Oxford Brookes University

The starless sky was casket-black and brooding. Even the clouds seemed morose. Frozen hands clasped algid steel as the Kelly gang gazed upon their foe. The cold, malevolent wind howling and mewled through Dan and the souls of the Kelly gang in every which way. “Bang!” A fierce sound of bullet from the police startled Dan’s ears. The last stand of the Kelly gang has begun. “Fire!” Dan’s brother Ned shouted with a quivering voice. It was Dan’s first time seeing his brother getting extremely…

Wilfred Owen’s Disabled is poem of the post-Great War period, when hundreds of young men were -similarly to the protagonist- abandoned to their misery and handicaps in military hospitals. The intentionally vague and indistinguishable character is presented as empty, an indicator of his inability to recover. However, despite his superficial remorse and apathy, we can distinguish an underlying message; Owen portrays the value of an individual in society as both fleeting and unappreciated. He uses…

Compare and contrast the way the poets explore the theme of discrimination in ‘Disabled’ and ‘Still I Rise’. Both poets portray the theme of discrimination expressing their memories about key moments in their lives. Owen faced World War 1 at a young age and saw enough pain and suffering for more than a lifetime. On the other hand, he still gained experience from this and shared the loneliness of discrimination with other people. Angelou, however was abused at a very young age which saw her…

Wilfred Owen and John McCrae are two of the most celebrated war poets from the First World War who have written poetry that is still read to this day. War poetry deals with gruesome, heartbreaking, harsh and sometimes happy details of the war that are generally faced by soldiers first hand. War poetry is the writing of experiences, horrors, traumas of war generally experienced first-hand by soldiers who have fought wars. Apart from the themes of suffering, conflict, death and horror the poems…

In writing of his own experience in the Iraq War, Turner creates a style of writing, which is seen as a witness of war in poetry. Brian Turner’s “16 Iraqi Policemen”, and Autopsy is so startling and it is able to leap off the pages and have a grip onto the reader where it refuses to let go. Adding to this, these poems are able to give a taste of what it was like being apart of the Iraqi war, and what it was like to be a bystander. At times Brian Turner is brilliant with how he is able to connect…

Comparing 'Storm on the Island' and 'Exposure' Both poets portray nature as powerful and something which cannot be controlled by man. In both poems the weather contributes to the overall effect on the reader. In 'Exposure' Owen uses weather to achieve effect at the beginning of the poem with the quotes: 'the merciless iced east winds' , 'mad gusts tugging' and 'clouds sag stormy'. These quotes set a theme for the rest of the poem, of pain, suffering and anticipation. The word, 'merciless'…

Today war is considered stupendous, and the only option to some. Many disagree to such opinions. War only ends with one result, death. War can not only tear a family apart, but divide a country as a whole. Many families lose loved ones each year to war. Due to not many speaking out on such topic, authors use their works to screech for them. Many using experiences and storytelling, most use literary devices. Writers use imagery, irony, and structure to protest war.…

Some of you will remember this story. It was ten years ago, and I was employed then as a forensic psychologist in Marin County. Much of my work involved talking to criminals, then testifying as to their sanity in a court of law. On the afternoon this all began, for example — that afternoon when I blacked out in Sara Johnson’s apartment — I was scheduled to examine a man who’d been accused of strangling his wife. Because of that incident, and all that has happened since, I know many people will…

What are the costs of war? Both the famous Polish poet, Szymborska, and the famous American poet, Billy Collins, addresses this question in their poems. Szymborska in her poem, “The End and the Beginning” talks about the physical expenses of war. Szymborska begins her poem with the lines, “After every war/someone has to clean up,” (lines 1 and 2). To support the expenses of war, she uses the lines, “We’ll need the bridges back,/and new railway stations,” (lines 22 and 23). Also, she writes,…

While Wilfred Owen may seem like the heroic soldier who embarked on a great journey to come back with great tales of World War 1, Wilfred Owen did completely the opposite of what is believed in a true hero. In order to successfully fight a war, a country would need soldiers who are capable of carrying out the demands of the country. Nowadays, soldiers are only understood as the men and women who fought and defended their nation; instead, soldiers are more complex than what they are known for.…