In ‘God! How I Hate You’ Arthur Graeme West uses slang in the title to point out that he does not literally mean that he hates God, but that he hates people like Rupert Brooke and Jessie Pope for telling lies and using propagandistic techniques in their poems to persuade young men that war is challenging. But West uncovers the truth about war along with many other poets.
He uses detailed words and phrases to describe to us the horrors that went on in war, “… is neck against the back slope of the trench and the rest doubled between, his head smashed like an eggshell and the warm grey brain splattered all bloody on the parados” These words give us a very disturbing image and shows us the reality of what could happen at war. Young men in the time of war were not interested in poems like these because they did not give them the positive information on war. But not all men were as ignorant as some, some read these poems and made a right decision by not going to war.
In ‘Who’s For The Game? Is a propagandistic poem which is aimed at young men to corrupt their minds into thinking that war is positive. “Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played? ” Working men did not have much excitement in their lives before the war came. Pope focuses on telling men the positive side of war, which is a lie because there is no positive side to war, and leaves out all the negative while Arthur Graeme West only focuses on the negative which is the truth. “Come along, lads… ” this shows Jessie Pope uses colloquial language and addresses her poem to ordinary working men.
This attracts young men because it is written in an informal language which is aimed more at young men then it would be at old men. On the other hand ‘Peace ‘ and ‘Who’s For The Game? ‘ are two very similar poems in the fact that they both discuss war in a positive ways and put positive images into the readers head. “God be thanked who has matched us with this hour” this shows that Brooke is thanking God for blessing everyone with was because that created opportunities for heroism, to be remembered throughout history and motivation to live.
War also created a chance for men to compete and challenge each other to see who comes out on top. Brooke also describes war as ‘Peace’ even thought it’s the complete opposite. “caught our youth and awakened us from sleeping” This phrase shows that young men were in a dream of peace where they thought war was going to be the best thing that ever happened to them but they were awakened by how terrible war really was. The dream of peace has a positive meaning but comes to a negative comment overall because soldiers realise what they got themselves into.
Young men wanted to become heroes desperately and but were persuaded for the wrong reasons. They could have done some other activity to receive heroism or medals for but they chose war. ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and ‘Does It Matter” are poems that make you feel sorry for people caught up in war. In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ the poet uses detailed descriptions of how soldiers died to create sympathy for men caught up in war. “Come, gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” This phrase describes a soldier who had been exposed to gas.
Owen also refers to propagandistic poets like Jessie Pope in his poem using sarcasm like ‘my friend’ Owen, in fact, despises people like Jessie Pope and hate the fact that they have written poems about war like its all a game and nobody really gets hurt. ‘Does It Matter? ‘ is similar to ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ in a way that it also discusses the horrors of war but in more detail. Sassoon’s poem gives us details or the after effects and wounds of war. These wounds aren’t only physical, but metal as well. “Does it matter? – loosing your legs?… Does it matter? – losing your sight?… Do they matter?
Those dreams from the pit? ” Many men that fought in the war received some kind of wound, whether it was a scratch on the arm or the complete loss of sight. In my opinion the worst wound of them all is suffering from shell shock because it’s a mental disease and once you get it completely ruins your life because you go mad. Sassoon also uses sarcasm in the quotes, pretending to agree with the civilian speaker of each stanza. He knows that the reality of war wounds is more cruel ,though, as it means a lifetime of suffering and people fear and dislike the wounded and want to forget them quickly.
