The poem Asleep was written by Wilfred Owen in the year 1917 after the recent ending of the Edwardian period. The most key influential factor during this period was that of World War 1 between the Allies and the central powers. Wilfred Owen was a British soldier and is recognised as one of the leading poets of the First World War (Poetry Foundation, 2016) and clearly …show more content…
The most key influential factor of the Victorin period were this period was that of World War 1 between the Allies and the central powers. Wilfred Owen was a British soldier and is recognised as one of the leading poets of the First World War (Poetry Foundation, 2016) and clearly we can see that by creating a poem about a soldier’s death, Wilfred Owen has reflected this cultural context in his work. This poem, Asleep, would be regarded as a typical writing by Wilfred Owen, as most of his poems clearly were written with some indirect or direct relation to war.
Alfred Lord Tennyson was of 10 siblings born to upper middle class. He started writing poetry from a young age and published his first during Cambridge. He became a poet laureate in 1850, where he began to write poems about important events that affected the British nation, which he held until his …show more content…
It is based on a true story, the battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War around 1854. Following their orders, the 600 soldiers charged the enemy Russian forces. There wasn’t a single discouraged or disheartened soldier, for example in the second stanza, it states how “Was there a man dismay'd?, Not tho' the soldier knew, Someone had blunder'd:, Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die” (Lines 9 – 14) From this it can be interpreted that the role of a soldier is to obey and not to make reply with reason why, even though they were running straight on at guaranteed death, showing they were willing to do what they were there for.
Talks about the theme of death, but has a better view compared to that of a war song to Englishmen, showing the good that comes of war and not focusing too harshly on the bad. The glory of war it could be said, stating how the 600 soldiers will remain worthy of honour and tribute today.
The pattern is Dactylic dimeter. The structure contains six syllables per line with two of those stressed and the rest unstressed. Six stanzas.
The flow of the poem is symbolic of that of a galloping horse, carrying the 600 soldiers into the valley of death. The poem uses language successfully to recreate the sound of war in the readers