Similar, Yet Different
Introduction
War poetry can vary drastically, from content, to time period, to style. Many poets, however,
use very similar devices even if expressing contrasting themes compared to one another.
Other times, they use different devices to express the same theme. Here we will explore the
uses of imagery, sound, and structure and the devices associated with them in six different
poems.
Imagery
The poems ‘Last Post’ by Carol Ann Duffy and ‘It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers’ by
Margaret Atwood have very similar imagery, yet it is displayed in two different ways within
the poems. ‘Last Post’ is about a war that rewinds, starting from the wounded on the front
line, back to bakeries and healthiness of the soldiers’ lives before they went to war. At the
beginning as well as the end of the poem, Duffy writes “If poetry could truly tell [the story of
war] backwards, then it would” (29-30). This statement is a harsh reality to the reader, since
the poem went from describing horrible death scenes to describing fresh soldiers “queuing
up for home” (22) and having their lives still ahead of them. This makes the reader feel
hopeful for the soldiers, yet the last two lines show that that is just a fantasy/wishful
thinking and that the actual story goes from the young men being healthy to entering war
and dying horrible deaths. The vocabulary that Carol Ann Duffy uses, and the connotations
associated, gives the reader very clear pictures in their minds of what dying in the trenches
feels like:
“He plunges a me, guttering, choking, drowning” (2)
diving into something in which breathing is impossible, gagging, retching, convulsing
“that moment shrapnel scythed you to the stinking mud” (4)
pierced, slit
disgusting, dirty, filthy
And what the soldiers’ lives were like before going into war:
“There’s coffee in the square, warm French bread” (18-19)
welcoming, savory
“a lad plays Tipperary to the crowd” (23)
happily, carefree
.
“crammed with love, work, children, talent, English beer, good food” (27)
smothered
affection, attention
pleasant
.
Margaret Atwood’s poem is about a completely different subject matter - the media and how
writing can sometimes do as much damage as weapons; yet her use of imagery is quite
similar to that of Carol Ann Duffy. ‘It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers’ includes
descriptions of innocent, pleasant things:
“While I was building neat castles in the sandbox” (1-2)
“as I walked to the school washed and combed” (5-6)
“Each time I hit a key on my electric typewriter, speaking of peaceful trees” (28-30)
as well the horrors of war:
“the hasty pits were filling with bulldozed corpses” (3-4)
“detonated red bombs” (8)
“another village explodes” (31)
Unlike the imagery in Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, there is less extensive vocabulary is used in
Margaret Atwood’s poem, as her descriptions are very short, especially those about horrific
events. This adds to the effectiveness though, since bombing and explosions happen
quickly without warning. Another difference between the imagery in both poems is where
the different types of it are located within the poem. In Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, as
mentioned earlier, there is description of war in the first half of the poem, and description of
life before/without war in the second half. In Margaret Atwood’s poem though, both types of
descriptions come one after another, usually the order being nice-thing-first, horrific-thingafterward. This can be seen through the line numbers after each quotation.
In these ways, the two poems ‘Last Post’ by Carol Ann Duffy and ‘It is Dangerous to Read
Newspapers’ by Margaret Atwood have some similarities and differences when it comes to
their use of imagery. Both contain descriptions of pleasant and terrible situations resulting
in much contrast within the poems yet the layout of the two types of descriptions in each of
the poems differs.
Sound
The writers’ uses of sound in the poems ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘The Charge of the
Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson varies greatly due to the context of the poem, yet
they both effectively create suitable moods for the poems. ‘Exposure’ is about winter in the
trenches and death due to the cold instead of the war itself while the title of Alfred Lord
Tennyson’s poem is pretty self-explanatory as to what it is about.
The sound devices that Wilfred Owen uses in ‘Exposure’ include rhythm, near rhyme,
consonance, and alliteration. The rhythm is inconsistent and resembles a lumbering pace,
similar to how a person may walk in freezing winter conditions. There is near rhyme within
each stanza to the scheme of ABBAC (if the last line is included), the near rhyme also
creates a solemn, wintery effect on the poem, as does the consonance and alliteration
used:
“Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knife us ...
Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent ...
Low drooping flares confuse our memory of the salient ...
Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous” (1-4)
“Sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence” (16)
“With sidelong flowing flakes that flock” (18)
In ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’, Alfred Lord Tennyson uses many of the same devices,
but in completely opposite ways. The rhythm is a dactylic dimeter and creates an upbeat
effect that mimics the sound of a horse’s hooves at a canter. This rhythm makes it so that
the reader can practically hear the soldiers riding into battle on their mounts.
“Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them” (18-20)
Unlike the rhythm, the rhyme in this poem is not so consistent and there is no concrete
scheme that each stanza follows, yet the rhymes are perfect; not near-rhyme like that which
is in ‘Exposure’. In the last stanza, every line rhymes with at least one other line:
“When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All of the world wondered
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.” (16)
The perfect rhyme within this poem adds to the upbeat sure-footed mood of the poem first
created by the strong dactylic dimeter rhythm of the poem. In a similar way, the near rhyme
and inconsistent rhythm of ‘Exposure’ creates a lumbering, solemn mood for the winter in
the trenches. Both Wilfred Owen, and Alfred Lord Tennyson use sound to convey the
moods and feelings in their poems even though the moods differ greatly.
Structure
Though they have very similar content and themes, the poems ‘Does it Matter?’ by Siegfried
Sassoon and ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen have two drastically different structures. Both
styles are used to convey the same theme in slightly different ways. ‘Disabled’ is long and
has no consistent stanzas in which there are a certain number of lines while ‘Does it
Matter?’ is short and has three clearly defined stanzas, each with five lines. The structural
formation of Wilfred Owen’s poem help express the long, boring life of not being able to do
anything due to injuries from war. There is no consistent rhyme scheme although almost
every single line rhymes with one or more other lines. Siegfried Sassoon’s poem is very
different. It also speaks of disabilities from war, yet Sassoon does so in a mocking sarcastic
way. Firstly, he asks rhetorical questions in every stanza:
“Does it matter? – losing your legs?…” (1)
“Does it matter? – losing your sight?…” (6)
“Does they matter? – those dreams from the pit?…” (11)
Also, ‘Does it Matter?’ has a strict rhyme scheme: ABBCA, and a bouncy rhythm. This
contributes to the mocking tone created because it makes the poem seem as if it is a
nursery rhyme that children might sing, yet it questions dark subject matter - losing legs,
sight, and having nightmares.
Disabled by
Wilfred Owen
Does it Matter? by
Siegfried Sassoon
Long, stanzas
are inconsistent,
paragraph-like
Short, every
stanza has
exactly 5 lines,
repetitive,
nursery rhymelike
Although Wilfred Owen’s ‘Disabled’ accurately represents what a day might be like having
serious war-related injuries, Sassoon’s nursery rhyme style is very effective in conveying
the theme: one’s life will be changed forever after going to war.
Conclusion
Overall, it is clearly shown that poets are able to use devices related imagery, sound, and
structure in their poems to convey messages and express moods and feelings. Two poets
may sometimes use different devices to convey the same theme, (as seen in ‘Disabled’ by
Wilfred Owen and ‘Does it Matter?’ by Siegfried Sassoon) while another two use the same
devices to portray completely contrasting themes (as seen in ‘Exposure’ by Wilfred Owen
and ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson).
Links to the Poems:
Does it Matter?
Disabled
Exposure
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Last Post
It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers