To Lucasta On Going To The War Poem Analysis

The poems, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Tennyson, “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, and “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden, are all concerned with war. However, each poem has a distinct representation of it. While the two authors, Tennyson and Lovelace, glorify war by portraying it as honorable and worthwhile, Borden and Owen view war as a destruction of mankind and show their indignation and censure of war by depicting it as vile and gruesome in their poems. This essay will examine and compare the diction and tone of each poem to understand how they influence each poem’s underlying theme on war.

In the 17th century, poets mostly used romantic diction in their

In “The Song of the Mud,” Borden describes the major role mud plays in war and reveals the huge impact it has as it covers the soldier, corpses, clogs the machinery, and restricts the soldiers from their value.“of vile, incurable sores and innocent tongues,” "a devil's sick of sin,” the blood coming from “bitter as the cud,” and “obscene as cancer” are all examples of imagery that help readers perceive the agony of war and fully express the repugnancy to war. Moreover, Mary specifically uses evocative words such as “invincible,” “inexhaustible,” “intrusive” and “impertinent” to illustrate the dreadful state of the fighters due to the mud and to generate a powerful tone. Similarly, Owen used words such as “guttering” and “froth-corrupted” to create that same tone as he described the gas attack he experienced and the resentment he has of war in this last stanza. On top of that, both poems contain irony to signify the opposite of what is said, set an ironic tone and to bring forth the authors’ aversion to war indirectly. For example,“The Song of the Mud” contains the line “covers the hills like satin” which is pleasing and makes you feel at ease which contradicts the fact that war is destructive and horrifying. Also, the word “song” in the title gives readers a feeling of enjoyment when in fact, the poem emits gloom. Owen’s main purpose of writing his poem was to expose “the old lie” which is “Dulce Et Decorum est.” This lie says that it is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country; the truth is that it is a waste of human life. Owen had first-hand experience of the tragedies of World War I and wanted to destroy the misinterpretation of it by portraying the reality of war. Yet this reality was long kept from the knowledge of the civilians at home, who continued to write about the noble pursuit of