Rupert Brooke’s poem ‘The Soldier’ was written at the outset of WW1, his representation of war

is more propaganda like as it romanticised war, death and patriotism. Brooke never actually
made it to the frontlines, so therefore he had no experience whatsoever. Wilfred Owen’s poem
‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written from a firsthand perspective. He had experience from within
the trenches and his representation focused on the sheer brutality and reality of war. Owen also
challenges the perception of war within society. Eva Dobell’s poem ‘Pluck’ was written from a
firsthand, female perspective. She had experience from working as a nurse and her
representation is the aftermath of war and the brutal, life altering physical and mental injuries
that war causes.

Brooke’s poem ‘The Soldier’ was highly romanticised in war and death. It was also a very
patriotic poem with the words ‘England’ embedded throughout, ‘A body of England’s, breathing
English air’ is just one example of this. It is very much like the propaganda that was used on
posters and radio stations at this time. He believes that it is an honour to fight and die for his
country. It creates an image of a brave soldier during WW1 that would be willing to do anything
of his beloved country. It reflects the spirits of proud Englishmen which lead to many men
enlisting at the early stage of conflict.

The poem begins with the romanticisation of death; from the very first line ‘If I should die’
Brooke is contemplating death. He is contemplating this without actually seeing or experiencing
it. This suggests that despite all the propaganda that was around at the time, he believed that
there was a chance that he would indeed lose his life. He talks about England in personification,
‘Her sights and sounds; dreams as happy as her day’ protecting it as if it was his mother. He
believes that if he died in combat then the ‘foreign field’ the earth would be ‘a richer dust,
concealed’. Meaning the land on which he died would be much better for having English blood
spilt, he believes England is the holy motherland and is much more superior to any other
country. ‘Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home’ this line has some religious significance;
the words ‘Washed’ and ‘blest’ are metaphors that could be interpreted as the act of baptism.
He has pastoral idyll; worthy of protection along with thoughts of an ‘English Heaven’ where he
would have the promise of redemption. This suggests that death is idealised; ‘A pulse in the
eternal mind’ suggests that the physical being is left behind in favour of a more spiritual one.

Normally sonnets are written in either a Petrarchan or Shakespearean styles, this poem
however is a mixture of the two. It has a Petrarchan structure with fourteen lines, an octave
which consists of two quatrains followed by a sestet and uses an iambic pentameter. However it
has a typical Shakespearean rhyming (ABABCDCD EFGEFG) and has three quatrains followed
by a rhyming couplet. ‘The Soldier’ is undoubtedly a Sonnet with fourteen lines, ten syllables
with a definite rhyme. It could be suggested that Brooke’s intentional use of a sonnet was to
portray a love song of all things English and England as a country.

Owen uses his firsthand experience of a gas attack to bring home the harsh, brutality and reality
of war. He starts his poem with a portrayal of the soldiers being ‘Bent double, like old beggars
under sacks’, this simile demonstrates how unhygienic and unkempt the soldiers were. The
comparison of soldiers ‘like old beggars’ suggests that the soldiers are ageing prematurely due
to what they experienced in combat; the comparison here is startling as soldiers are seen as
being strong, healthy, fit men.

Owen also used imagery to point out also how cruel mental effects war has had on the men,
‘drunk with fatigue’. This helps show the level of exhaustion that the men were suffering along
with hardships that they endured. The use of this metaphor is compelling because the severe
exhaustion of the men is being likened to the effects of alcohol, which suggests the men have a
lack of coordination and the awareness of what surrounds them. The use of ‘deaf to even the
hoots’ suggests that they are losing all senses and that their weary bodies are shutting down;
‘outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind’ suggests the possibility that there were gas
canisters being dropped behind them.

He seeks to personify the extreme terrors of war through his description of the emotional state
of the men, ‘towards our distant rest began to trudge’. This suggests that not only are the men
very fatigued but they are weary and have not had any reprieve from the conditions they were
facing on a daily basis. The words ‘distant rest’ are highly effective because the journey to their
base eludes them and the fact that it seems an unreachable goal. This can also refer to the end
of the war and suggests that the end seems like an impossible dream. The use of a caesura
and enjambment gives the impression of this part of the poem being slow paced, trudging along
much like the soldiers were.

Owen uses the unexpected gas attack in a graphic description to reinforce the true horrors of
trench life and warfare. The poem picks up pace from the very first line of ‘Gas! Gas! Quick,
boys’ this stresses the urgency of the situation along with the use of exclamation marks and
shorter lines; compared to the previous slow, marching, longer lines that he had previously
written. The consequences of this attack are made clear as Owen conveys the torture of a
soldier who had failed to get his gas mask on, ‘flound’ring like a man in fire or lime’. This
expresses the soldier’s agonising pain and suffering due to the corrosive gas that has entered
his lungs. Owen then goes on to describe his nightmares which constantly plague him; ‘In all my
dreams, before my helpless sight,’ ‘He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning’. The use of
the onomatopoeia suggests the soldier had a prolonged and painful death. It could also be
suggested that the fact that Owen was unable to help or save him also lies heavy on his
shoulders.

Owen closes the poem beginning with ‘If in some smothering dreams you too could pace’ this
suggests that Owen is trying to connect with the reader directly, almost as if he is pleading with
them to see war through his eyes rather in comparison to the perception that propaganda has
influenced.

‘If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud’
Owen reinforces the horrific, brutal reality of war; whilst still challenging the perception. He
purposefully uses the word ‘cancer’ to strike fear into the reader.

Finally, in the last lines the irony of the poem is revealed; Owen challenges those that would
argue that death in war was one of honour and glory, ‘my friend, you would not tell with such
high zest’. He makes use of a second person in which to get a message across to anyone at
home that encourages men to enlist for honour and country, that they are in fact encouraging
them to sign up for a death sentence. The use of ‘my friend’ is ironic as he regards these people
as the ones in which the responsibility lies with; for what he and so many others had to endure
and claims that if only they were actually able to observe the heinousness of war they would
then realise the truthful extent of the ‘old Lie’.

Owen finishes up the poem with ‘The old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’ which
ironically translates to ‘Sweet and fitting it is for country to die’. It completely goes against
everything that Owen was expressing in his poem.

Eva Dobell’s poem shows a completely different representation of war and a very different
perception of war. She reveals one of hopelessness, despair and brutality. The powerful use of
vocabulary along with the strong emotion and intense imagery that she uses is evident
throughout.

The first line ‘Crippled for life at seventeen’; the tone and the theme of the poem are established
immediately. The tone suggests one of despair and hopelessness, it is clear that the theme and
the tone are written in a way to make the heart sink whilst the technique is to intrigue and
provoke. ‘A child –so wasted and so white, He told a lie to get his way’ suggests that he was
underage when he enlisted; it is almost certain that he was enticed by propaganda and heroism
for his country. ‘To march, a man with men, and fight’ Dobell use of monosyllabic in this line
replicates the sound of marching; as soldiers would.

Dobell has used imagery to reinforce her views on war and what it was really like. Bloodshed
and all the gore that it entails in which the war is associated with ‘His great eyes seem to
question why/with both legs smashed it might have been/better in that grim trench to die’. This
suggests that he would have preferred to die rather than live out his life reliant upon his family to
provide and look after him.

The personal experience of being a nurse (that only ever saw blood, injury and death) and being
a woman she was never subjected to the idea of honour, courage, pride, respect or nobility that
is related to the war or army.

The structure was more of a nursery rhyme, with a simple rhyming scheme and the same
number of syllables. It’s a very set structure through which you can relate to the child’s age.

All three poems are very different in terms of what war was like ‘The Soldier’ was written
pre-war therefore was very romanticised in a propaganda way; whereas ‘Dulce et decorum est’
challenged society's view on what war was really like with it being written from a firsthand
experience. ‘Puck’ was a firsthand account from a female nurse's perspective that dealt with the
aftermath of war. All three poems cover all three perspectives which helps give an overall
account of the war.