Both of the poems focus on war, but they are both set at different points in time.
"Dulce et Decorum est" is about the horrors of World War I, which went on from 1914- 1918. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" was based around actions taken in the Crimean War (1854- 1856). Both poems are narrates, they tell a story. Owens is about a squad of soldiers, who have been gassed; one man does not put his mask on in time and dies. The point of his poem is that that it is not "sweet, fitting or right to die for your country", which is what "Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori" means.
In Alfred Tennyson's poem the "Light Brigade" are sent to by charge into battle, however, they are sent tot the wrong place by accident and they are sent to their deaths. Tennyson is glorifying their names and bravery. Even though they are both about war, the poems use a lot of different techniques. Owen uses a lot of gory imagery to show what life was like for the soldiers, Tennyson makes use of metaphors and similes, and he makes the war sound heroic while creating the impact of the tragedy at the end.
Both of the poems are structured differently, Tennyson has carefully separated his into six stanzas, this maybe because of the 600 men in the light brigade. He also uses repetition; this could be because he wants us to remember the phrases such as "Valley of Death", and the horses' galloping is another theme that runs through the poem, "half a league, half a league, Half a league onward". He also makes use of a ridged structure of the poem to represent how disciplined they all were.He uses rhythm to enforce this idea, "Cannon to the left of them, Cannon to the right of them, Cannon in front of them," he uses punctuation to do this.
It begins with quite a fast rhythm when they are charging forward, and when they are fighting, however when there is no fighting the beat slows, "Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die". This is a rhyming triplet, this may been because he was trying to enforce how regimented they were, he is trying to make it stick in our minds like the soldiers always remembered their orders.Tennyson uses metaphors to try and to try to get across how brutal the battle was, for example, "Into the Valley of Death", he uses it to show how certain their fate was but they went through with it anyway. He also uses this in more than one stanza, as if they are echoing each other. This was much like how the chain of command echoed, when Lord Raglan passed the command down the hierarchy of command to Captain Nolan who gave the orders "'Forward the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns! " (An actual quote from the battle) the final stanza has also been cut short, just like the lives of the soldiers were.Owen poem however is less regimental, and lightly structured, unlike Tennyson's.
This is because of the soldiers in Tennyson's voluntarily went to war, as in World War II there was a conscription so you would be forced to go, this consequently meant that the men would not have been trained as well. However there is a rigid rhythm pattern, of A B A B.This was more for the flow of the poem that helps the events go ahead smoothly, like a story. The verses are also different lengths, and are looser, unlike Tennyson's.
This may have been because that's what it was like for the soldiers "Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots", when it refers to them as being asleep it could mean that there are so bored and tried of doing this they could do it in their sleep, it could also mean that it is a dream like state.It could also be implying that they are zombie like, and they are already dead. He has also used alliteration in "Men marched" this could be because he wants us to remember the phrase, just like the soldiers always remember the route they take back to the trenches.
Owen sets away the final two lines of the poem, "The Old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori. " This is because he wants people to know it's a lie, and at this point he is showing anger towards Britain and how she has lied to her people.The impact of this poem in Britain at that time would have been terrible, the government had developed a lot of propaganda at that point and the poem would have destroyed a lot of that. In a modern Britain the effect would have not been as bad, this is because we know lots of what the Great War was like already, and many people also know a lot about the propaganda that took place. The first stanza is quite passive and routine for the soldiers, Owen has put it in past tense to show this "men marched asleep" this shows how monotonous it was for them.
However when they get gassed it goes into present tense, as if they had come back to life, "An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time" he uses present tense to show the pace of the action. The use of the word "ecstasy" could mean that even though they could die, he is enjoying the rush he is getting because it is breaking the monotony of walking. He then takes it back into past tense, this could be because of the he has about it and he is remembering them "if in some smothering dreams..
. " It is as if the dreams are consuming him.I think that Owen has organised his poem so that the change of tense, and the story behind it is more important than the length, he has not prioritised it the way Tennyson has. In "Dulce et Decorum est" there is a lot of gruesome and realistic imagery planted in the poem, "the white eyes writhing in his face" the alliteration here makes it easier for the reader to imagine the scene, "at every jolt, the blood come gargling from his froth-corrupted lungs," the use of the word gargling places the image of him suffering and drowning on his own blood, as he would have been.
The word corrupted could be referring to the generals/government that have lied to the country about the war, or perhaps it could be taken as a literal meaning and mean that the all the goodness has gone from the lungs and it has been taken over by the blood. "Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud," at this point Owen is describing the sight of one of his men, the use of the word obscene implicates that he can't bear to look, and this shouldn't even be seen, and cancer could mean that it is a slow but sure kill, like what is happening to the man.The word bitter may be referring back to the title; it is sweet, and as he is explaining war is not "sweet". Also the word cud means there is no goodness left in him, just pain and suffering.
Owen is also explaining that he is a horrible sight, "his hanging face like the devils sick of sin;" the phrase "the devils sick of sin" is implying that not even the devil could look upon him now. He is also implying that the man may want to die now, "His hanging face" the way he describes it as "hanging" could mean that he wants to kill him self, or that Owen wanted to kill him and put him out of his misery.Or this could mean that the man was so weak at this point he could not lift his head, another interpretation is that his death is so certain that it is like he is being executed. He feels he can not help him, "In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, his plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning," the phrase "helpless sight" suggests that Owen can not escape the dream, just as the man could not escape death, Owen may also guilty that he could not help him.Owen uses onomatopoeia in "chocking" and "guttering", these words do not roll of the tongue that easily, and it gives the image when saying them that the man had trouble breathing.
Owen also makes use of assonance in "guttering, chocking, drowning", the way he has listed them one on top of each other all with the same ending is like what will happen to the man while he is experiencing these, they will all end in death.He also gives the reader the impression that his dreams are taking him over, "if in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon they flung him in," the word "smothering" implies that the dreams are persistent and that they will not stop coming, and they are almost suffocating him, much like the man had done. The word "flung" has a sense of that it had been rushed and done without care. They all disposed of people the same way during the plague, it is as if he is diseased and they want to get rid of him as fast as they can, this could be because they don't want the other man to see him because it would be demoralising.Owen also talks to us personally, "you too" he is getting the reader involved and by making a personal bond between the reader and him he is getting more sympathy from the reader. Owen has probably included a lot more detail and imagery because he was there, this probably also why he has put it in first person.
In "The Charge of the Light Brigade" he focuses mainly on the men and the event. He uses actual quotes from the battle, "Forward the Light Brigade! " he uses exclamation marks here to show that the speech was shouted, it was an order not a question.Tennyson uses metaphors to show the amount of danger they were in "Into the Valley of Death Rode the six hundred" the phrase "valley of death" is saying if they go there they will die, this is quite a sinister idea, but they were so well disciplined that they went anyway Tennyson also uses onomatopoeia, "Volley'd and thunder'd; stormed at with shot and shell", the word thunder'd gives the reader a sense of violence and loud noises, but it does not reflect the amount of detail that Owen put in.The phrase "Storm'd at with shot and shell" this literally means that they were fired upon with rifles and artillery; this is repeated to show how they were bombarded. He also uses alliteration with "shot and shell" these two words go well together just like the rifles and artillery had done.
Tennyson honours the Light Brigade in his poem "when can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made" the rhetorical question used here brings the reader into the poem, Tennyson is almost saying "when can their glory fade? he also calls the charge wild, which could be referring to the mistakes of Lord Raglan, or the way they charged with such furiousness.This poem is not as detailed as Owens is; this maybe because Tennyson did not witness any of this first hand, he just read it in a newspaper article. This may also be why he wrote it in third person. Both of the poems have messages, in "Dulce et Decorum est" Owen is trying to send a message to Britain, but also to one particular person, Jessie Pope. She was another war poet at that time who wrote poems that gloried war.
When Owen says "my friend, you would not tell in such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory the Old Lie... " when he says "My friend," he is talking to Jessie Pope, even though she is not his friend he is being sarcastic. What he is trying to say is "You have not experienced war, and you never will so you can't say how good it is".
The title of the poem is meant for ironic purposes; as war is not sweet, it is horrible and hard work, and people will not have good memories of it.Tennyson is sending out a different message, he is saying that we should honour the soldiers for their bravery. In the second stanza he uses the word "blundered" to convey how Lord Raglan made an almost childlike mistake when he sent the soldiers into the wrong valley. He wants people to remember their valour; he thinks this poem encourages that.
I think that they both show the reality of war but in different ways, Tennyson's has been tainted by time and lacks the detail that Owens has.In "Dulce et Decorum est" because he was there and witnessed it first hand. I appreciate Owens' poem, because it shows the reality of the situation, and has exposed the people like Jessie Pope who tried to hide it. I think that both of the poets have similar views on war, even though by reading theses poems you would not be able to see it straight away. As Owen was bad, he even volunteered to go back to war after he was diagnosed with shell-shock.
Also Tennyson never says war is good, he just wants to honour the people who fought and died in it.
