The Drum Essay Example

dominant feature of Scott's poem is arguably the strong rhyme scheme that it exhibits:

'I hate that drum's discordant sound,

Parading round and round and round'

The above quote clearly illustrates how this rhyme scheme induces a strong rhythm into the poem, aided by the set number of eight syllables per line. This rhythm compliments the title of the poem, demonstrating Scott's use of onomatopoeia, as it imitates the beat of a drum. Scott's employment of onomatopoeia within the rhythm here also introduces the idea of men marching off to war, as it is known that often men marched to the beat of a drum to help coordination;

'To march, and fight, and fall in foreign lands'

Whereas Scott's poem adopts a form of a two-stanza poem, each stanza being of equal length, Owen's poem consists of eight stanzas, with alternating lengths of two, and three lines. The simple construction of Scott's poem allows his AABB rhyme scheme to impose his desired effect of imitating the beat of a drum or the march of soldiers, which is also aided by the common number of syllables per line. Owen's utilisation of an original structure however, displays a rhyme scheme which transcends stanzas; an uncommon facet of poems:

'Down the close darkening lanes they sang their way

To the siding-shed,

And lined the train with faces grimly gay.

Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray

As men's are, dead.'

The passing of rhyme over each three-line stanza, to the subsequent two-line stanza, as demonstrated here, creates the auditory effect of hearing a four-stanza poem, each of five lines. However, Owen's choice of presenting each five lines as two separate stanzas induces an effective pause between

these stanzas, and thus the reader is gripped by what would be the final two lines of a five-line stanza. The reverse in rhyme also aids the purpose of drawing the attention of the reader to these two-line stanzas, which often refer to the deaths of soldiers, either directly or otherwise. For instance, the final stanza consisting of,

'May creep back, silent, to village wells

Up half-known roads'

speaks of the harsh reality that only few soldiers, if any will return from the war, and that those who do, will merely be shadows of their former selves, and thus the places they return to will not seem the same to them. The shrill implication of this stanza is aided by the reversed rhyme from the stanza preceding it, in addition to the pause that is induced before it. Thus, Owen and Scott demonstrate how fundamental facets of poetry can be utilised to achieve differing effects.

Both Owen and Scott convey developing, well structured arguments throughout their poems, rather than displaying an undeveloped attitude. Scott manages this incredibly effectively by inducing a change of tone between stanzas. His first stanza conveys how the 'drum's discordant sound' appeals to the na�ve 'thoughtless' young men, to whom the media pleaded to join up. Certain aspects of the language in this stanza strongly exhibit Scott's unequivocal cynicism towards the common act of glorifying war and the act of fighting for one's country. For instance, Scott states,

'And lures from cities and from fields,

To sell their liberties for charms'

This quote displays the poet's use of a strong verb, 'lure', in order to personify the drum, giving it a somewhat devious nature; implying that it tempts

young men by only showing positive aspects of war, to give up their innocence for a chance of glory; portrayed by the second line of this quote. The final line of this poem displays Scott's act of satirising the view of war conveyed by the media to these innocent young men:

'To march, and fight, and fall, in foreign lands'

Scott's use of the word 'fall' here to convey death, following his cynicism of the act of the drum, illustrates his sardonic view of the media's propaganda, and their habit of emphasising the positives of war, whilst disguising the negative through the use of euphemism.

The tone change in the second verse is introduced in the form of Scott stating what the drum speaks of 'to me'. The tone becomes much more brutally honest, aided by Scott's repeated use of emotive language in the form of a list:

'And mangled limbs, and dying groans,

And widows tears and orphans' moans'

The use of words such as 'mangled' and 'orphans' here, summon up immense sympathy and disgust in the reader, as they are forced to face Scott's personal feelings of the brutal reality that is being disguised by the sound of the drum, for those innocent and na�ve soldiers desperate for glory, as well as the public on the home front.

Owen's poem conveys an account of men being sent off to war, to an almost certain death. This is clearly extremely similar to Scott's poem, who speaks of 'orphans' being left without fathers, and 'widows' without husbands. 'The Send-off' adopts the form of an eye-witness account of men being sent off to fight, who by this late stage of the war, in

1918, are possibly painfully aware that going into the War will likely be the death of them. For instance, Owen states'

'And lined the train with faces grimly gay.'

Through his use of oxymoron at the end of this line, Owen implies that the soldiers are aware of the danger they are putting themselves in, and the conditions they will have to endure, yet they fulfil their duty, and carry out the pretence of being 'gay' to be fighting in the War, for the sake of those they are leaving behind. Throughout the course of his poem, Owen conveys his anger towards the government, and those that decide to continue to recruit men who will almost certainly die, for a futile cause. This is demonstrated by the lone,

'So secretly, like wrongs hushed up, they went.'

Here, Owens belief that it was 'wrong' for the men to be signed up to fight in what he believed to be a futile War, is clearly conveyed, in conjunction with the fact that these men didn't speak of the terrors they knew they were about to encounter.

The development of Owen's argument leads him to talk of his belief that, once they have gone, their 'grimly gay' faces the last thing seen of them by those at home, only a few, if any will return,

'...too few for drums and yells'.

Both poets speak extremely effectively of the waste of War, exhibiting cynicism towards the attitudes of those who have not first hand experience of its terror, and therefore do not know of the true brutality of it. Whilst these poets convey similar anti-war attitudes through their poems, I believe that the original form and

structure of Owen's poem, in conjunction with the effective use of language and systematic development of his argument, results in a greater impact being made on the reader through reading his poem, rather than Scott's. Despite this view however, I also believe that Scott delivers his argument extremely effectively, although his use of a more conventional form and structure leads me to think that his poem is not as effective as Owen's in communicating his message.