Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

War has proven over a series of time that it destroys the human mind. It turns family against family, brother against brother, leaving a lasting affect on the human psych. Using literary elements, authors have a way of describing war through their writing. Liam O’Flaherty and Thomas Hardy are two examples of this. Liam O’Flaherty’s short story, “The Sniper”, and Thomas Hardy’s poem, “The Man He Killed”, contain a plot, irony, and theme to describe their thoughts on war, and can be used to state…

Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, in his letter, narrates his anguished thoughts pertaining to the conflicts between the North and South. Lee’s main objective is to express his extreme grief when seeing the Union in its current state of unease as well as to voice the plight of secession and ultimately civil war. He employs the uses of several rhetorical strategies including: doleful diction, hyperboles, and historical remembrance to efficaciously illustrate his feelings of melancholy towards…

Heller's novel Catch-22 established its reputation in the literary domain and distinguished itself from among war fictions as one of the most satirical and unflattering novels emerged from the ashes of war. Unlike many laudatory and rhapsodically novels which sing the praises of war, Heller's novel comes as a powerful deconstruction and bitter critique of the romantic sentiment of the American dream, in a way which probes deep into the hopes and aspirations of a tortured individual amid a…

”War is kind” is poem written by Stephen Crane and is about war and its aftermath. Stephen Crane perfectly summarizes war and those affected directly and indirectly in five stanza’s, the message of the poem is directed more towards the loved ones of the soldiers who died on the battlefield. Stephen Crane used blank verse poetry and is well suited for the subject of war because it doesn’t have the harmonious patterns of rhyme or rhythm. The second and fourth stanzas characterize a change in the…

The Terrible Beauty of the Forgotten War In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien’s, use of words to describe his memories of the Vietnam war transform the stories in his novel. O’Brien is able to take images of disturbing horror and turns them into a romanticized vision, that the reader can understand. Because this is a war story, it’s obvious there will be horrible images that O’Brien and his platoon had to experience, but he able to transforms them into beautiful narratives. Throughout the…

All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, and the poem “Fulfillment”, by Robert Nichols, both convey the theme of horrors of war. They also share the literary device of imagery. The theme horrors of war informs the reader of the unromanticized effects and reality of the war. Both texts have heavy imagery that helps develop the scene for the reader. All Quiet on the Western Front is a book that follows soldiers through their battles, and “Fulfillment” is a poem that deals with a…

General, Robert E. Lee, in his letter, Letter to His Son, describes the succession of the southern states from the Union. Lee’s purpose is to express his view on the South’s decision to succeed from the Union. He uses patriotic diction, mournful tone, and repetition in order to let the readers feel how heartbreaking the Civil War was to him. Lee begins his letter by using patriotic diction to explain why he chose to fight for the South. He justifies his reason for fighting for the South by…

In’ War Photographer’, Duffy uses an oxymoronic title to contrast ‘war’ with suffering and death with a ‘photographer’ as life, peace and memories to present life and death. To highlight the contrast, the poem is laid out in four regular six-line stanzas. This rigid structure shows that the job of a photographer is methodological and systematic in the way he sets out the film - “spools of suffering” and “in ordered rows” to restore order on the destruction and bloodshed of “The hundred agonies”…

Many opinions come with the idea of war. Some see it as a chance to fight for what they believe in, while others claim it wastes a country’s money and resources. The difference in people’s views could be influenced by the media or the government. Either way, both sides can agree that when soldiers come back, they are different after fighting on the battlefield. War changes men whether they want it or not. After experiencing the horrors of war, soldiers form their own opinions about it. In the…

In Stephen Crane’s short story An Episode of War, he appeals to ethos and pathos through the use of rhetorical tropes and schemes to tell the story of a wounded Civil War Union lieutenant from both realistic and naturalistic standpoints. Throughout the story, Crane establishes his ethos by explaining a realistic Civil War event with strong historical accuracy. For example, the scene when an unknown distant enemy shooter wounds the lieutenant while making coffee contains a high amount of…