Oxford Brookes University

In the poem Disabled, by Wilfred Owen, the character in the poem reminisces on past events and reveals all of the things that he has lost during the war. Disabled is thought to be Owen’s most disturbing and shocking poem when written in the year 1917. He wrote this poem whilst he was spending time in the hospital recuperating after returning from the battlefield and he revised the poem a year later. The theme of loss is portrayed throughout the poem in order to reflect Owen’s own experience of…

The Victims of the US Military and the MS of MY KIN In her collection of poems titled, The MS of M Y KIN, Janet Holmes repurposes a collection of work done by Emily Dickinson in the period of the Civil War. Many of the original Dickinson poems have a reoccurring theme of war and military injustice that carries itself over into Holmes own pieces. While a lot of the poems hold military themes, the poem “1862.1 (272-277),” holds an especially tight link to the reoccurring silencing of military…

War, as many people know, creates massive casualties of humans, hatred among humankind, and overall, catastrophe. Many soldiers, who are also the leading generation for our future, are forced to take part in what could be known as “homicide” as they would go on to kill their enemies, most of them belonging to same age. It is no wonder that the horribleness and atrocity of war is a common theme among poets. The literary works of Owen, Jarrell, and Komunyakaa asserts that war causes severe damages…

My Aid in Life January 6th , 2011 felt like the end but it was a new beginning. This was the day that my parents divorced, and my mother and myself took a flight to Orlando, Florida, from Boston. The previous months were filled of heartbreak, addiction, sorrow, and secrets. Truly, I find it amazing how things can change so fast in just a short amount of time. The things I went through at that time were almost unbearable; but I can deeply thank Alex, my counselor, for all the motivation and…

The Oxford English Dictionary defines romance as “A quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life” Romance is the element behind horror films and videogames like Call of Duty. Yet it also is behind patriotism. It can drive people to fight for what is theirs and what they are a part of. Kantorek was key in getting Paul and the gang to enlist. His motivating speeches about patriotism, duty, and devotion sparked a romance inside of them. However, fighting didn’t end…

The writings “How to Tell a True War Story”, “Dulce et Decorum est”, and “The Charge of the Light Brigade” offer contrasting portraits of war. The contrasts between “How to Tell a True War Story”, “Dulce et Decorum est”, and “The Charge of the Light Brigade” can clearly be outlined through their acknowledgement of the most prevalent, unavoidable element of war, death. “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’Brien, address death as a matter of fact, consequence of war. Though, O’Brien is…

Beach Burial written by Australian poet Kenneth Slessor is a harrowing elegy which mourns the vast destruction of war. Grasping a thorough understanding of the historical context of the poem is imperative in order to recognize the purpose and impact of the poem. The poem demonstrates a powerful critique of the nature of war through the exploration of ideas such as the anonymity of soldier’s deaths and how it is death that delivers soldier’s from the horrors of war. The success of the poem can be…

We’re All Australian Now by Banjo Patterson discusses how Australia united after rallying against a common enemy during war and was written to encourage Australians fighting abroad during World War One in 1915. The theme of this poem is to show the pride that Australians felt during WWI while they were proving that they were an individual country that could fight for themselves. This poem also shows how Australia united as a country instead of being just separate states that had their own…

The panels that presented on Czeslaw Milosz’s poetry and my own analysis of “A Song for the End of the World” helped shape my understanding of the importance irony and Milosz’s desire to depict the atrocities felt by the Polish during World War II have in his work. Milosz was a Polish poet who lived through World War II. The impact of the war is seen throughout all of his poetry. In the poem “Incantation” Milosz uses images commonly associated with World War II and the Holocaust, such as “bars”…

During the infamous World War 1, there was around 16 million deaths and 21 million wounded, which sums up to 37 million casualties. The total number of deaths includes 10 million military personnel and 6 million civilians. Many people who enlisted in the war thought it would be a noble thing to do, but as it turns out the war ended up being a messy and bloody war. In Wilfred Owen’s poem, “Dulce Et Decorum Est”, he develops the theme of war and the horrors that it offers through his imagery and…