the honor of dying for one’s country.
At the end of the first stanza, the reader pities the mother but takes comfort in knowing she is proud of her son. The reader then discovers an unexpected turn that defines the purpose of the poem. As the “Brother Office"leaves, the speaker reveals the “gallant lies” the officer told the mother. Instead of thinking the soldier died an honorable death, the reader experiences the final instance of dashed hope by learning the son died as a “cold-footed, useless swine”. Sassoon misleads the reader into believing the soldier died in a more romantic sense characteristic of older wars. He did not die heroically, but rather could not cope with the horrors of trench warfare and, after many failed attempts to return home, finally died in a panic.
Style of Writing :-
Written in iambic pentameter, ‘The Hero’ comprises three stanzas of six lines length largely made up of rhyming couplets, save the first four lines of the second stanza, which have an alternating rhyme scheme. Rhyming couplets, of course, are particularly effective in relaying neat epigrams or moral statements. The simplicity of the rhyme scheme perhaps apes the newspaper poetry of the time, which often went in for sentimental attitudes about the heroism of the British ‘boys’ and their sacrifice.
Patriotism :-
Perhaps the mother should know the truth so that she can become more aware of reality. However, the mother is so certain of her son’s bravery and war’s prestige that she would not be able to assimilate the truth with her own misconceptions. The mother’s ignorance represents society’s inability to accept the reality of war and therefore there is little reason to try to reform society’s outlooks toward war.
4.) Do you find any such regional poem/movies/web series/songs which can be compared to any one of the poems given here. Also, give a proper explanation of the similarity.
There are many songs and poems relevant to war. Here I have compared one song ' Oo Desh Mere ' with 'The Hero' poem.
Here we can see that 'Oo Desh Mere' song and 'The Hero' poem are very similar.
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