‘Charge of the light brigade’, ‘Exposure’ and ‘Disabled’

All of the poems have something in common; they all portray the violence, misery, bloodshed and death. They all portray war as a ‘judgement day’, which will most definitely change a person’s life.

There is a difference between these poems, they all treat war in different ways and lets us witness what has happened to soldiers in different situation. In ‘Disabled’ and ‘Exposure’ the image given by war is that there us a lot of suffering, it seems pointless and peoples lives being ruined. This portrays Owens attitude to war and that is foolish and meaningless. However, ‘Charge of the light brigade’ is portrays war in a completely different way, it portrays the violent side of war but at the same time he is giving a reason for war and that is patriotism. He shows it as heroism while Owen shows it foolishness. I think this because of the time they were written. When Tennyson wrote it, the Crimean War. The attitudes of people were optimistic, so was their moral.

‘He threw away his knees’ this creates an image that what ever he has accomplished is just a sham now. When he says he has experienced evening with girls, it brings out even more sympathy from the audience. The stanza ends with another significant line, which helps, explain the bitter reality of war. ‘All of them touch like a queer disease’ this states that the girls do not touch him as they used to, they are afraid and drawn away from him. In the third stanza, he remembers how people adored his looks, artists wanted to paint him. He looked younger than he actually was. Again, a premature man gives the audience more sympathy towards him and it is quite shocking.

The first few stanzas were quite small but then it gets large and descriptive. Then it goes small again. This was because the soldiers died, a small stanza suggests the tempo is slow, it gets peaceful and calm. The language used is very posh a grand. Tennyson makes us think if the deaths were not that bad and the mistakes were not that stupid. He honours the dead and he uses posh language to make the audience believe that the soldiers were patriotic. The poet’s intention was that war was not that bad, he ensures that the soldiers died for a good cause and died in honour. The poet’s attitude was very optimistic, he is mostly positive and when there are deaths, he uses patriotism to change the mood in the next stanza.

In the stanza there is little colour, it is gloomy, grey and almost gothic. He ‘shivers’ and makes it cold and chilling. Images of ‘legless sewn short of the elbow’ gives us the image he suffered painfully and sewn short could be compared with ‘sold short’ which means he has been cheated out of his youth. He hears boys singing, this builds a haunting atmosphere. The tone of the verse is saddening.

Some topics in this essay:
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