War Context Flashcards
(5 cards)
The Manhunt
Written by the contemporary British Poet, Simon Armitage.
Written in the perspective of a soldier’s wife, based of real life event.
Based of Eddie who fought in the Bosnian war and it talks about the physical and the psychological trauma that war gives to soldiers.
Poetry usually demonstrates a strong concern for social issues.
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The poem has an hourglass like structure, suggesting that it will take time for their relationship to heal and for both the mental and physical wounds that were caused by the war to heal. It also suggests that he is like a ticking time bomb which she must diffuse.
The Soldier
Written in 1914.
Brooke served in WW1 but dies before the bloodiest battles.
He developed septicaemia from a mosquito bite and was buried in Cyprus.
His view of war was archaic and he believed that the biggest sacrifice a man could make was to die for his country.
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The poem was written in sonnet structure which conveys his love for England.
In the first octave, Brooke starts with the idea that a decomposing body will infuse the ground with English value.
In the remaining sestet he switches to a more spiritual and peaceful tone presenting England as idyllic and Eden-like.
Written in iambic pentameter giving it a calm steady rhythm again reflecting the noble, peaceful tone rather than the chaos of real war.
A Wife In London
The poem was set in the Boer War.
During that time, news of soldiers deaths was sent by telegram which meant it was faster than normal post.
Poem was written at a time where a woman’s role in the war was limited to waiting and grieving. The poem highlights the experience of a wife left at home showing how delayed post only adds to the trauma of war in the 19th century.
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The poem is slit into 2 parts which reflects the emotional journey of the wife from grief to cruel irony, intensifying the tragedy. The use of 3rd person encourages the reader to sympathise with the wife’s struggles.
It also creates distance between the wife and the reader adding to the bleak and impersonal tone which shows how war reduced people to nameless victims.
The use of half rhyme reflects the wife’s struggle to take in the news and reflects the emotional disruption caused by the husband’s death.
Mametz Wood
Written by Owen Sheers, a modern Welsh poet, author and playwright.
Wrote this poem in 2005 in order to honour the forgotten soldiers and to reflect on how war scars the forgotten soldiers and memory.
Battle of Mametz Wood - July 2016- 38th Welsh division which was comprised of mostly young inexperienced Welsh Soldiers were ordered to attack Mametz Wood in Northern France.
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Sheer’s poem acts as both an elegy and a lament for the dead, honouring the young Welsh Soldiers whose sacrifice was long forgotten and buried beneath the soil of Mametz Wood.
Long sentences and frequent use of enjambment and caesura helps to create a slow reflective tone, paying tribute to the soldiers that history forgot.
Dulce Et Decorum Est
The poem was written in 1917 during WW1.
Wilfred Owen was an English Poet and soldier who serves on the Western Front.
Experienced the Horrors of war first hand, including gas attacks, death and exhaustion.
Owen wanted to expose the brutality of war, especially to those back home who believed it was noble and heroic.
Critical of poets like Jessie Pope who wrote persuasive war poems aimed at recruiting young men.
Owen died in 1918, just a week before the war ended which adds to the poignancy of his poetry.
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28 lines in the poem which shows Owen is subverting the Sonnet’s form.
The first stanza has an ABAB rhyme scheme which mirrors how the soldiers march.
Short lines represent how the young soldiers lives were cut short.
Combination of English and French Ballade honours the allied forces. Perhaps Owen did this to pay respect to the innocent lives lost to the brutality of the war.
