The Brutal Realities of War Expressed in Poetry Essay Example for Free

The Brutal Realities of War Expressed in Poetry Essay The poet’s confronts a very poetic perception of life and death by which he incorporated a very distinct mood in his poetry. He particularly engrosses himself to make a point of comparison between the life of those free animals and the soldiers. The speaker is English soldier, perhaps Isaac Rosenberg himself. The poetry has a touch of humor from the speaker’s observation towards the rat and the poppy in the first half of the poem. A rat in the trenches has caught the poet’s eye. He was amused with the fact that this animal is equally at home and comfortable to leap in both German and British trenches. ‘Now you have touched this English hand/ You will do the same to a German’ (Line 9-10) that says that the rat can freely pass between the English and German lines and is more likely to survive than those strong soldiers. In war, the soldiers’ life is of little value compared to the insects and animals roaming around. The speaker assumed that the rat as it passes both the German and English trenches wonders of what is happening to human beings specially of those soldiers who have ‘Strong eyes, fine limbs†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and those ‘haughty athletes,’ (Line 14). The Rear-Guard by Siegfried Sassoon The Rear Guard gives a realistic approach of the experience of being in war through a soldier’s perspective. The poem is a piece of description that concentrates towards the horror of war. It aims to give information regarding the realities of war from a soldier who descends from Hell. The poet in this masterpiece uses figurative language to convey war’s horror, complexities and confusion. In the fourth and fifth line ‘Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes to vague to know/ A mirror smashed, the mattress from a bed’, the writer provides many figurative objects to illustrate the busy and confused nature of war. The following lines illustrate the painful agony of the soldiers. The ‘Unloading hell behind him step by step’, mentioned in the last line says that on earth through war there is also hell, that even after war the ending point is still hell in eternity. Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen The narrator of this poem is a soldier found himself in hell. Throughout the poetry, he is conversing with another soldier who distinguished himself as the narrator’s enemy, ‘I am the enemy you killed, my friend. / I knew you in this dark: for you frowned/ Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed’ (Line 36-39). The narrator refers to the other soldier as a ‘Strange friend†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Line 14) which means both were from opposing parties and therefore were strangers to each other. But in hell, they were able to call themselves friends by which they can freely reveal their emotions and thoughts without fear. What common theme is present in all three of these poems and what common message do the poems convey? War is often associated with the physical imagery of violence and political conflict. History itself says that the intentions of war trail into the purpose of acquiring a greater power in terms of position, territory, resources, rights and rewards. Conflict of interest in any form if it will not be settled diplomatically may result to violence and hostility. There is always a participation of military and soldiers to show and define who the stronger party is. Soldiers as land forces play an important role in providing honor and success in one political party. Soldiers with their capability, bravery, sense of commitment and the things they carry defines a group’s strength. Since there is always an involvement of armed conflict between military forces, non participant of warfare which means those who are not engage in the actual combat simply perceive war as brutal and fierce, a battle of life and death that ends either in victory or lost. When the war ends, they perceive that everything is over. However for those who experience it, there is a greater battle that not everybody understands. To truly define war, it is significant to acquire the perspective of those who are mostly affected and those who are mostly involve. The three poems apparently illustrate the brutal realities of war especially for those participants. The writers of the poems were literally participants of war or combat. They show war ugly truths which are often in contrast to the ideas of glory, courage and heroism associated with war. War is ambiguous and illogical because it forces human beings into extreme situations that give no choice in the process. Both the narrator of the â€Å"Strange Meeting† and â€Å"The Rear-Guard† poetry found themselves in Hell which suggests that war not only destroys physical life and property nor ruin the psychological aspects of those participants, but war steals one’s opportunity to possibly experience eternal life in heaven. The fact that both narrators indulge Hell in their poetry demonstrates their belief in religion. In war, there is always a distorted line about religious concept of humanity and duty. The concept of right and wrong, guilt and emotions does not matter in the middle of combat because what matters most is personal survival. The brutalities of war are not so much about the glory and victory of the political party the soldiers’ represent but it is more on personal survival. How does the text of each manifest that message and what significance does this message hold about war in general? The three poetry used powerful language and figures of speech to make a point of comparison. For example, the used of Hell as the main setting of the poem ‘Strange Meeting’ and ‘The Rear-Guard’ suggest that war is man’s product of wickedness. ‘Break of Day in the Trenches’ on the other hand used animals as a powerful imagery to illustrate that man’s life in the middle of combat is of little value compared to any other living animals or insects that enjoy freedom. War in this poetry suggests that those participants in combat have no choice but to fight for their survival. They are prison literally. The poets also used powerful language to evoke the reader’s emotions. The used of ambiguity, irony, wits and symbolism leave the poems the possibility of multiple interpretation. The emotions however are almost common which makes the poems more realistic. In these poems, it can be realized that to really know the real concept of war, one must relate and accumulate the truths from experience of those soldiers. They are the one who can completely and truly define the irrationality and irony of war. Reference: Rosenberg, Isaac (1916). Break of Day in the Trenches. Harrison and Stuart Clark (Ed. ) Peace and War (p. 102). Berlin. (Reprinted from New York, 1989, Oxford University Press) Sasoon, Siegfried (1918). The Rear Guard. Parini (Ed. ). The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry (p. 1126). Canada. (Reprinted from Canada, 2005, Thomson Wadsworth). Owen, Wilfred (1920). Strange Meeting. Parini (Ed. ). The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry (p. 776). Canada. (Reprinted from Canada, 2005, Thomson Wadsworth).