Comments | spaczek_27: Death and War

spaczek_27

Death and War

Mar 13, 2006 22:37

I would have to say that I have always found both of the world wars to be very interesting. Although, they were each depressing and devastating in their own right I have always found it intriguing to learn about the lives of the soldiers that risked their lives to fight for their country as well as the bystanders affected by the war. I find the ( Read more... )

Comments 5

nareesas March 16 2006, 23:27:47 UTC

I find that this poem is glorifying war. "Dying" has made the soldiers "rarer than gold." Why call the dead "rich" if not to glorify them and their cause?

Or maybe I'm wrong and it's a tribute to the soldiers who gave their lives for ours? The speaker says "They brought us...Holiness...Honour...our heritage" while giving up their youth, right to age and grow old, and immortality because they didn't have the chance to have children that would carry on their names.

pitchgreen March 19 2006, 01:34:04 UTC

Oh, and if you're interested in war, you would probably enjoy reading Pat Barker's "Regeneration". It talks about Shell Shock, and the mental causes of it...fascinating stuff.

Glorifying Death pitchgreen March 19 2006, 01:32:22 UTC

This poem is definitely one that glorifies death, and especially death in war. I think it was these exact kinds of poems Wilfred Owen speaks out against in his poem "Dulce et decorum est" which comes from a line in Horatio, and translates to meen "sweet and grand is it to die for one's country".

Death mysteryofgod March 20 2006, 21:16:54 UTC

I think that this poem is idealizing war and dying "for one's country". I think it would have been more realistic to say something like dying for the personal fights of our leaders, a worthless death with no glory; dying knowing that the only thing that awaits is judgement. I don't think that the dead soldiers should be called rich or gold. Life is precious but death in war is not something that should be glorified. Have we not evolved, at least mentally, from the ancient Greeks? If anything, the world wars should have told us that death and war is not something to strive for.

rositageorgieva April 17 2006, 15:17:01 UTC

I found some good points made in this discussion. I don't think, though, that this poem glorifies war and death. I see it as a glorification of the young patriots who died for their country. The elegiac tone, emphasized by the solemn music of the bugles, is definitely present. Yet, besides the human compassion and glorification of the dead youth, there is this bitterness that is more characteristic of Owen's poetry than Brooks'. We can find that in lines like "Honour has come back, as a king, to earth ( ... )