English Poem Essay

In this essay I will be comparing the poems ‘The Charge Of The light Brigade’ By Alfred Lord Tennyson and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ By Wilfred Owen. I will be evaluating the points of the language, emotions, the subject and the purpose of both of the poems. I will contrast both and then conclude what poem I believe presents a better picture of war to the reader. Poem 1 will be The Charge Of The light Brigade and poem 2 will be Dulce et Decorum Est.
First off I shall talk about the purpose of the poems. Poem 1’s purpose, in my opinion, is to simply show respect for the soldiers who fought, and evidently died in the charge of the light brigade. I think this because of when the text says “Noble Six Hundred!” It is possible, but unlikely that Poem 2 also shows respect. But if this is the case, it is heavily out shadowed by the way it feels like it shows how much Owen hates war and how untruthful and wrong it is. I get this message from when the text reads “The old lie ‘Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.’” This means that it is right and sweet to die for ones country.
Next I will talk to you about the mood of the poems. Poem 1’s mood starts of quite darkly; for example “The valley of Death.” This leads the reader to believe that the poem will be gruesome and dark. Yet overall you feel the pride that radiates from the poem. Now moving on over to Owen’s poem, it starts sullen and horrifying, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks.” Yet unlike Tennyson the despair-like mood continues and it mood portrays that of hate and fear.
Now, onto the subject of the poems. Poem 1 is based solely around the Light Brigade, and doesn’t drift away from the charge they did and how heroic they are, whereas Poem 2 goes over multiple aspects of war and what they do to people. Poem 2 ranges from gas, to old Latin phrases and trenches. This is to be expected as Poem 2 is much longer than Poem 1.
Finally, I will be going over the language that is used in the two poems. The language used in Poem 1 is rather simplistic in comparison to Poem 2. The reason behind this is that the words it used are quite modern and not as advanced as you would think. It doesn’t go into much depth with the language and it is quite light-hearted despite the fact people die. This is the polar opposite to Poem 2. Poem 2 uses olden words that aren’t frequently used now days such as ‘Cud’ and ‘Ardent’. Also the language is darker and more powerful. A rather good example of this is the sentence “Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.” This entices the reader and excites them as the vocabulary used throughout is always strong and at times can be heart wrenching.
Now, time for the conclusion. Looking at over the multiple and valid reasons and points above, my conclusion is that Poem 2 is multitudes better at portraying actual war to the reader. Although Poem 1 is all in all a very good poem, it just doesn’t make me think of all the hardships of war, and simply Poem 2 presents the harsh reality that comes with war. Also, it helps that Owen was actually a soldier in a war whereas Tennyson wasn’t.