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Question: With reference to “The Man He Killed” written in 1902 by Hardy and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen, how do the poets present their attitude to war?

Even though war is a dull and repulsive thing, poetry is not affected. Frankly in my eyes, war is inspiration for poetry and it allows the use of satire to ridicule the English patriotism. “The man he killed” is a poem written during the Boer War by Thomas Hardy. The Boer war was fought in 2 stages, the 1st stage was 1880 – 1981 and the second stage 1899 - 1902. “Dulce Et Decorum Est” was written by Wilfred Owen who died a week before the 1st World War ended in 1918. Wilfred Owen wrote from 1st hand experience as he fought in the war.  

During the times of the war, people signed up with nothing better to do (they had no choice due to the hard times)  and to show that they are fighting for their own country, this was an example of true English Patriotism. On the other hand, there were people who avoided the patriotism and supported anti war. This was because of the conditions soldiers risked their lives in. The support was terrible, people in a higher hierarchy stayed miles away from the dangerous fighting zone, they stayed in nice warm safe environments while other people risked their lives killing other people for reasons that were unknown apart from because the fact that they are foe. Another reason why people believe in anti-war was because of the lack of support. Soldiers did not have the correct equipment, many soldiers were under-equipped, but the military in general was equipped to the best it could be at the time. Also, food and drink supplies were running low even before the war even reached half way. This shows that the soldiers were not treated fairly and the country was taking advantage of them.

Both poets use different techniques and phrases to make a meaningful impact upon the reader. Wilfred Owen uses a shock tactic on the readers by using sarcasm. The completed phrase “Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori” means “Sweet and fitting it is to die for ones country”. This leads us into a false sense of security by making us think that the poem is pro war, then the opening line reveals all, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” gives the impression that they are exhausted as they are bent double. It also expresses the fact that they are not valued hence “beggars under sacks”. In “The Man He Killed”, the first stanza has a friendly rhyme to it which is ironic to the rest of the poem.

In the first stanza of “The man he killed”, Hardy is saying how if the enemy and him met before the war near an “ancient inn” then they would sit down next to him and have “nipperkin”. The word “nipperkin” which is a familiar and friendly way of offering someone alcohol. Early on in the poem, Hardy is suggesting the only reason he is killing the enemy is because they are his foe.  Like “Dulce et Decorum est”, the first stanza in “The Man He Killed” leads us into a false sense of security.

In the introduction, I mentioned how the people such as the generals who are higher in the hierarchy are miles away from the fighting zone while “normal people” such as soldiers were being used to fight long and evil hours. Wilfred Owen who witness’s everything via firsthand experience states this, for example he states how they are “drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots”, this shows how that the soldiers are feeling drunk and light headed because they are so exhausted. The semicolon used in the suggests that there was more to come. There are other examples of them being tired such as “Men marched asleep”, Owen has used hyperbole to show that the soldiers are that tired that they are walking subconsciously walking while they rested their “blood –shod” bodies. “Blood –Shod” is a use of a metaphor since it is an implied, rather than directly stated, comparison between the blood on the troops’ feet and the boots they have “lost.” Deaf to the hoots suggests that they are used to the sound of missiles, it also shows that they are deaf through exhaustion.

Suddenly in second stanza the poem jumps into life, the pace of the poem dramatically increases. The tiredness of the soldiers is set alight by the news of gas. Wilfred Owen sneaks in the fact that the soldiers were poorly equipped by mentioning the fact that they were “Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”, this shows that even the essential life saving equipment was compromised because of the money. The tiredness from the first stanza remains as someone is not able to put the helmet on in time. This is also shown when he says “But someone was still yelling out and stumbling”.  The use of the word someone shows that the soldier is so tired that they can’t remember the names of his squad and shows how they “marched asleep”. The last two lines in the second stanza are from the soldiers point of view. Wilfred Owen describes how he sees the unfortunate soldier “drown” under “a green sea”. The use of metaphoric language in the sentence shows that the gas has covered the whole area and is like a sea.

The third stanza is a short stanza where he addresses the reader personally. The stanza kind of addresses the moral dilemma of the war. The stanza shows how the poet is mentally affected by reliving the moment of the “someone” drowning into the green sea.  This time he adds more detail by describing the fact that the “someone” lunged toward him “guttering, choking, drowning”. This shows the mental instability of the war and that the fact that he is still fighting even though he is being haunted in a way by the images of a fellow soldier dying.

The last stanza is the moral of the poem; it tells us about how the army just “flung” the body into the back of a wagon. “And watch the white eyes writhing in his face” this is the image of war, as all you see are dead bodies being flung in and fresh soldiers being poured into the battlefield. There is also more mention of mental instability as he mentions “if you could hear, at every jolt, the blood come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs”, this shows that he is still touched by the remembrance of the soldier dying. One of the most important lines in the stanza is the mention of “incurable sores on innocent tongues” this is a metaphoric phrase of saying the death of innocent soles, killing other innocent soles. Wilfred Owen then ends the poem by leaving us a warning. He says, for children who want some desperate glory, remember the old lie, “Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori”. This takes the mockery of the English patriotism.

Meanwhile in the second stanza of  “The Man He Killed” the line “But ranged in infantry” shows that he is at the reality of war. “And starting face to face” shows that he is it is making it harder to kill another innocent person face to face. He ended the stanza by informing us that he “killed him in his place” meaning he shot him dead instantly, but it also shows that he hesitated before he pulled the trigger.

 

In the third stanza is where the truth starts to come out about the English Patriotism of killing for your country. However, Thomas Hardy saw past and questioned why the soldiers killed people.

“I shot him dead because-

Because he was my foe

Just so: my foe of course he was;

That’s clear enough; although”.

The first line of the stanza has a dash, this symbolises a pause, a pause because he is struggling to find a suitable reason for why he killed an innocent person. The second line is an excuse that not completely valid as he just says he killed him because he had to. This shows that there is not actually a real reason why he killed him. The third line shows the most amount of guilt, the colon shows the long pause after which he doubts and questions his excuse and is struggling to fight with the moral dilemma of is it right to kill someone just because they are foe. The last line shows that he is thinking “that’s alright I’ve killed him but…” again he is still doubting himself and trying to overcome the moral rights.

The fourth stanza is where Thomas Hardy explains the English patriotism. The first two lines show that they are both similar and they didn’t want to fight. “Was out of work – had sold his traps – No other reason why”. These two last lines are important about people who believed in anti-war. Back in the day, the country was at hard times and it was thought to be honourable to fight for the country.