Deus Caritas Est

In the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut it is immediately clear that the author’s intent was to write a novel revealing the effect that war has on the people involved and address these issues as well as how harmful the glamorization of them are by writing an anti-war satire. Vonnegut executed this successfully by explainingly thoroughly the lasting effects war has on people and using examples of the negative and desperate ways that these people will try to cope with their feelings…

In Stevie Smith's poem, Not Waving but Drowning, the helpless cries of a drowning man are mistaken for friendly waves by onlookers. On a more complex level, the poem illustrates the lifelong struggle of depression and the agony it brings, which is only apparent when the damage has been dealt. The poem opens with a serious tone, introducing a drowning man, which then transitions into a more casual second stanza, making use of the literary device bathos. The use of this technique reveals that…

The Savage Deterioration of Man Charles Yale Harrison’s remorseless novel Generals Die in Bed strips war of it’s heroic mirage and examines it, rather, as brutalizing. The myths about war’s glory are destroyed by showing the sheer agony of the soldiers’ experiences in the trenches through factors such as abusive officers, lice and starvation. The aftermath of such hardship results in the psychological and emotional ramifications of desperation, barbarism and insanity on the common soldiers. The…

Dulce et decorum est, Wilfred Owen Dulce et decorum est is a poem written by Wilfred Owen. This very famous poem is about the great war and describes this tragedy in great detail. This poem uses many poetic techniques to display the theme of the poem which is war and conflict. One of the main literary techniques that are evident in this poem are the use of similes. Similes are a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind. An example of similes…

Technology is such a big part of our lives that we often forget that there is more than one way to remember the past or any event for that matter. When we see a picture for example, we are immediately taken back to that moment. Right in front of us we have the surroundings, the people, or even the things that were there the day it was taken. Although we do not realize it, when we read a poem there is a very similar effect. If we close our eyes we can can see the picture that the poet is trying…

In the short story “What I Saw of Shiloh” by Ambrose Bierce, he describes a great contrast between the nobility of officers and the brutality of battle. He paints a brutal picture of war in when he says “This fearful scene was enacted within fifty paces of our toes, but we were rooted to the ground as if we had grown there. But now our commanding officer rode from behind us to front, waved his hand with the courteous gesture that says après vous, and with a barely audible cheer we sprang into…

In his poems Dulce et Decorum est and Futility, Wilfred Owen uses a range of ideas, forms and language to influence responders and create meaning about war as an experience of human calamity, waste and idiocy. It is pointless and disgraceful and its influence on individuals is captured powerfully by Wilfred Owen. His personal participation and eventful death in WWI adds a stark truth to the tragedy and waste of potential of youth. Owen knew all too well that war defaces men physically and…

‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, an ironic poem that emphasises the dehumanising and horrendous circumstances experienced by the fighting men. Owen explains the suffrage and pain associated with the men who are ‘drunk with fatigue’, implying that the men are mentally and physically…

People often wonder what the most powerful force in the universe is. Is it some otherworldly power that guides all of our actions? Is it love? Mario Vargas Llosa would without a doubt say literature. In his essay entitled “Why Literature?” Vargas Llosa argues that literature should stop being viewed as a pastime and start being seen for what it really is: an absolute necessity. Throughout the essay, he backs his argument with several premises highlighting the different functions of literature.…

Soldiers that fought in the trenches had to face the constant fear of death and pain. They became very aware of their own mortality as they faced disease and bullets. Artillery and machine gun fire and barbed wire tore through their friends’ bodies and laid waste to beautiful landscapes. It would have been very easy to despair and feel as though the world around them were being destroyed. However, one soldier was able to find hope and encouragement, even when surrounded by this world of human…