How Does the Origin of Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke Give Up in Their Works?

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How biological background of Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke give the reader an insight on their work
Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke are two poets who both had different backgrounds. Wilfred Owen was an English poet and a soldier in the First World War who wrote realistic war poetry on the horrors trenches and gas while Rupert Brooke was only a poet but not a soldier who wrote poems during the First World War. Some of their popular works include the Dulce et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen and the Soldier by Rupert Brooke. The Soldier and Dulce et Decorum Est’ are poems written about war. The poems treat their subjects differently with both poems acting as examples of the perception of authors of war; Owen viewing it as a bitter reality while Brooke’s sees it as a way of gaining glory by dying for one’s particular country. Both the poets express their views on the subject matter in terms of language, rhyme, tone, structure and rhythm. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is written using very effective language by the use of varied methods such as onomatopoeia, alliteration, and diction. The tone is unyielding and shiny imagery is used to reinforce it, especially via compelling metaphors and enduring similes. The rhyme scheme is regular with very moderate trade and assists in establishing the rhythm. The poem is split into 4 stanzas, the primary two of which set and broaden the scene, even as the 0.33 and fourth bring the abiding reminiscence and offer a statement on what has preceded. (Abbasi et al pp 30-38).
‘The Soldier’ is a Petrarchan sonnet that is divided into two stanzas. The preliminary octave lays out Brooke’s thoughts and feelings concerning his situation, with the sestet giving a definitive very last remark. The tone of the poem along with the rhyme inside the poem could be very regular this helps to carry the mindset of the poet. Dulce et Decorum Est with the aid of Wilfred Owen and the Soldier by way of Rupert Brooke were written all through global battle one duration. the primary subject matters of the poems are warfare and dying but the poems are written from distinctive views due to the poets’ exclusive biological backgrounds. the two poets poses extraordinary procedures in depicting the conflict effects on those people who are involved. within the soldier Brooke glorifies and idealizes warfare at the same time as in Dulce Et Decorum Est by means of Wilfred Owen he highlights the horror and cruelty that comes as a result of conflict .Wilfred presents the reader with the impression that war is very horrible and that when someone dies for one’s country there is no glory and honor to him as always claimed but in reality people suffer and lose their loved ones. He also ascertains that when a person dies in a war no matter for what caused it the person usually goes through a lot of pain and suffering, this however is in contrast with Rupert Brooke who lets the reader have an impression that when a person dies in war while fighting for one’s country then the person becomes very honorable and glorious. (Hamilton pp 40-51).
In the soldier, Brooke shows the love he has for England and how he strongly believes that it is right to fight and die for his own country. However in reality Brooke never came to know what war was like as he died in 1915. Thus his poem can be viewed as being very idealistic. This is shown when he writes “… there is a corner of a foreign land that is forever England”. Here he views the English soldier’s bodies as being part of England. If they perish on foreign soil then the land around there will always remain as being part of England territory since their souls remain where they died along with their love and values for England. Brooke fails to describe the horrifying nature of death that happen during war and he only tells the readers how England is honored by soldiers who die while in the process of defending the nation. He brings about the positive feelings experienced towards war and describes positively the soldier’s thoughts when the war has finally finished by employing words such as laughter and happy dreams in his poem (Scutts et al pp 26-38).
By contrast Wilfred Owen employs irony to describe war not has being glorious duty but instead portrays it has being a barbaric massacre. Owen considers the statement “it is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country” to be a lie for most soldiers especially after they see and live the reality that comes with war as soldiers. War cannot be referred as being sweet but instead it is a horrible event. Owen is against the idea of fighting in a war. Wilfred Owen is more concerned with the tragedy caused by war and the conditions that the soldiers fighting in the war get themselves in. For example he depicts the soldiers as “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”. Generally one always thinks of a soldier as being a man with a lot of strength, who looks brave and goes to fight in war with a lot of bravery. In contrast, Owen tries to make the reader view the soldier as being a penniless man and offers a sense of their non-glorified reality. Their physiological health, physical health and their uniforms are all destroyed. That shows the reader how the war has ruthlessly damaged the soldier’s spirits. Therefore the readers can realize that whereas Brooke’s poem encourages fighting for your country and patriotism Owen’s poem on the other hand questions the reasoning for fighting a war. (Caesar et al pp 9-29).
In their other works Brooke portrays a good picture of war using Biblical language in ‘Peace’. For instance in the opening of poem- ‘God be thanked’ –sounds to the reader like a form of prayer or worship , which is significant because Brooke is showing how people need to be grateful for war. Brooke through his work shows the reader how ordinary men are turned into ‘swimmers into cleanness leaping’. The contempt in this phrase functions to soften the tone, this suggests that war is can be used to offer contentment and satisfaction. The word ‘swimmers’ also brings the idea of games and competing which is noticeably Brooke’s way of painting an attractive view of war (Abbasi et al pp 6-12). Brooke’s uses his poem to split his ideas from constructive thoughts of how war can better develop the lives of people, to the peace and calm that come as a result of death. This is effective in showing a good picture of war because it provides encouraging views of the before and after. Brooke restates this elevated view of war through half rhyme on the word ‘love’. By doing so, he is making sure that the ‘emptiness of love’ is stressed. This show the ideas that love is insignificant when it is compared to war, which is effective in making war, look wonderful by comparison (Abbasi et al pp19-29).
However Owen appears more sickened than being confused. He seems to watch the soldiers go to war as if they are already dead, describing to the reader that the paths followed by the soldiers are “darkening lanes” that are danger looms in. Owen also has a feeling that the soldiers are being deceived into going to war by saying “a lamp winking to the guard”. They are the only ones who are not aware of the dreadful nature of what they are going to face, and everybody else is cheering them to go, “like wrongs hushed up”. The contrasting of the words “gay” and “grimly” to describe the faces of the soldiers and reflects the hatred that Owen feels. He describes the soldiers almost as a product that has “lined the train” like stock on a shelf; to be shipped to war. The outcome is a poem that has a darker and bitterer tone. It tells the repulsion that Owen holds for the fact that the soldiers were cheered by a society celebrating war and disrespectful women “who gave the soldiers flowers” later becoming the country’s sacrifice (Elder et al pp 66-78).

Works cited
Caesar, Adrian. Taking it like a man: Suffering, sexuality, and the war poets: Brooke, Sassoon, Owen, Graves. Manchester University Press, 1993.
Scutts, Joanna. “Battlefield Cemeteries, Pilgrimage, and Literature after the First World War: The Burial of the Dead.” English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920 52.4 (2009): 387- 416.
Hamilton, Ian. Against oblivion: some lives of the twentieth-century poets. Faber & Faber, 2012.
Abbasi, AW Mansoor. “Hemingway’s Depiction of World War I in A Farewell to Arms.” Pakistan Journal of American Studies 23.1/2 (2005): 55.
Elder, John. Imagining the earth: Poetry and the vision of nature. University of Georgia Press, 1996.