Task: Choose two poems which have a common theme. Identify that theme and go on to show how successful the approach of the poets has been in conveying the theme.
Two poems which had a common theme were Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen and Why Patriots are a Bit Nuts in the Head by Roger McGough. Both poems shared the idea that it is not a glorious thing to die fighting for your country.
In Dulce et Decorum Est the poet described exhausted soldiers returning from a battle. They became the victims of a gas attack and the poet described what followed. The tone of the poem was serious but effective. The language used created a vivid picture of the events. It was easy to imagine the exhausted soldiers bent double, like old beggars under sacks and drunk with fatigue.
The suddenness of the gas attack and the urgent voices were mimicked by the capital letters in Gas! GAS!. An ecstasy of fumbling took place as the men tried desperately to pull on their gas masks. One man failed and the poet saw the dying man as under a green sea, I saw him drowning. To the soldiers, the swirling mists of the mustard gas looked like a large suffocating ocean.
The poet emphasised the cruel and horrible side to war by realistically describing the dead soldier, the white eyes writhing in his face. As the wagon he was flung into jolted, his blood came gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.
The poet conveyed the theme of his poem very successfully. He was angered by the old lie. Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori it is a good and fitting thing to die for ones country. He wanted people to realise that war was a senseless waste of lives and he managed that through describing the horrors in vivid detail.
Roger McGough shared this view but expressed it differently in his poem Why Patriots Are a Bit Nuts in the Head. This poem was written in a humorous style without detail about war. The poet used humour to encourage people who find the subject of war boring to read about it.
The poem was based around the idea that lives are good for you and the poet couldnt understand why anyone would want to have your belly shot away. He talked about the red, white and blue tinted spectacles of the people so loyal to their country that they were blinkered to the pain and suffering of war.
People desperate to join a war were in effervescent danger of losing their lives. They could die at any minute and the pressure was building up. The poet found it difficult to believe that people could want to die and achieve nothing, except enriching enemy soil with their blood.
He used the word posthumous instead of dead at the end of the poem. This was because of the connection this word has with war, medals being awarded posthumously. The poet felt dying for your country was as pointless as being awarded a medal for being brave but dead.
Both of these poems conveyed their theme very effectively but in different ways. Dulce et Decorum Est was serious and chilling. It held back none of the horror of war and gas attacks. The poet made people realise the effect war has on soldiers, none of the frightening memories fade.
Why Patriots are a Bit Nuts in the Head would appeal to younger people with no real experience of war. It was humorous but the message was very clear lives are good for you. The poet thought dying young was stupid as there are so many things you can do with your life. Once you were dead that was it and you had achieved nothing.
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