War Poetry Essay| Steven Yin

An examination of wartime poems reveals how poets’ own experiences with conflict can ultimately shape
their perspectives on war. Over time, varying ideas on war have shifted as texts such as poems have
highlighted these contrasting perspectives. The representation of war and its harrowing experiences can be
reflected through the messages of three unique war poems. The Soldier, written in 1914 by Rupert Brooke
depicts war as honourable and over glorifies war. Conversely, Wilfred Owen’s 1918 poem Dulce et Decorum
Est and Goran Simic’s 1990 poem The Sorrow of Sarajevo represent war as horrifying and depicts the
atrocities committed during warfare. Hence, poets reveal to the reader how their personal experiences
have formed their perspective of war.

Poet Rupert Brooke’s 1914 poem The Soldier conveys how fighting in war and for your country gives one
glory. Known for his idealistic sonnets glorifying World War I, Brooke glorifies England and dying for
England in battle and how his sacrifice ensures peace and gentleness for England. The opening sentence “If
I should die, think only this of me” establishes the melancholic mood of the poem. Brooke uses
apostrophes to further emphasise the more sentimental tone and conveys an emotional register
throughout the entire poem. Brooke also personifies England as a nurturing mother, “Gave, one, her
flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England’s, breathing English air”. This motherly personification
represents England’s unconditional love and Brooke’s unyielding devotion to it, adding to the loyal tone of
the poem. Brooke further portrays patriotism by using a metaphor, “There shall be, In that rich earth a
richer dust concealed;”. The metaphor represents how the soldier’s dead body will make England’s rich soil
even richer, highlighting how the soldier’s sacrifice will be glorified. As such, Brooke argues that death
should not be feared or shied away from but instead should be honoured. Brooke also uses repetition,
constantly repeating the word “England” which adds on to the sense of patriotism in the poem and how
dying for your country is a glorious sacrifice. Brooke alliterates “laughter, learnt” and “sights and sounds”
which represents these chivalric values the soldier is fighting for and how he will sacrifice himself so that
the laughter, sights and sounds are kept safe. Thus, Brooke highlights the theme of patriotism to depict his
perspective of how war is glorious and dying for your country is honourable.

Contrastingly, Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est is a poem that illustrates the horrors of war through
Owen’s perspective and his own experiences when he was a soldier in World War I. In the first stanza,
Owen abruptly introduces the reader to the suffering of war as his regiment marched towards their
destination. The regiment is beaten, and the soldiers are “coughing” and “knock-kneed” and “drunk with
fatigue”. Owen uses plosives, repeating the “K” sound which aurally simulates what it is like to be on the
battlefield with the constant pounding of artillery and firepower. Owen recounts the horrible stories of war,
utilising the transition from first-person to second person perspective. At the beginning of the poem, Owen
uses words such as “I” and “me”, but in the final stanza, Owen shifts into the second person using words
 War Poetry Essay| Steven Yin

like “you”. This change in perspective directly addresses the reader and forces them to consider the
confronting imagery of war. Owens also uses a truncated sentence, “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” where a
feeling of direness and tension is created which reflects the soldier's panic to get their gas masks on in their
struggle for survival. Owen also alludes to a line from the Odes written by Roman lyric poet Horace, “Dulce
et decorum Est Pro patria mori” which translated, means “It is sweet and fitting to die for the homeland”.
Owen directly contradicts that statement, calling it an “old Lie”. This further exemplifies Owen’s
disillusioned perspective on war and how he believes it is horrific and inhumane, also highlighting how old
ideas of war are outdated and are merely lies. Therefore, Wilfred Owen’s personal experiences from
disturbing and traumatic events have shaped his negative perspective on war, believing that old ideas of
war are outdated and misleading.

Goran Simic’s The Sorrow of Sarajevo takes a similar stance to Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est,
depicting the devastating effects of warfare on civilian life. The poem follows Simic’s experiences as a
civilian in Sarajevo during the siege of Bosnia in 1990. Simic shows how the war has impacted the town of
Sarajevo as the narrator walks through the town. The narrator walks past “newspapers that are glued by
blood to the street” with “a loaf of bread under [his] arm”. Simic uses stark visual imagery to depict what
life is now like for a civilian that has been caught during war. Simic also utilises a nonchalant tone, almost as
if the blooded newspapers are a normal part of daily life and how it has become borderline routine. This
shows how the human psyche can be numbed due to ceaseless warfare, further reinstating how
traumatising and permanently mind-altering war can be. Simic also reveals how war has affected civilians
through symbolic representation. Although families typically symbolise love and unity, the “family
photographs spill[ing] from the back of a garbage truck” represents the ultimate destruction of the family
unit and exposes how war has torn families apart. Simic further reinstates the idea of war affecting civilians
negatively by using repetition in the form of “Love from … love from … love from…” whereby the ellipsis
exemplifies the loss the families have sustained from war, further revealing how war has affected civilians
to a horrifying degree. Thus, Goran Simic’s bleak depiction of war in The Sorrow of Sarajevo represents war
as not only affecting soldiers, but also as numerous scarring experiences deeply intertwined with the lives
of civilians.

Ultimately, perspectives people have of war can vary based on one’s personal experiences with war. In The
Soldier, Rupert Brooke depicts war as glorious and dying for war as honourable and a noble sacrifice for his
country. Condemning this idea, Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum Est and Goran Simic’s The Sorrow of
Sarajevo portrays war as horrific and inhumane and highlights the atrocities of war to the viewer. The
poets’ perspectives are contrasting, one being dehumanising and horrific while the other is glorious and
noble which shows how perspectives of war can be highly subjective, shaped by personal contexts.