Apologia Pro Poemate Meo Analysis
John F. Kennedy once said, “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” War has taken lives, stolen innocence and caused suffering. These themes have had a large impact on literature especially in the book, All Quiet on the Western Front and the poem, “Apologia Pro Poemate Meo”. The two are described from the point of view of soldiers within the war which is especially appropriate considering the authors Erich Remarque and Wilfred Erich were soldiers in World War I. Both works emphasize the horrors of war and the toll it takes on individuals involved. The different approaches taken strongly reflect the themes of camaraderie, the glorification of war and the killing of those who may be similar. The poem “Apologia Pro
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The status quo believes that soldiers are simply heroes that easily defeat an opposing army. Owen attempts to debunk this stating, “You shall not hear their mirth: You shall not come to think them well content, By any jest of mine. These men are worth your tears: You are not worth their merriment.”(33-36) The author states that the non soldiers will never hear their happiness or “mirth”. Irony is used in stating “You are not worth their merriment” and by rhyming the word with “content” because war brings no merriment or content to the victims of it. The author concludes that these soldiers must be mourned because of what they are condemned to. The book takes a different approach to the same theme. The war makes Paul feel isolated when returning. He comes home to find that nobody understands what he is going through giving him a feeling of loneliness. ““I breathe deeply and say over to myself: "You are at home; you are at home." But a sense of strangeness will not leave me, I can find nothing of myself in all these things. There is my mother, there is my sister, there is my case of butterflies, and there is the mahogany piano – but I am not myself there. There is a distance, a veil between us.”(160) Irony is used once again in that Paul feels a “distance” in his own home. “Butterflies” is used as a symbol for Paul’s fragility after the trauma of war. Finally, Remarque uses a metaphor
The status quo believes that soldiers are simply heroes that easily defeat an opposing army. Owen attempts to debunk this stating, “You shall not hear their mirth: You shall not come to think them well content, By any jest of mine. These men are worth your tears: You are not worth their merriment.”(33-36) The author states that the non soldiers will never hear their happiness or “mirth”. Irony is used in stating “You are not worth their merriment” and by rhyming the word with “content” because war brings no merriment or content to the victims of it. The author concludes that these soldiers must be mourned because of what they are condemned to. The book takes a different approach to the same theme. The war makes Paul feel isolated when returning. He comes home to find that nobody understands what he is going through giving him a feeling of loneliness. ““I breathe deeply and say over to myself: "You are at home; you are at home." But a sense of strangeness will not leave me, I can find nothing of myself in all these things. There is my mother, there is my sister, there is my case of butterflies, and there is the mahogany piano – but I am not myself there. There is a distance, a veil between us.”(160) Irony is used once again in that Paul feels a “distance” in his own home. “Butterflies” is used as a symbol for Paul’s fragility after the trauma of war. Finally, Remarque uses a metaphor