Genre Essays

When I came across the essay topic on war poetry, I was apprehensive as it is not my area of interest. Thus, I anticipated that I would not be able to appreciate any of Wilfred Owen’s poems. My understanding of war poetry differs from that of Owens, as he wrote about the First World War […]

Both The Send Off and The Drum utilize language and poetic techniques to depict the terrifying realities and consequences of war. The poems expose the misconceptions and glorification of war perpetuated by those who promote it as a noble, heroic endeavor, versus the experiences of those who actually fight and die on the battlefield and […]

The experiences of men and women within the war differed drastically, due to the different roles played by each gender; women lacked knowledge of the trauma undergone by soldiers on the frontline, due to their lack of personal experience. However, there was not only contrast between men and women in their attitudes and view of […]

In 1915, Owen enlisted in the war with romantic and heroic ideals, but the reality he faced on the front line was anything but. He utilizes the natural world to symbolize the horrors of war, while also highlighting its role as a source of solace for soldiers. In ‘Spring Offensive’ and ‘Exposure’, Owen depicts the […]

The two poems, which I have chosen, are, “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae, and “Suicide in the Trenches” by Siegfried Sassoon. The poems take opposing views to the war. “In Flanders Fields” we find McCrae taking a positive, almost religious and very sensitive view about the outcome of war. Whilst in comparison, in “Suicide […]

‘Who’s for the game’, ‘The Soldier’, ‘In Flanders Field’ and ‘Rendezvous’ are four poems that I feel are apt examples of typical poetry written in World War 1. Poetry throughout this period of time, share similar qualities of which I hope to explore further, one of these qualities is the recurring theme of the glorification […]

‘Base Details’ is entirely speculative. The word ‘base’ in the title has two distinct meanings. It could be used as a noun, to mean ‘place’, as in a center of operation; or you could interpret the word as an adjective meaning ‘morally low or unacceptable’. Sassoon has used a play on words in the title […]

Poetry written in the English language has a long and fascinating history. Like other creative arts, poetry began in service to communities. Its function was to aid the memory and enshrine in its rhythmic diction the history of the tribe such as the First World War. Over the centuries it became a way in which […]

War, in any shape or form, affects people in many different ways. Many people choose to express their feelings and experiences of war in poems. The three poems I have chosen all have different moods, structures, and rhythms but their meanings are all the same – war is ruthless terrifying, and pointless. The poem ‘On […]

Located at the beginning of the anthology Up the Line to Death, the section titled Happy is England Now. Brian Gardner, the editor, has organized six poems in this section to demonstrate their predominantly pro-war nature. As a result, most of the poems in this section reinforce pre-war and wartime stereotypes held by the public. […]

In my opinion, The Oxford Book of War Poetry is a collection that deeply resonates with readers and allows them to empathize with the poets themselves. The topic of war is captivating to all and during wartime, Great Britain experienced division between those who discussed war and those who endured its brutal reality. Not all […]

The experiences of World War One are reflected in a variety of different ways. Poems are a very good source of seeing how the different attitudes from the War, are expressed. In this essay, I will analyze the mood and tone, mood, language, and attitudes of the writers in “Dead Man’s Dump” and “Exposure”. The […]

There are various key ideas that have been presented in “Rouen” by May Wedderburn Cannan. She has made a great use of different literary devices to describe her realities of war on the frontline whilst she worked as a VAD nursing injured soldiers. Regarding its wider use in exploring ideas about the First World War; […]

The poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen was written sometime after the Battle of Ypres in 1915, where gas was first used as a weapon. By using various techniques, Owen is able to outline the horror of such an attack and as a result, try and disprove the widely held belief of it […]

In Wordsworth’s poem, he portrays a solitary girl singing and harvesting in the fields. Despite not comprehending her song’s meaning, it captivates him with its loveliness. He encourages others to also listen to her and take inspiration from his personal encounter. The poem contains four stanzas that demonstrate Wordsworth’s mastery of poetry. The initial stanza […]

Although these two war poems both have the same name, the two poets have very different ideas and the poems are extremely different. Wordsworth and Read have managed to write two exceedingly different war poems both with the same name, yet with almost opposite ideas.William Wordsworth had written a long and detailed description on his […]

Throughout ‘Nutting’ Wordsworth uses many different techniques to help with the development of its meaning and effects. Written in the first viewpoint, it is allegorical with its focus being on a young boy going out to collect nuts, dealing with the past of the outing framed by the adult’s memories with nature teaching and guiding […]

William Wordsworth wrote the poem “The Daffodils” in 1804, two years later after his experience with the Daffodils. The poem “Miracle on St. David’s Day” was written by Gillian Clarke around 1980. Miracle on St. David’s Day was written one hundred and seventy-six years after The Daffodils was. The poems are very similar in the […]

Lyrical Ballads, and in particular the Preface to Lyrical Ballads, is considered a central work of Romantic literary theory. In it, Wordsworth discusses what he sees as the elements of a new type of poetry, one based on the “real language of men” and the work itself avoids the poetic diction of much eighteenth-century poetry, […]

Romanticism was an artistic movement that originated in the late 18th century. It helped people express strong emotions and rebel against the industrial revolution in Britain. This caused poor living conditions and unhappiness among the people at the time. People therefore, looked to nature for beauty and improvement in society. Another factor that contributed to […]

William Wordsworth’s “The Daffodils” and “Miracle On St David’s Day” by Gillian Clarke have common ground even though they were written two centuries apart-William Wordsworth’s at the end of the eighteenth century and Clarke’s in the last ten years of the 20th. “The Daffodils” inspired “Miracle On St David’s Day” in that William Wordsworth’s poem […]

Born in 1772 in Ottery. St. , T. S. Coleridge lead a very disquiet life in his early childhood. After his father’s death he was sent to the Christ’s hospital school. There he had felt a great emotional vacuum, which was the beginning of his continuos ill health. Charles Lamb, his schoolmate, gave us an […]