Comparing War Poems 'Dulce Et Decorum Est And'

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Critical Response Comparing Two Examples of War Poetry Wilfred Owens ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and John McRae’s ‘In Flanders Fields’ have similar themes and tones. Each of the poems was written during WWI by these soldiers both of whom were casualties of that war. The two poems tell us about the despair the poets felt about not being able to save soldiers who were dying. In comparing the techniques each poet has used to help understand the message in the poems it will be useful to discover how each poet expresses, in their own way similar themes and issues. Both poems are about and set in WWI. Wilfred Owen’s poem is about a gas attack and John McRae’s is about the aftermath of a battle and the poppies growing in between the crosses. In both poems the poets are in despair about not being able to save fellow soldiers who were dying.…show more content…
For example both poets use repetition to emphasise something which is happening in the poem. In the second line in John McRae’s poem the poet uses repetition subtlety emphasise the amount of soldiers who have been killed. ‘Between the crosses row on row’, whereas in Wilfred Owen’s poem he uses repetition but in a much more graphic way. Owen uses repetition in the form of repeating verbs such as ‘guttering, chocking and drowning’ to give us a very graphic image of the slow painful death the soldiers suffered after a gas attack. In this way both poets, although different in writing styles use similar techniques to create imagery which helps us to understand the main themes in their

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