I Sing Of Olaf Vs. Et Decorum Est: Poem Analysis

I sing of Olaf vs Et Decorum Est
E E Cummings’s I Sing Olaf and Wildred Owen’s Et Decorum Est are very much alike. The similarities found in their poems were made possible by their experiences in the the First World War as French soldiers. Both poems are written in opposition to the war but in contrast, Cummings’s poem speaks of a man who directly resisted the war while Owen speaks of the horrors of war, justifying people’s reluctance to fight in them. While both poems are considered anti-war, only Cumming’s poem proves the dangers of openly opposing one.
In Owen’s Et Decorum Est, he describes soldiers on a ruck as “old beggars under sacks,/ knock-kneed, coughing like hags” (1-2). Here he captures how they are deprived of sleep and are exhausted,

Throughout history, conscientious objectors were always treated poorly. For example, Desmond Doss, who served as a CO for the United States in WWII, was assigned extra duties, beaten, and constantly intimidated by his superiors. One of his fellow recruits even told him “Doss, as soon as we get into combat, I'll make sure you won't come back alive” (Desmond Doss Council). Worse than Doss, Olaf was severely beaten by “kindred intellects as they evoked allegiance per blunt instruments” (13-14). “Kindred intellects” in this poem refer to the so-called patriots who couldn’t wait to sign up for the fight. When they take turns beating the allegiance into him, their intent is to hurt him to the point where he gives in and swears loyalty to France, and at this point Olaf says, “I will not kiss your fucking flag” (19). This shows how war can completely turn a citizen against its country. Cummings suggests that if there can’t be peace amongst people on the same team, there can never be peace between completely opposite

Cummings uses a direct story of an individual while Owen uses imagery to steer the reader into a certain way of thinking. Cummings’s story of olaf is intended to inform the reader of what war does to a person. It was more factual, providing a series of event to get his point across, and Owen’s uses imagery more to describe what war is like and indirectly urges the reader to see it for what it is. “Evoking a dream-like scenario” by describing the chlorine gas, he is able to alter the perception the reader had on the war. But in the next like as he describes the dead soldier as “Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud” (line 28), he provides the audience with a gruesome atmosphere that would leave them sick to their stomach. This thought provoking method keeps his reader where he wants them to be but because Owen’s topic of death broad, it does convince as many people as Cummings’s