War Poems: Similarities and Differences “Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.” This quote was made by former president Herbert Hoover in regards to truth about what happens in a course of a country during the time war. This statement is true in many ways as a majority of the large wars that the United States participated in younger men were required to sign up for the draft which people involuntary went to fight for a cause that they personally may have not believed in. This concept of the a country deciding the fate of thousands of young soldiers is exemplified in An Braymer “Five Day Requiem for Vietnam” and Carl Sandburg’s “Buttons” by displaying the struggles that soldiers in battle go through that is
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WWI was a bloody war that although was primarily fought with trench warfare. Chemical warfare was used, often killing the soldiers in brutal ways. Sandburg displays this brutality by narrating, “Ten thousand men and boys twist their bodies in a red soak along a river edge” (11-13). Also WWI had around 38 million casualties making it one of the deadliest wars in human history. Because 11 million of these casualties were soldiers, Sandburg displays this killing by showing how the soldiers were, “Gasping of wounds, calling for water, some rattling death in their throats.” (12-14). This shows how the soldiers had to go through immense suffering in WWI and the brutality in this war that …show more content…
The Vietnam war was filled with the killing of civilians and Braymers displays this through a soldier saying “Gutted corpses, spilled brains, bleeding sockets, armless children, breastless mothers?--And would Jesus say”(14-15). This shows the inhuman actions that the soldiers had to pursue and the soldier even questions this on a religious level. Also since many of the soldiers did not support the actions that were going on the in the Vietnam war and a soldier displays this by saying “What must we do before you hear us? we march, write, sing our anger, paint banners in our blood, burn up cards that bids us to the slaughter and in the ultimate scream ignite our flesh. What must we do?”(16-21). This shows how the soldiers were essentially fighting a blind war that they did not want to, and their cries for peace are overshadowed by a larger reason. Braymer’s use of imagery helps the audience understand the brutality that happened in the Vietnam war and the soldiers that participated in these massacres were not completely to blame as they did not want to fight but were being forced
WWI was a bloody war that although was primarily fought with trench warfare. Chemical warfare was used, often killing the soldiers in brutal ways. Sandburg displays this brutality by narrating, “Ten thousand men and boys twist their bodies in a red soak along a river edge” (11-13). Also WWI had around 38 million casualties making it one of the deadliest wars in human history. Because 11 million of these casualties were soldiers, Sandburg displays this killing by showing how the soldiers were, “Gasping of wounds, calling for water, some rattling death in their throats.” (12-14). This shows how the soldiers had to go through immense suffering in WWI and the brutality in this war that …show more content…
The Vietnam war was filled with the killing of civilians and Braymers displays this through a soldier saying “Gutted corpses, spilled brains, bleeding sockets, armless children, breastless mothers?--And would Jesus say”(14-15). This shows the inhuman actions that the soldiers had to pursue and the soldier even questions this on a religious level. Also since many of the soldiers did not support the actions that were going on the in the Vietnam war and a soldier displays this by saying “What must we do before you hear us? we march, write, sing our anger, paint banners in our blood, burn up cards that bids us to the slaughter and in the ultimate scream ignite our flesh. What must we do?”(16-21). This shows how the soldiers were essentially fighting a blind war that they did not want to, and their cries for peace are overshadowed by a larger reason. Braymer’s use of imagery helps the audience understand the brutality that happened in the Vietnam war and the soldiers that participated in these massacres were not completely to blame as they did not want to fight but were being forced