The Great War poems
The Great War poems were used to describe the darkness that surrounded the war. Through the history of these poems, the poems explained how the war was glorified and spread through the use of propaganda to encourage other men recruited as soldiers, and in turn, provide help in the battlefield. However, this period of Great War was not a memorable moment. The poems were used to describe the conditions of the war, which were unseen to the people who were at home. The poems openly described the situation the soldier experience during the day and night. They (poems) described the worse condition the soldier lived in during the war. In addition, the poems depicted the difficulties the soldier faces when it comes to killing one another, although it was their duty. From this, morals were considered to be unimportant during the war as soldiers were forced to do other things that they never imagined. J’accuse and le Départ des Soldats pour le Front video depict the ugly side of the Great War showing how soldiers killed each other, and they lived under this harsh environment.
The poem Brutalization of the Individual described the viewpoints of an individual who witnesses the return German soldiers after being defeated in WWI. The author, Salmon, in his writing, described soldiers as being “lifeless.” Salmon went added, describing them as skeletons with “had a sharp wedge hallow.” According to the witness, he was ashamed of what he saw and wondered why the soldier was not smiling. From their faces, the witness changed his sentiments from “lifeless” soldiers to “deadly determined faces.” From this, the witness praised the solders indicating the nation was theirs after coming out of that war. From this poem, it is clear that the soldiers were the victims of the war because the war will always leave in them as they carried the “blood in their trenches.” The brutality in the faces these soldiers made the witness join the war.
Freud in the poem “The Thoughts of the Times on War and Death” expressed the impact of the war left in people and the effect it causes in the civilians. The disappointment caused by WWI explains how soldiers, civilians and the governments expected the war to be. Most of the people who were in power during this time were disappointed and afraid of how the war can affect the citizens and the government’s future actions. This made most people accept the aftermath of the war as the best solution.
From the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”, it described different views of the war and the horrific effects of the war. This poem provides viewpoint of the violence which happened in the war. This kind of war was different from other wars as it came during the period of improvement in industrialization and the rise of technology. For example, the Germans used mustard gas in the battle, being the first technology of using chemicals. The author expressed the effect of the gas as “Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.” This describes the horrific experience the soldiers were exposed to when they encountered this chemical. In addition, other poems described the negative effects war left on a soldier. For example, the poem “Black” explained the difference between the man who went to war and who came out of that war. The man who came out of the war was very different from the same man who went to war. This shows that the war affected the soldiers psychologically exposing them to PTSD.