Text response #1 – War Poetry

The First World War was one of the largest wars in history, with over 70 million military personnel fighting in battles throughout Europe. Of the 70 million, 9 million were killed, it was a brutal and bloody battle fought predominantly in trenches. This was the first war that was predominantly fought in trenches. Young men enlisted not fully knowing the truth of war, they were told that war would be an adventure and they would return heroes. But that was far from the truth and once innocent soldiers were faced with the horrible truth that war wasn’t what they thought it would be, which would change them forever. Siegfired Sasson, Wilfrid Owen and Vernon Scannell are three poets who through their work show that truth and innocence are casualties of war.

During WW1 innocence was a casualty of war. Siegfired Sassoon’s poem ‘Suicide in the trenches’ is an example of this statement. The poem tells the story of a “…simple soldier boy…” who as gone to fight in the war. He arrives an innocent young man with out a trouble in the world, who quickly comes to the realization that he didn’t know the truth about the war. The young man commits suicide in winter on the front. Sassoon uses an AABB rhyme pattern throughout the poem, this makes the poem flow like a nursery rhyme, he has written the poem this way because it enforces his point about war not being for kids as nursery rhymes are made for children. This gives the poem an underlining truth that is the focus of the entire poem. This poem is directed at the crowds of people who cheer the soldiers of to war, this is know because of the in the last paragraph “… sneak home and prey you will never know the hell where youth and laughter go” . people didn’t know the truth of war, if they knew where the young men were going

Dulce et Decorum est is written by Wilfrid Owen, the poem is about soldiers walking back from the front line when they are hit by a gas attack, one of the soldiers is unable to put his gas mask on and