Fall in and dulce et decorum est Essay

During WW1 war poetry changed dramatically. At the beginning of the war, in 1914, propaganda poems were a popular technique to encourage men to join the army to fight for England. Harold Begbie’s ‘Fall In’ was a typical highly patriotic poem that persuaded men to enlist. However, poetry changed at around 1916, after the Battle of Somme, when thousands of men were killed. Soldiers like Wilfred Owen’s wrote poems showing the real terrors they faced in war. Both poems are war poems and both poets use different language techniques to provoke the reader’s feelings. This essay will compare ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ and ‘Fall in’ by looking at the language, structure used and the poets’ attitude towards war. Begbie uses many techniques to make men want to enlist to fight for their freedom in ‘Fall In’. This poem was published as a ‘call to war’ in newspapers and magazines. Highly patriotic poems are also known as jingoistic poems and were very popular at the beginning of the war, as they persuaded men to enlist. We see an example of a patriotic phrase in stanza two; ‘In the war that kept men free? ‘ This implies that England was free before the war and by joining the war the men are helping to keep England free forever. This is patriotic, as it is saying how good England was and how everyone had there freedom. Men liked their freedom and so enlisted. Also; ‘And Right is smashed by Wrong? ‘ supports the idea of patriotism, as the word ‘Right’ describes England and ‘Wrong’ describing Germans. Meanwhile, Owen’s poem is based on his own war experience, and his poems convey the pain, and suffering the soldiers encountered by using a range of similes, metaphors and onomatopoeias; A simile; ‘Coughing like hags’ illustrates how weak and ill the soldiers are. The metaphor ‘Knock kneed’ emphasizes how tired the men are as if they are about to collapse as their knees cannot support them anymore. The onomatopoeia in stanza three presents the poem in a more realistic way; ‘Come gurgling from his froth corrupted lungs’ uses the onomatopoeia ‘gurgling’. The reader can almost hear the painful sounds of the dying man. Secondly, Begbie says that soldiers who go to war will not be mocked and will be loved for their bravery when they come back. The poem threatens the reader that if he does not enlist, he will be looked down upon and we see this from the line; ‘But what will you lack when your mate goes by with a girl who cuts you dead? ‘ The words ‘cuts you dead’ support the same idea. ‘When the girls line up the street shouting their love to the lads to come back’ shows that girls will praise and love the soldiers who come back from war. Men like having lots of attention and will therefore join the army. On the other hand, Owen presents a very different view. Owen believes that soldiers will be destroyed and traumatised forever after the war; ‘In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning’. Here, Owen talks about how endless nightmares tortured him every night. The nightmare was described vividly to the reader, so those who want to enlist will think about the consequences. When Owen says, ‘In all my dreams’ it shows that he saw the man every night. He was badly affected after seeing the horrors in war. Many soldiers were badly traumatised after the war and had to be taken to a psychiatric hospital. This is the opposite picture Begbie creates; there are no cheerful soldiers being chased by women. Thirdly, Begbie uses a question and answer structure to make the reader question why they are not going to war. For instance, ‘How will you fare, sonny, how will you fare in the far-off winter night’ is one of Begbie’s questions which occur at the beginning of each stanza. The poem assumes that man is going to live. Most people are scared of death at war, but the way that Begbie assumes the reader will survive makes the reader think that it is an easy war and, so, it is not a problem joining the army. Also, the way Begbie uses the word ‘Sonny’ displays the idea that he is older that the reader and most young men, at that time, respected their elders very much and would listen to what they said. The answer; ‘Will you slink away, as it were from a blow, your old head shamed and bent? ‘ would make the men who are not fighting want to enlist, as they know it could happen to them one day. Conversely, ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ has a much different structure. Here, Owen describes what trench life is like and then follows on to describe a gas attack. There is no question and answer structure and instead every alternate line rhymes. The first stanza tells us of life in the trenches, and Owen emphasizes how weak the soldiers are. The second stanza describes a gas attack, and the third stanza describes what a gas attack does to its victim. Finally, Begbie’s attitude, which is shown in ‘Fall In’, is that all men should go to war. He is saying that all men should enlist and fight for their country. The last sentence; ‘When your brothers stand to the tyrant’s blow and England’s call is God’s! ‘ demonstrates that Begbie expects all men to fight against the ‘tyrant’s blow’ as ‘brothers’. He also compares England’s call to God’s call showing that he thinks that Gods thinks that all men should fight against the Germans and their allies as well. People who were very religious might have thought that war was a chance to prove to God that they were brave and faithful to their country and should go to Heaven. In opposition, ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ has a different attitude. Owen’s poem says why men should not enlist and that death in war is unnecessary and inevitable; ‘the old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori’ this means that it is not sweet and right to die for your country. The words; ‘The old Lie’ proves that Owen disagrees with it being sweet and right to die for your country. We also see that Owen has a negative attitude towards other propaganda poets. For example; ‘My friend, you would not tell with such high zest’ proves that he is against men being told to enlist; ‘My friend’ implies that Owen is talking to a propaganda poet such as Begbie. He does not mean ‘My friend’ and is using sarcasm. He blames the propaganda poets for making so many men think war is good and making them enlist, causing many deaths. Many people, when war was just announced, were extremely eager for it to start since they thought war would be over in a few months. The saying; ‘Over by Christmas’ was what everybody expected. However, the war lasted much longer then that-a total of four years. After the Battle of Somme attitudes started to change dramatically, since hundred thousands of soldiers were being killed per day! Wilfred Owen started writing about what the soldiers had to confront during this time, and war did not seem so honourable.