The Views of Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen on War Essay Example

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, born 18th March 1893, was an English poet and soldier. Wilfred Owen’s poetry was predominantly influenced and associated with WW1 and the traumatic experiences and events both he and his allies endured during these years, and his most recognized verselet concerning WW1 doubtlessly includes ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ (Written October 1917). Furthermore, Rupert Chawner Brooke, born 3rd August 1887, was another leading and established English poet engaged in ‘The Great War’. Rupert Brooke’s entire reputation within the poetry community only depends upon 5 idealistic War Sonnets, and most notably ‘The Soldier’ (Written 1914). Additionally, these two poetry experts have very juxtaposition perspectives upon warfare, and within these detailed and complicated poems, Rupert Brooke indicates that war is deeply honorable, although Wilfred Owen opposes these public thoughts and criticizes the destructive and merciless nature of trench warfare. Moreover, in both Fictional Poems, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke explore the significance of the death and idiosyncrasies of soldiers, and their subjective opinions regarding WW1.   

Wilfred Owen depicts death in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ as traumatizing and excruciating through the assertive literary devices utilized, although Rupert Brooke romanticizes death through the traditional sonnet and indicates that it is patriotic to sacrifice oneself for one's country. During the 2nd stanza of Dulce et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen vividly illustrates the inhumane gas attack - ‘Flound’ring like a man in fire or lime – Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning,’ suggesting through the simile, the animalistic reality of war and the corroding effects of mustard gas upon the now helpless soldier. On the contrary, Rupert Brooke evokes the dutiful aspect of death - ‘If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England,’ conveying that he covets to be remembered with a recognizable English Legacy within history and the ground on which he collapsed. Furthermore, Wilfred Owen delineates trench warfare as a never-ending massacre through the extract - ‘In all my dreams before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning,’ indicating that he repeatedly endures nightmares due to the devilish experience (In all my dreams) and blames himself for not rescuing his comrade. Consequently, because of the critical situation eventuating (referring to the prior section), the punctuation has become disjointed and distinctly, the use of participles creates desperate imagery. Additionally, Owen develops the grotesque description of war in Dulce et Decorum Est, through the lines - ‘And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin.’ During this instance, Wilfred Owen uses sibilance and similes associated with death to imply his exhausted attitude to warfare and to communicate the suffering. In addition, the soldier’s inability to escape the agony is portrayed by the word ‘Writhing’, and moreover, the poetry - ‘Like a devil’s sick of sin’ alludes that even Satan (The evilest creature) is tired of the extreme wrongdoings occurring. Furthermore, ‘His hanging face’ emphasis the paralyzed corpse and lifeless consequences of the random gas bombardment. In conclusion, Rupert Brooke conveys, within the first sentences of the 2nd stanza, that to die serving your country is the ultimate sacrifice (Everything is forgiven) and that nobody can resent dying for a beautiful motherland - ‘And think, this heart, all evil shed away, a pulse in the eternal mind (Metaphor), no less, gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given.’ Additionally, the ‘pulse’ within the quote indicates life and that Rupert Brooke is requesting to die upon a positive account. In summary, the previous evidence strengthens the contention of Owen’s and Brooke depiction of the soldier's death’s due to the language and events divulged on both viewpoints.  

Rupert Brooke extends the valiant remembrance of the soldiers within ‘The Soldier’, however in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, Wilfred Owen stimulates the disregardfulness of war and the propaganda utilized to influence men to register throughout Great Britain - ‘If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace behind the wagon that we flung him in’.’ These powerful words indicate that few soldiers were commemorated publicly due to the expeditiousness of war and in addition, if you did mourn over death, then you would prospectively depart the world as well. Furthermore, the term ‘Flung’, suggests that there were so many casualties, that unemotional reactions were required. During ‘The Soldier’, Brooke maintains the halcyon vision of England and conveys the peaceful scene for death through the excerpt - ‘Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam; A body of England’s, breathing English air, washed by rivers, blest by suns of home.’ Additionally, Rupert Brooke indicates that it is an honor to protect his beautiful nation (Self-Sacrificial) because it provided him with freedom and incredible memories. Moreover, Owen metaphorically informs the British population that "He who keeps his head down and works, is he who survives the longest" - ‘Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues - My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory.’ In contrast, this section of the poem reveals through sarcasm that young soldiers (Innocent tongues) are unaware of the cruelty of trench warfare, and that the general civilization would not introduce war with such Idealistic enthusiasm if they understood the consequences of the indescribable episodes. Furthermore, Owen implies that everybody desires to be a hero by utilizing the phrase, ‘Some desperate glory’, although in reality, nobody will receive a true tribute as he suggests in another WW1 poem entitled ‘Anthems for Doomed Youth’ - ‘Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle can patter out their hasty orisons.’   

Throughout the complex literature, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke reflect on the mental and physical conditions of soldiers, as well as their' values and attitudes toward war. Owen disseminates these expressions within the culminating 5th line of the ultimate stanza - ‘If you too could hear, at every jolt, the blood, come gargling from froth corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud,’ conveying the bedevil effect of the gas because of the broken punctuation and of the torture tolerated (You too). Additionally, the similes of cancer indicate the significance of war and the insult to human dignity of deceasing for your country during conflict. Controversially, Rupert Brooke initiates the superiority of England by expressing the lines -’In that Earth, a richer dust concealed.’ The previous sentence demonstrates the decomposing English corpse exposed is enriching the foreign territory’s soil due to an element of rural Britain being permanently inserted in the soldier. Moreover, Wilfred Edward Salter Owen includes - ‘Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, but limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of gas-shells dropping softly behind,’ implying the enervating effects of war and the continuous serving for a country governed by people, who possess no emotional inclination or consciousness of the severity of war.