War Is Futile Or Glorious Treats Essays


Found 89453 essays.

Analysis of Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” Essay

This also gives a very graphic picture of war.Sorrow goes hand in hand with war.Owen clearly states his disgust for whose who have ever been in war, yet romanticized it as the ultimate patriotic sacrifice when he writes in lines 21-28, “If you could…you would not tell with such high zest/ To children ardent for some desperate glory, / The old lie dulce et decorum est/ Pro patria mori.” Just like Jarrell, Owen shows the gruesome aspect of war in his poem.His tone is one of sorrow and regret directed toward the effects of war on young men, and a cautionary tone, warning those who would be fooled into believing that war is some kind of great adventure that all men should experience.War is not heroic, it is not glorious, and it certainly is ...


1034 words (2.6 pages)
Shakespeare and The Poetry From the First World War

In the speech there is a lot of description and language that captures the sound of war, “…and the shrill trump.” Shakespeare describes as important and exciting, “big wars,” whereas in the poem “Futility” by Wilfred Owen, even the title suggests a difference of opinion that war is pointless.These lines bring the sounds of war to life paint a vivid picture of war; the language in these lines and in the whole of the speech is archaic.Even though this speech mainly glorifies war it still reminds us of the harsh reality of war a bit, that people die, “wasteful ocean.” The ancient Greek war hero is mentioned to prove that they will be victorious.Othello’s speech from Act 3 Scene 3 of the play Othello is very dramatic and Othello praises war,...


1235 words (3.1 pages)
Comparison of the Man He Killed, the Send-Off and Dulce Et Decorum Est Essay

Similarly, “The Man He Killed” also portrays war negatively which is reflected through the poets choice of words describing war such as, “quaint and curious war is!”.However, ‘The Man He Killed’ focuses on the senselessness and futility of war, where a man has killed another quite simply because they were fighting on opposing sides in a war.Likewise “Dulce et Decorum Est” illustrates the harsh reality and brutality of war but in this poem the poet writes about an actual event in war that he has witnessed.‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ describes a mustard gas attack on a group of war-weary soldiers.This poem actually conveys a message that war is not as glorious and honourable as it is always portrayed as.


316 words (0.8 pages)
The Poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est”

The title is ironic because to get involved in the war is not as sweet and glorious as it seems.By using the metaphors and similes the reader can relate to the poem and place themselves in the situation to force them to realise what they actually go through during a war.This poem concentrates more on what happens after when the war is over.He describes them as scruffy and unhealthy people because during the First World War there weren’t many people taking care of soldiers who were hurt so they had to just deal with the pain.It describes every step that the soldiers take through their experiences in the war.


1081 words (2.7 pages)
The First World War changed the way people thought about war and patriotism

Before world war one, war was viewed honourable and patriotic, with people feeling that it was their duty to defend their country at any cost.He shows war as beyond human control and comprehension, with God seeming powerless and indifferent to this suffering.This is typical of old war poems and attitudes as it states that it is God who kills and that he approves of murder and destruction and it is as if God is a participant in this war.There is a reference in the poem to Cain, which suggests that aerial bombardment, and a war fought in this manner resembles a mass murder.Therefore poetry written before the world war didn’t contain the horrific physical detail of injury, but instead most poets concentrated on the heroic aspect of war.


1274 words (3.2 pages)
Wilfred Owen analysis

This is both his way of trying to comprehend and make sense of the terror he has seen, as well as ask the reader to think and question the real cost of war.Owen’s poetry presents the reader with harsh and confronting imagery, which was contrary to the portrayal of war offered by the government and the press.The propaganda and government encouragement created a false sense of hope and excitement associated with war.He wanted to present the “pity of war”.Wilfred Owen’s main concerns in his poetry are the senseless waste of young life, the enduring consequences of war, both individual and societal, and the false and misguided societal beliefs surrounding the horrific war experience.


1199 words (3.0 pages)
War Poetry Coursework Essay

At the time the poems were written many people believed that if they were disabled at war they would be treated as heroes but these poems show that in reality there was no glory in being disabled at war.The poetry became increasingly bitter throughout the war and eventually the same poets who glorified war began pleading for the war to stop.Towards the end of the war the poets began to ask for the war to stop.People’s attitudes towards war changed as the war progressed and this is shown in the war poetry which reported about war to the civilians back in Britain.At first poets glorified war, as the war progressed they wrote about how they had been lied to by propaganda and about the terrible reality of war.


3267 words (8.2 pages)
Comparing Dulce et decorum est and the charge of the light Brigade

Owen was an officer and often had to send men to their s and ‘Dulce´ gives a personal account of what the war was like.Wilfred Owen wrote ‘Dulce´ towards the end of the First World War.He had first-hand experience of war and wanted to tell people back at home the truth.He was killed in action a week before the war ended in 1918.The theme of ‘Dulce´ is that war and dying for one´s country are not at all not glorious.


1400 words (3.5 pages)
Essay on Compare and Contrast Tennyson's The Charge of the light brigade

The true meaning of war to me is the destruction of entire civilisations and of humans, war takes in brave strong and glorious men and women and spits them out as fragile haggard ruins of men and women.Although both poems are diametrically opposed, they have the same common goal to get the reader to believe in their view of war.Many people think war is a way of solving futile problems that rise between nations.Soldiers on both sides fought and lived in trenches during this war and when they got the call they would run at each other to win the ground in between each trench this was known as trench warfare.These two historically accurate astounding poems where written in completely different eras of time and during two very different wars,...


474 words (1.2 pages)
A Farewell to Arms Essay: Inevitability of Death Revealed

Hemingway is showing the horrors of war.Hemingway shows many deaths as a result of the war.Hemingway is showing that man's frantic struggles and his scurrying about are futile, we all die in the end.War is not a glorious and colorful event; it is a dirty and base thing.Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest A Farewell To Arms.


464 words (1.2 pages)
Dulce Et Decorum Est Essay

As untenable to anyone who has had any experience of real war.In conclusion, we see the whereas Jessie Pope attempts to obscure the truth about the futility and atrocities of war, Owen, a soldier gives us a confrongtingly realistic portrayal of the death of just one man in a retreat on the western front.But as news came back from the Western Front and Gallipoli, there was a sense that the war was not glorious, the dirtiness, the sheer loss of life was beginning to be revealed through poems such as Dulce et Decorum Est.Whereas Jessie Pope inherently affirms the idea of dying in war as manly and noble, Owen shows us how unceremoniously and graphic real deaths in war are.She makes it seem as though there is no real risk of going to war, the...


1039 words (2.6 pages)
Examining Poems By Wilfred Owen English Literature Essay

Owens poetry serves as a warning to future generations to reconsider before they again believe it sweet and fitting to die for one’s country, because once the initial onslaught begins, all control is lost and it becomes near impossible to override the vigorous and pity war holds through it, in the belief of the patriotism of dying for one’s nation is nothing but an ‘old lie’.War is defined in the poem as futile with the only result coming from it is the denaturing of psychological consciousnesses or death.This image presented throughout Owen’s anthology to attack all those who glorified and romanticised war.The use of these aural imagery as well as onomatopoeia allows the reader to understand the effects of war and further oppose the ide...


1837 words (4.6 pages)
Patriotism In The Poetry Of The Great War English Literature Essay

Sassoon stated, ‘This war, upon which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest’ , and he saw the war as being prolonged unnecessarily.The sestet, conversely, moves from the contrived portrayal of war, to its cruel reality, adopting a Petrarchan cdecde rhyme scheme, which heightens Sassoon’s intensified bitter tone.Moreover, ‘You crown our distant ardours’ and ‘You worship decorations’ (lines 7&3) suggests knighthood and bravery, and the octave also indicates glorified artificiality; the ‘Decorations’, ‘Shells’, ‘Crown’, ‘Laurel[led]’ (lines 3,5,7&8) are false and materialistic, symbolising the misrepresentation of war to civilians.Sassoon thus saw all humans equally, which con...


1648 words (4.1 pages)
World War 1

Disillusionment was replaced by mutiny and the Allies, with American exception, were not keen to pursue the war any further.It destroyed once and for all the grand heroic view of war.” With Public opinion shattered, the British government was forced to join the Germans and employ conscription to get the newly aware population to fight for them.Staged posters of Satanist Germans were no longer enough to justify the war to a population robbed of an age bracket.But as 1918 came and the Americans entered the war and the British blockaded Germany, the frustrated public could see the end.Evidence of the continuing loyalty to the cause of war was the unceasing flock of men on both sides, enlisting to join in the war against evil.


1895 words (4.7 pages)
An analysis of Wilfred Edward Owen’s literature

The poem highlights the value of soldiers’ hard work and sacrifice and also their dedication towards the war, yet they are not given proper respect.He didn’t write about the glorification of the war but of the horror and brutality of the battlefield... Sassoon begins the poem with a rhetorical question which imparts a satirical tone to the poem with an argumentative proposal – If it really does matter, then people must do something about the ludicrousness of the war.Anger and bitterness is expressed in the poem and there is a direct remark on the ones who send their subordinates to fight the war which in reality they had initiated.He satirized generals, churchmen and bureaucrats for their visionless support of the war.


1413 words (3.5 pages)
A Journey’s End by R C Sherriff

As we know that war is futile we can see that they fought each other for nothing except causalities, panic and horrific atmosphere.We didn’t know much about him before the war, but through reading the play we can clearly state his personality and how war affected him.Hibbert, the last character whom we noticed that war affected him because we experienced that he is faking his sickness.Sherriff also used complex adjectives like “murmur” and “Unsteadily” that describe how war affected them, these strong words may explain the level of effect on the solider and it has strong tone while reading it.I must go into hospital and have some kind of treatment”, This quote shows how nervously he is and how obvious his secret was, this quote shows tha...


1180 words (3.0 pages)
World War One Essay

Their creators’ biases often show clearly; one must wonder how the novel would have read if Germany had won the war.In All Quiet on the Western Front, the young protagonists are enthusiastic about the war because of Kantorek’s empty exhortations.It was, for many, an expression of national pride, and many young men who served believed in their cause, that their participation in the war brought glory and honor to their homelands.Question Three All Quiet on the Western Front reveals World War I as a huge, wasteful, meaningless slaughter in which millions of young men were filled with patriotic fervor, made to believe that war was glorious (an idea this war made obsolete), and sent into a high-tech slaughter for no good reason.Had he survive...


922 words (2.3 pages)
Wilfred Owen Poetry analysis Essay

The use of the adjective ‘rapid’ and the assonance on ‘a’ quickens the pace and indicates the fashion in which the dead are buried in war.Wilfred Owens’ poetry on war can be described as a passionate expression of Owen’s outrage over the horrors of war and pity for the young soldiers sacrificed in it.His poetry is dramatic and memorable, whether describing shame and sorrow, such as in ‘The Last Laugh’, or his description of the unseen psychological consequences of war detailed in ‘The Next War’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’.Unlike the patriotic posters at the time, which showed women at home bravely urging their loved ones to war, Owen describes the place to be ‘silent’ and secret, only ‘dull porters…staring hard’ at the British youths.T...


941 words (2.4 pages)
Meaning of Underworld in the Odyssey and Aeneid Essay

Achilles says that he would rather be a living serf and a landless peasant than a King of the Dead.In fact, for Homer living after death is just a continuation of earthly vain.Homer describes the underworld as a dull place of suffering, where warriors who died in battle have to continue carrying their wounds.After the travel he is a father of the new glorious people.Odyssey’s dead friends the can only tell how they died and got to this dark kingdom.


623 words (1.6 pages)
Analysis of Conflict in a Selection of War Poetry

The poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson however, is very pro-war with far more focus being put on the heroism and bravery of the men at war, rather than the death and horror of war, and as a result, gives us an almost romantic view of war.They are ‘deaf’, ‘lame’ and ‘blind’; all of which is rather sorry language intended to reveal the reality of war and its effects, and already from the opening stanza we can see Owen’s cynicism with war, giving us the anti-war view of what war does to soldiers.Owen in his poem mainly presents the theme very much how it is, with much focus on the death and suffering of the men, making the subject very serious and realistic, and seen as Owen did serve time at war as a conscript, ...


1718 words (4.3 pages)
“All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque

Remarque suggests that before the war these men would have what could be described as an average view towards life, but war has hardened them and made them older.The Futility of war is shown right through the book but is particularly evident when the group of central characters discuss alternative methods of fighting a war.In his 1928 classic anti war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” Erich Maria Remarque attempts to portray the horror and futility of war in a number of ways.The book destroys much of the glamorous image of war and what was described as “The Iron Youth”.The horror and futility of war is portrayed graphically and disturbingly, making a mockery of some of the propaganda of the time encouraging young men to join up and ...


1113 words (2.8 pages)
Wilfred Owen War Poet Essay

Some of the poetry can help us understand the sense of grief and anger at the pointlessness of war and the anger at the sheer numbers of soldiers sent to battle to be massacred like ‘cattle’.Some of his poems from the war help us to rethink the elegiac triad of; mourning poet, mourning reader, and mourned victim, suggesting that even in war elegies; both poet and reader may partly create the victimisation they mourn.The First World War had a drastic effect on the poetry of many poets of the twentieth century.War for Owen was senseless, for so many men to lose their lives, especially at a young age, made him question the purpose of our existence.(Mahmud 2008) The dead soldier in ‘Futility’ is not given a name perhaps to represent every so...


2197 words (5.5 pages)
The First World War Poetry Of Wilfred Owen English Literature Essay

Wilfred Owen, who died subsequently after receiving mortal wounds while in combat in the war, had some strong viewpoints and messages about war which he tried to convey through his poetry.He is quoted here describing his work: “Above all, I am not concerned with Poetry .My subject is War, and the pity of War.For Owen, there was neither glory nor honour in the war.As his preface memorably states:”My subject is War, and the Pity of War.The poetry is in the Pity.”(29) In this he does succeed.These were firstly, that war is futile and pointless; secondly that men lose their humanity and dignity through war; finally, he wants combat the Government propaganda that painted a sweet picture of war.


1420 words (3.6 pages)
“All Quiet On The Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque

We see the horror of the war in the description used: decomposing bodies from the graves fly up into the air; the new recruit soiling himself.The army report for the day on which Paul died simply read “All quiet on the western front.” This shows that even though this man who the reader has come to know has died, in the whole war his death means nothing.In the novel, the author uses the themes of horror, sacrifice and waste of life to highlight the futility of war.This highlights the waste of life in war.We are told Kantorek was the one who persuaded Paul and his friends to sign up in the first place, inspiring them with speeches about how it was their duty to the Germany as the “Iron Youth” to do their part in the war.


1493 words (3.7 pages)
The War Poetry

Britain had not fought a major war for over 100 years, and the general public attitude towards war was that Britain were indefatigable, and Germany would indisputably be subjugated before Christmas, 1914, and a glorious victory would be won over Germany.Even one of the greatest poets of the First World War, Seigfried Sassoon, renowned for his anti-war poetry, wrote about the greatness of war and the “Supreme sacrifice” It was not until suffered the wrath of war for the first time, that he started to write about the true atrociousness which were subjected to tens of thousands of people.As the war deepened the public began to understand that war was not about making heroes or role models, but it was about brutality and bloodshed.The names ...


4694 words (11.7 pages)
Luis XIV, and His Selfish Ways

When this failed, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and many Huguenots left France.If you were asked to answer the question, “Which king in European history was the best representative of absolutism?”, you would probably answer, “Louis XIV.” If you were asked to identify the king with the biggest palace and the most glamorous court, you would answer “ Louis XIV .” If you were asked to identify the king whose reign coincided with the most glorious period of culture in his country's history, you would answer “Louis XIV.” If you were asked to identify what king fought an endless series of wars, heavily taxed his population, set up the pre-conditions for a revolution against his own system and was jeered by his people as his body was...


874 words (2.2 pages)
The poem ‘Spring Offensive’ Essay

At this point Wilfred Owen could be trying to explain to the reader that people wanted men to go off to war which could be another way of saying they wanted them to go to their deaths.This suggests that war is unnatural and that Nature is on the opposing side to war.It was if they were doing the government’s job for them by persuading the people at home that war was glorious.Owens poetry reflected the futility of war and the day-to-day reality for the soldiers.Wilfred Owen describes this battle as having ‘immemorial shames’, which proposes that war ended with an empty victory and was completely pointless.


2359 words (5.9 pages)
Essay about Political Possibilities Of The Civil War

These runaways were not like the fugitives before the war, these were whole families which included women and children who had abandoned the plantations that they worked for to go to the Union lines (Foner 412).They were now able to serve in the military, they also indirectly helped white women get jobs in factories, since their men had to fight in the war, and by them leaving their plantations and helping to fight in the war, Abraham Lincoln had no choice but to declare the Emancipation Proclamation.When the Civil War began many slaves began to realize that this was their opportunity to gain their freedom.The war initially started out to corral rebellious states, but soon changed to be about freedom and liberty and to end slavery.The po...


469 words (1.2 pages)
The poems of Wilfred Owen

‘Mental Cases’, is a poem written after battle describing the after effects of war on the soldiers (shell shock).He experienced it first hand and saw that the war was merely destructive.” The charge is the best-known example of the heroism and stupidity of war, but Tennyson focuses on the glory.Owen understood that War was no longer glorious or honourable for the ordinary soldier-there was no longer any hand-to-hand fighting anymore but mechanical weaponry e. g. Artillery, guns, bombs etc.” Just like a game of football the man thought team spirit would carry him through the war.


1265 words (3.2 pages)
The First World War Marked an Important Turning Point in Literary History

Owen understood that War was no longer glorious or honourable for the ordinary soldier-there was no longer any hand-to-hand fighting anymore but mechanical weaponry e.g.The charge is the best-known example of the heroism and stupidity of war, but Tennyson focuses on the glory.‘Mental Cases’, is a poem written after battle describing the after effects of war on the soldiers (shell shock).Just like a game of football the man thought team spirit would carry him through the war.In pre-World War One poems, Alfred Tennyson among other poets describes war; the emphasis on honour and glory: .


1316 words (3.3 pages)

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