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Modern War Poetry Comparative Essay

War poets such as Wilfred Owen, Brian Turner and Mike Beavis use their poetry to express their

different views on war. These three different views demonstrated by these poets are the undignified

dead, the emotional and physical destruction and leaving your loved ones behind to do something

honourable. Techniques in these poems help to demonstrate these different views.

Wilfred Owen expresses his view that the people who die in war are undignified in his poem

‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’. The first technique that he uses is irony in the name of the poem. The

word ‘anthem’ means a song of praise, devotion or patriotism, and doesn’t suit the atmosphere of 

the poem which is actually sad, bitter and tragic. Another way of showing irony in this poem is by

writing it as a sonnet, in which the traditional subject is love. Owen’s bitter view of the war is that

the people who die don’t get appreciated or loved, so this poem was made to show his love for

them. Another way of showing his bitterness is by his rhetorical questions. The first line of the poem;

“what passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” is implying that the soldiers are being slaughtered

like cattle, and that they’re not going to achieve much dignification when being treated this way.

Owen uses this irony to demonstrate his bitterness about how the soldiers’ deaths are undignified.

Wilfred Owen also uses imagery to help demonstrate his view of war in this poem by using a

sustained metaphor of a funeral throughout the whole poem. He compares the way of dignified

dead, who have the typical funeral and the undignified dead, who die in battle. “What passing-bells

for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns.” These first two lines are using

the gun-fire sound as church bells. Another example is from “the shrill, demented choirs of wailing

shells; and bugles calling for them from sad shires” in which the wailing of shells and the bugle calls

are what would be the choirs in a typical funeral. Throughout the poem, Owen uses more of this

imagery to compare the two different types of death as he is bitter about how the soldiers in war diein horrible ways but aren’t honoured as much as the people who die back at home. Other examples

demonstrated are the rapid rifle fire represent the prayers, the light of the sky reflected in the

unclosed dead eyes of the soldiers which represent the candles held by alter boys, the pale colour in

the faces of the bereaved women back home which represent the pall covering the body, and the

kind thoughts of those back home which represent the flowers. Owen does this to show his readers

the comparison between the deaths of those at war defending their country and those at home.

Brian Turner expresses a different view in his poem ‘Here, Bullet’. ‘Here, Bullet’ demonstrates

Turner’s view that there are both physical and emotional destruction in war. The ‘Bullet’ is

capitalised because it is a synecdoche; it represents more than just a bullet, it represents thedestructive force in war. Brian Turner also uses apostrophe by using his poem as a way of addressing

the Bullet in a tone that is challenging and defiant. His first two lines “If a body is what you want,

then here is bone and gristle and flesh’ has two different meanings. One of these meanings is the

physical destruction, the bullet wants to destroy and kill the body. The other meaning is more about

the mental destruction, where the bullet wants to possess to destroy other bodies. The first half of 

the poem details the way the weaponry and the Bullet destroys soldiers physically. Examples on this

physical destruction is by using words such as “bone and gristle and flesh” and “aorta’s opened

valves” The second half of the poem details on the way the Bullet and war destroys someone

mentally instead of physically. “Here is where I complete the word you bring” meaning that he is

doing what the Bullet tells him to do, which is to bring death upon someone else. Every time the

persona completes the ‘word’ of the bullet, he feels himself being destroyed as well. “Triggering my

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tongue’s explosives for the rifling I have inside of me, each twist of the round spun deeper” He feels

each destructive action of the bullet ‘[spin] deeper’ inside of him. He also feels that he is

dehumanising, and beginning to take on characteristics of the gun, “here is where I moan the

barrel’s cold oesophagus”. By showing the readers these views, he is showing them that there is

more destruction than just being hurt or killed, there is also an emotional destruction to the soldiers.

Mike Beavis, another modern war poet shows that his view is about leaving his family and wife

behind to fight for his country in his poem “The Balance”. He uses rhetorical questions throughout

the poem which demonstrates his questioning and doubtful tone about choosing to go to war to

fight for his country when he’s found someone he loves. “How can I live this life and make you my

bride? The hardest lesson in life for me, is choosing between job and family” is an example of this.

Beavis wrote this so his readers can understand a bit of the struggle of choosing the right thing to

do. Mike also uses rhyme and cadence that gives a flow to the poem, and adds to the sad

atmosphere. By using short sentences in this poem “oh he was brave”, “one for his men”, “from

desert plain”, “to grassy glen”, “to life’s rapid pace”, “addicted to the moments”, “like some wonder

pill” and “I fight for my country” he is slowing down the pace and emphasizing his point more

clearly. At the end of the poem, Mike Beavis gives an answer to his earlier rhetorical questions that

is almost anticlimactic “I fight for my country I fight to be with you”, it is a simple response to many

complicated questions. It shows that although it is a complicated question and position to be in, his

answer has to be simple.

These techniques used by Wilfred Owen, Brian turner, and Mike Beavis are used to express their

different views on war. By demonstrating these techniques they are able to show the differences

between the undignified dead, the physical as well as emotional destruction and leaving your loved

ones behind to do something both dangerous and honourable.