writers purpose and context - war poems

bayonet charge - writers purpose

•Hughes shows how the soldier is OVERCOME BY HIS OWN FEAR in battle – it threatens to destroy him.

•Hughes exposes how POINTLESS PATRIOTISM and the IDEALS OF WAR ARE – they are the reason the soldier joined the army;

•The SOLDIER QUESTIONS AND REJECTS HIS OWN FEELINGS OF PATRIOTISM – they won’t help him to survive;

Hughes suggests that despite his patriotism, his country is exploiting him for their war effort

•The charge is described as VIOLENT and DANGEROUS - shows the real threat facing the soldier; the enemy is unseen;

OPEN ENDING: we do not know if the soldier survives

bayonet charge - context

•Hughes shows the REALITY OF WAR in contrast to the idealised view in WW1 propaganda

poppies - writers purpose

To show the emotional / psychological impact of war on those at home;

+ Gives a Mother’s perspective – shows the devastating impact on her as her son leaves for war.

+ Portrays the mother STRUGGLING with her feelings to conceal her fears from her son;

+ Her son is portrayed as young and eager to fight; suggests his INNOCENCE  and NAIVETY about the reality of war.

+ To recognise the SACRIFICE civilians have to make in war –mother must let her son go – she understands the reality of war – that he may not survive.

To show the EMOTIONAL COST and TRAGEDY of war:

- open ending: either her son has been killed in battle OR it reflects her fear that he will be killed, like the others whose names are on the memorial.

remains - writers purpose

•Poet EXPOSES the PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE INFLICTED on soldiers by war; Armitage reveals how there is NO CURE for the PTSD – the SOLDIER STRUGGLES TO ESCAPE THE EFFECTS of the trauma and guilt; he BECOMES AN ADDICT OUT OF DESPERATION to cope with the trauma. - poet uses dramatic monologue - reader can EMPATHISE

•‘Remains’: TITLE suggests the TRAUMATISING MEMORY of shooting the looter stays with the soldier forever – he is HAUNTED by it; also links to the gruesome remains of the looter’s body;

•Poet explores the GUILT suffered those trained to kill: the soldier is DISTURBED by the possibility that the looter was unarmed.

remains - context

•Poem based on actual experience of soldiers in the Iraq war who suffered PTSD

charge of the light brigade - writers purpose

•Tennyson IDEALISES the LB: 1) portrayed as PATRIOTIC – risking their lives to do their DUTY for their country;

BRAVE and HEROIC – they succeed against the odds in the ‘valley of Death’;

FIERCE WARRIORS who are outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy

CELEBRATES their ‘GLORY’ - demands that the reader ‘HONOUR’ the memory of the LB – it shouldn’t be forgotten – significant because it was actually a military failure

•HIDDEN CRITICISM of military leaders: suggests they are incompetent: ‘someone had blundered’;

•Poet portrays the NEGATIVE SIDE OF WAR: the CASUALTIES and LOSSES to the LB; gains the reader’s SYMPATHY: ‘Horse and hero fell’;

As Poet Laureate, Tennyson cannot be entirely negative, so balances the negative view of war with the more positive heroism and patriotism of the LB

war photographer - writers purpose

•War photographer has a MORAL PURPOSE: wants to MAKE THE PUBLIC AWARE OF THE SUFFERING OF CIVILIANS IN WAR ZONES; sees it as his RESPONSIBILITY to RAISE AWARENESS;

•Expresses his COMPASSION and RESPECT for the victims of war;

End: he returns to the war to continue doing his job – it is an ACT OF CONSCIENCE

•However, Duffy exposes how the PUBLIC ARE APATHETIC (do not care); THEIR ATTENTION TO THE HORROR OF WAR IS ONLY TEMPORARY, then they FORGET;

•Duffy is observing how OUR LIVES ARE TOO COMFORTABLE FOR US TO TRULY RELATE TO THE PAIN OF OTHERS. 

•The war photographer is PSYCHOLOGICALLY / EMOTIONALLY AFFECTED by his experience of war: hint of PTSD – hands ‘tremble’; at the end, he feels ANGER / FRUSTRATION with the public’s lack of care; he feels CUT OFF  FROM NORMAL CIVILIAN LIFE; finds it difficult to relate to after his experience of the brutality of war.