Comparing War Poetry

Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them – which means, people have been at war for more than ninety-two percent of human history, but what does that mean? What is war? What is war actually like? What happens? People have been going to war for the entirety of human existence, but there is little actually known about what happens during war. During World War 1, British poets began depicting what war was like for soldiers, as well as civilians. John McCrae, author of "In Flanders Fields", and Wilfred Owen, author of "Anthem for Doomed Youth" and "Dulce et Decorum Est", both use their poetry to depict the real happenings of war. The World War 1 poems "In Flanders Fields", "Anthem for Doomed Youth, and "Dulce et Decorum Est" depict and build on the ideas of the oblivious individual, abrupt occurrences, and …show more content…
He begins the poem by acknowledging that nothing stops when a soldier dies – there are no bell tolls, no prayers, no mourning in the moment. He continues to inform his audience that soldiers lose more than that. He says that soldiers lose the authenticity of candles, flowers, palls, and even the idea of a "sunset". They would not receive candles, but "glimmers of goodbyes" would shine in boys' eyes (Owen 11). It would not be very likely that there would be a body to bury, so "the pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall" (Owen 12). Their only flowers would be memories, and they lose their chance at an actual death date, so their families can never be sure of their actual sunset. In addition to discussing the oblivion of death during war, "Anthem for Doomed Youth" also explores the omission of the rights of life, or death rather. Everyone deserves the right to funerals or memorials with candles and flowers after they pass away, especially during war, but a lot of soldiers lose this honor with their untimely