Dulce et decorum est and Who’s for the game

The two poems that I am comparing are Dulce et decorum est and Who’s for the game?  These two poems entirely contrast each other, which makes the answer thus meticulous. One of the poems glorifies war, while the other poem depicts the veracity of war, and it’s futileness. In the core of the essay I will portray the diverse poetic techniques used and in the form they are used in and also the type of language used. Perceptibly, all the poetic techniques used were alliteration, rhyme, the theme of the poem, the imagery, the similes and the metaphors, as well as outlining the structure of the poem.

In my answer, I will uncover all the key points and then portray what they mean and why they are important. The first and foremost indication that the poem ‘Who’s for the game? ‘ depicts the glorification of war is the title is uses, ‘Who’s for the game? ‘ In the poem, Jessie Pope considers that war is only a game and the blessed people go out and fight in it. A clear example of this is here: ‘Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘go!? ‘, Who’ll give his country a hand? As you can see, the second line is actually intended to be literal, this is because it is sarcastically written as if who would like to help his country, but what is essentially means, is that you will bestow his hand for his country? This poem is so articulate in a way that if you read it some people would not be able to spot these small but important little intended differences.

The other poem, written by Wilfred Owen, completely denigrates war and tells us of the futility of war. There are many poetic techniques used, which emphasises the main meaning of the poem. Every single line of very single stanza of this poem has the sort of language that if you read, you will automatically know what the poem is trying to emphasise.

Pope’s poem uses propaganda to convey its point; all of these rhetorical questions are all persuasive techniques used to endure its point. Persuasive techniques are behind everything they are used to encourage us, everywhere we go, we are always engulfed by persuasive techniques and advertisement. The poem is overwhelmed with rhetorical questions. Rhetorical questions are questions that you do not need to answer, that is why there are many of them, in this poem.

This is a persuasive technique used many many times. A patent example of that Jessie Pope thinks that war is a game is in the second stanza, third and fourth line: ‘Who wants a turn to himself in the show? And who wants a seat in the stand? ‘ This depicts the fact that Jessie Pope thinks that war is a game and only amusement. It is a show in which people loose their body parts and their lives; it is a show in which Jessie Pope enjoys. I will now talk about all of the poetic techniques used in both of the poems. I will start with the theme of ‘Dulce et Decorum est’.

Wilfred Owen is denigrating the glorification of war and exposing the realities of war. What Owen is mainly doing is condemning the glorification of war via belligerent language and propaganda to convey his point. The theme of Jessie Pope’s poem is the glorification of war. Owen’s poem is meant to be the retort to Pope’s poem. Jessie pope is trying to outline all of the nice things of war, like when the sergeant gives the soldier his badge. Both of the poems are flocked with imagery, which is why they are so successful.

The sort of imagery in Owen’s poem is ‘GAS! GAS! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling’ Ecstasy is a class A drug which people can get addicted to. Ecstasy is a drug, and the poem is saying that gas is a drug of scuffling and fumbling. Also, in both poems, the extreme views encourage their point and cause the imagery to explode and therefore many images are conveyed. What Jessie Pope’ is trying to transmit is that war is beautiful and fill of pleasant surprises, but that is what she will believe, unless she has actually experienced the war. Alliteration re-enforces the aspect of imagery in the poem. A clear example of alliteration in Owen’s poem is ‘knock-kneed’, which is quite lashing. An example of alliteration is in the second stanza.

These words connect and match so they collaborate Jessie convey her point. Rhythm is a very imperative part of any poem, a poem must have rhythm otherwise it may not prosper like it would with rhythm. There is a very sombre rhythm in ‘Dulce et Decorum est’. It uses crashing words, which clash, and with the collaboration of all of the other poetic techniques it expresses the imagery. The rhythm of Pope’s poem is talking about war as a game and the word ‘who’ is written on the starting of each line.

Both of the poems are flooded with similes and metaphors. An example of a simile in Owen’s poem is ‘Floundering like a man in fire’, this creates very intense imagery which all add to the effect of the poem. An instance of a metaphor in Owen’ poem is ‘Of vile incurable sores on innocent tongues’, I can just visualize the imagery of this metaphor because it is so contemptible and vile. A metaphor in Jessie Pope’s poem is ‘who wants a seat in the stand? This is like war is a game and the people that do not want to fight are just petrified and want just a seat in the stand, not giving his country a hand.

Wilfred Owen’s poem is set out into four stanzas and the rhyming pattern is ‘AB AB’. Jessie Pope’s poem has the same rhyming pattern, with four stanzas, and four lines in each one. I think that Wilfred Owen’s poem will be more admired among the public. To back this up, I had done a survey and 20% of the people thought that war was ok, but only if it is for revenge and to teach the other people a lesson. All of the other people think that war is the evil in everyone, and it was diminished the world would be a better place.

Overall, my essay has answered the question at almost every angle possible. I talked about all of the different poetic techniques that were used and also pointed out the main variations Obviously the main difference was the one poem denigrates war and the other glorifies war. Owen’s poem talks about the vile images of war. In the first stanza, Owen describes a group of very tired soldiers leaving the trenches. They are going away from the front for a break from treacherous duty. In the second stanza, the enemy has attacked with gas, and one of the poor soldiers couldn’t get his mask on, on time.

The pain was unbearable for Owen in the third stanza, and he write about it here. The last paragraph is a message for anyone who believes in war, especially Jessie Pope. Every single stanza of Jessie Pope’s poem talks about war being fun, and something to enjoy. I cannot believe how anyone can believe that loosing one’s live is fun, you are actually going away from this world, and how can you be rejoicing? I believe that Jessie Pope’s scrutiny of war would certainly change if he had been and actually fought in the war and experienced it.