Language used in poetry or the works of literature affects the audience differently thus interpretation can also vary. Interpretation of words used can lead to varying ideas about the feelings of writers even when he/she has not indicated in the work. This essay compares and contrasts use of terms, words, and figures of speech among other devices to explore the theme of war in two poems. The poem For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon depicts the aftermath of the First World War, which was the most horrific experience for the world. The poem The Wound in Time
by Carl Ann Duffy captures the British soldiers as brave due to heir sacrifice during the World War I. Unlike The Fallen, which uses glorious language, The Wound in Time uses words that reveal the pain caused by the entire ordeal but the two poets use various poetic devices such as imagery to bring out the theme of war.
In the sonnet For The Fallen the poet brings out the theme of war by calling attention to the noble sacrifice by the soldiers who died fighting for their nation, England. He uses various poetic devices to pass the message to an audience that is already wounded by the aftermath of the war. To reinforce the message, the writer uses allusion as a figurative speech to pass the message. In the first stanza, the words “flesh of her flesh” (3.1) are used and echo the words in the book of Genesis as spoken by Adam.[1] The allusion is to show the relation between England as the maternal mother for the soldiers that died in war. Another allusion is in the fourth stanza “age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn” (Binyon 4.2).[2]
The statement alludes to William Shakespeare’s work Antony and Cleopatra, “O, excellent! I love long life better than figs” (1.2.24) which relates the soldier’s of the First World War with some of the great figures in the past such as Cleopatra.[3]
He therefore, reveals that the dead soldiers will never face any trouble in death.
The poet also, uses a patriotic tone that solemnly celebrates the bravery of the soldiers during the war. He paints war as something that is abstract but noble since it gives young men an opportunity to show their bravery and selflessness. This shows how effective the killers are by mentioning that they are eager to fight. He says, “They went with songs to the battle” (3.10) thus, to him, war wins its glory as well as music.[4] Binyon’s work does not reveal any reality of the world war since it was terrible and caused fear across the globe. The poet portrays it in a tone that influences people to admire the experience thus provides a neutral platform for discussion of war with little aggression. The poem has a rhythmic flow as well as elegant language that reflect respect, admiration, and grief in equal measure. In this case, he glorifies war by arguing that fighting is a fine way of dying.
The poet also uses figurative language to develop the theme of war such as when he says, “England mourns for her dead across the sea” which is a metaphor in which England is personified to represents the people. The author gives the nation a human identity to show the devastating effect of the war that led to deaths of many people. There is use of repetition in the poem especially in the fifth stanza at each beginning of a new line. The word “they” is used to represent the soldiers that fought in the war. In this case, the poet detaches himself from the war men whom he claims that will never grow old “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old” (4.15).[5] The statement makes the war to appear glorious despite its negative impact in the country and its people.
In the sonnet The Wound in Time use of figurative language is also evident such as in the first stanza where the poet uses a metaphor in describing death “Death’s birthing-place”.[6] In this case, death is personified as being able to give birth, which is also ironical since death is known to end life of the victims. Another metaphor is in line 12 associating history with water that that chases its shore nonstop “History might as well be water, chastising this shore”.[7] The line brings out an image of continuity of wars that tend to wipe the populations in places where it occurs. Despite the demise of many young men, the author notes that nations have not learned any lesson since war continues unabated a century later. The sonnet describes the First World War as a wound that takes time to heal since the WWI gave birth to more wars in future instead of ending it as people would have thought. She uses repetition to show the continuity of wars over time despite the devastating effects on the economy and their areas. For instance, she asks “What happened next?” she asks. “War. And after that? War. And now? War. War.”.[8] The word war is repeated four times to emphasize the fact that even today some nations still fight and have not learned any lessons from the past. In the 21st
century, images of war are common especially in the news such as in Syria where more than 340,000 people died since the beginning of conflict in 2011.[9]
The poet mourns those that die during war reminding the world about thousands of people that left their hopes with great hopes but did not return. For instance, use of imagery in the line 14 “Your faces drowning in the pages of the sea” brings out the picture of the battlefields and the suffering of the soldiers.[10]
The pages of the sea represent the turmoil they faced each day such that whenever they opened a new page (day) with high hopes, the soldier’s encountered suffering of greater magnitude. The sea is compared to a book with several pages that people can open to find new information, ideas, and facts. Instead, of achieving their objective after going to battles each day, many of them encounter their fate. New pages of the sea can also represent passage of time from the time of the WWI. Many would have expected that after the painful losses and anguish the future would be peaceful. However, several wars have occurred in history leading to massive destruction.
The poet’s use of words also depicts the magnitude of the WWI especially its effects in the population. In line 7 she says “The end of God in the poisonous, shrapneled air”.[11] The word shrapneled refers to shell containing lead pellets that explodes in flight to reveal the wrath of God due to human actions. The shrapneled air symbolizes the nature of death that faced the soldiers at war. Most of them must have died within a short time just as the shell would explode at once dispersing the contents in all directions. Battlegrounds must have been littered with dead bodies of soldiers. Unlike Laurence Binyon’s poem, Carol’s piece does not spare the feelings of the audience or their sensibilities since it appears brutal and raw in its language and imagery of the events it describes. The former uses a soft tone while Carol just speaks the words into the silence of the human condition and the depths of the soul with courage, loyalty, and inhumanity in commemoration of the sad events. Wars have devastating consequences on land, human life, and other aspects f the economy.
Conclusion
Poems have been written to highlight the theme of war or worn people about its negative consequences. The poets use various techniques and words to bring out the message in their work. Figurative speech, tone, allusions, and other poetic devices help in conveying the writer’s ideas to the audience. For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon and The Wound in Time by Carol Ann Duffy also employ different terms, word, and other stylistic devices in their work to bring out the theme of war. In the two, pieces, the consequences of the WWI are addressed especially the pain of losing many young soldiers to the battles. While Binyon uses a patriotic tone in the poem on the war, Carlo is tough on the world’s continued battles long after the WWI instead in focusing in peace building, thus the two poems are quite informative and bring out the nature of conflicts by poets.
Bibliography
Binyon, Laurence. Selected Poems of Laurence Binyon. New York: Macmillan Company, 1922.
Duffy, Carol Ann. “The Wound in Time”. 2018. http://margaret-cooter.blogspot.com/2018/11/poetry-thursday-wound-in-time-by-carol.html. Consulted on 15 December, 2018.
Mayo, Bernard. "Poetry, Language and Communication." Philosophy 29, no. 109 (1954): 131-145.
Shakespeare, William, and Sidney Lee. Antony " Cleopatra: Including The Classic Biography: The Life of William Shakespeare. Musaicum Books, 2017.
[1] Binyon, Laurence. Selected Poems of Laurence Binyon. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1922) 3.
[2]Ibid., 4.
[3] Shakespeare, William, and Sidney Lee. Antony " Cleopatra: Including The Classic Biography: The Life of William Shakespeare. (Musaicum Books, 2017), 1.
[4] Binyon, Laurence.
Selected Poems of Laurence Binyon. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1922), 3.
[5] Binyon, Laurence.
Selected Poems of Laurence Binyon. (New York: Macmillan Company, 1922), 4
[6] Duffy, Carol Ann. “The Wound in Time”. 2018, 3.
[7] Ibid, 12.
[8] Ibid., 11.
[9] Mayo, Bernard. "Poetry, Language and Communication." Philosophy 29, no. 109 (1954): 132.
[10] Duffy, Carol Ann. “The Wound in Time”. 2018, 14.
[11] Duffy, Carol Ann. “The Wound in Time”. 2018, 7.
