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Q. Examine two of the poems studied in detail, comparing the poets’ attitudes to the theme of war. In your discussion be sure to refer to the structure and use of imagery, diction and other stylistic devices used to present the poets’ ideas and emotions. Through poetry writers are able to effectively express their attitudes towards a variety of topics. Rupert Brooke’s “The Soldier” and Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem For The Doomed Youth” present two opposing attitudes towards the Great War. “The Soldier,” written in 1914 reflects the patriotism that was the ethos of the British society early in the war. In contrast “Anthem For The Doomed Youth” spares no one’s feelings in its lament for the many unnecessary young deaths. Each of the writers utilise the sonnet form to bring out different meanings, and through careful selection of language evoke contrasting emotional responses. In his poem “The Soldier”, Rupert Brooke chooses the petrachan sonnet to present to the British public a strongly patriotic attitude towards the war. Compressing a lot of meaning and emotion into fourteen lines, Brooke clearly divides his poem into two significant sections. In the first, an octave, he employs the voice of a patriotic soldier who asks the British public to respond to his death in a patriotic manner. He says, “If I should die, think only this of me.” That he will be “forever England” as his body is “a body of England’s.” In the second important section, the sestet, the soldier responds by telling the people what he will do in return if they think of him in this way. He will “Give somewhere back the thoughts by England given.” He will be “a pulse in the eternal mind,” always remembering England’s “sights and sounds, dreams happy as her day.” There is no reference to the pain and horrors that go into preserving this vision, so as to give hope and strength to those whose loved ones have gone to fight and may never come back. The link of the title to the poem underpins Brooke’s nationalistic view. Without the title being there, we would not know that the poem is from the point of view of a soldier. There is no reference to a war or battle in the poem. Once the link of the title “The Soldier” to the content of the poem is evident, the spirit with which the poem is read is completely different to if it had just been an ordinary man.
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