Essay, Research Paper: Thomas Hardy's Crude War
Poetry
Free Poetry essays posted on this site were donated by users and are provided for informational use only. The free essay on this page was not written by our writers and should not be viewed as a sample of our writing service. We are neither affiliated with the author of this essay nor responsible for its content. If you need high quality, fresh and competent research / writing done on the subject of Poetry, use the professional writing service offered by our company.
Thomas Hardy's crude war
Many war poems do not glamorize war. They show an honest look at the battlefield showing the irony, crudeness, and cruelty of war. Thomas Hardy communicates these ideas in his poems, "Channel Firing," Drummer Hodge," and "The Man he Killed." In all of these, he shows how war is crude, not glamorous.
In "The Man he Killed," Hardy shows the reader the irony of war. In this poem, the reader is shown irony of situation, where there is a discrepancy between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate to the reader. The main character in this poem is at a bar and drinks with a man. The poem reads: "He and I but met/ By some old ancient inn/ We should have sat us down to wet/ Right many a nipperkin!" The two men drink together and have fun. But then the poem turns to the battlefield, where the two meet again. Here they are enemies, and they shoot at each other. "I shot at him as he as me." The main character kills the man with whom he had a drink. The author comments on the irony of the situation in the last stanza. "Yes; how quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down/ You treat, if met where any bar is." Hardy is states that in war, your enemy is your enemy. War does not stop for friends caught on opposing sides. War is crude.
In "Channel Firing," Hardy uses certain techniques to convey the theme of the crudeness of war. In this poem, guns firing out at sea are so loud that they wake up the dead. This contains a hyperbole, with the dead waking. Guns would not really wake the dead, but when they go off like that, no one alive can sleep. They dead think it is judgement day. But God tells them, "No; It's just gunnery practice out at sea," and He comments on how war is getting worse. "All nations striving strong to make/ Red war yet redder." When God comments on how cruel war is, the reader knows how bad it is. This is also a unique type of personification, with the dead talking.
In "Drummer Hodge," Hardy uses imagery to describes the burial sight of an English soldier who had fought in a battle in Africa. He describes the surroundings, such as the foreign constellations in the sky, and the unfamiliar dirt, which he is buried under. This poem also demonstrates the crudeness of war in the first stanza. "They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest/ Uncoffined - just as found." The man died bravely in battle, and they bury him in a common grave, with no coffin. How glamorous is that?
Thomas Hardy was obviously not a supporter of war. He uses his style of death to convey perhaps a feeling of protest. He uses his techniques of imagery, irony, hyperbole, and personification to express his common theme: war is crude.
Many war poems do not glamorize war. They show an honest look at the battlefield showing the irony, crudeness, and cruelty of war. Thomas Hardy communicates these ideas in his poems, "Channel Firing," Drummer Hodge," and "The Man he Killed." In all of these, he shows how war is crude, not glamorous.
In "The Man he Killed," Hardy shows the reader the irony of war. In this poem, the reader is shown irony of situation, where there is a discrepancy between actual circumstances and those that would seem appropriate to the reader. The main character in this poem is at a bar and drinks with a man. The poem reads: "He and I but met/ By some old ancient inn/ We should have sat us down to wet/ Right many a nipperkin!" The two men drink together and have fun. But then the poem turns to the battlefield, where the two meet again. Here they are enemies, and they shoot at each other. "I shot at him as he as me." The main character kills the man with whom he had a drink. The author comments on the irony of the situation in the last stanza. "Yes; how quaint and curious war is! You shoot a fellow down/ You treat, if met where any bar is." Hardy is states that in war, your enemy is your enemy. War does not stop for friends caught on opposing sides. War is crude.
In "Channel Firing," Hardy uses certain techniques to convey the theme of the crudeness of war. In this poem, guns firing out at sea are so loud that they wake up the dead. This contains a hyperbole, with the dead waking. Guns would not really wake the dead, but when they go off like that, no one alive can sleep. They dead think it is judgement day. But God tells them, "No; It's just gunnery practice out at sea," and He comments on how war is getting worse. "All nations striving strong to make/ Red war yet redder." When God comments on how cruel war is, the reader knows how bad it is. This is also a unique type of personification, with the dead talking.
In "Drummer Hodge," Hardy uses imagery to describes the burial sight of an English soldier who had fought in a battle in Africa. He describes the surroundings, such as the foreign constellations in the sky, and the unfamiliar dirt, which he is buried under. This poem also demonstrates the crudeness of war in the first stanza. "They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest/ Uncoffined - just as found." The man died bravely in battle, and they bury him in a common grave, with no coffin. How glamorous is that?
Thomas Hardy was obviously not a supporter of war. He uses his style of death to convey perhaps a feeling of protest. He uses his techniques of imagery, irony, hyperbole, and personification to express his common theme: war is crude.
ET said...
03 February, 2008 1:28 PM
ET (English teacher)
5
1
GOOD or BAD? How would you rate this essay?
Help other users to find the good and worthy free term papers and trash the bad ones.
Help other users to find the good and worthy free term papers and trash the bad ones.
Need a Custom Written Essay on Poetry: Thomas Hardy's Crude War
Free papers will not meet the guidelines of your specific project. If you need a custom essay on Poetry: Thomas Hardy's Crude War, we can write you a high quality authentic essay. While free essays can be traced by Turnitin (plagiarism detection program), our custom written papers will pass any plagiarism test, guaranteed. Our writing service will save you time and grade.
Related essays:
0
0
Poetry / Famous Keats? Not In His Lifetime
John Keats was an amazing poet during England's Romantic Movement. He
produced extraordinary work in his short 25 year life span. "...Had he lived it is possible
that he would have taken his place...
1
0
Poetry / Grecuan Urn
Keats's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' deals with the perplexing and indefinable relationship between
life and art. Paradoxically it is the life of the urn that we would normally associate with
...
2
1
Poetry / When Faced With Raven
When Faced With the Raven
Of all works of poetry, few are as well known as Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." It's narrative nature and a gothic, gloomy ambient appeal to the human's a...
11
0
Poetry / Metric Poem
The metric system is really cool,
We use it all day long at school,
Forget America's inches and feet,
They're way too boring and put us to sleep.
Let's take the meter for example,
The basic uni...
0
1
Poetry / King Lear: Extended Speeches
An Old Man
In William Shakespeare's play King Lear, three of Lear's extended speeches relate
to the play as a whole and are significant in revealing his character. In Lear's extended
speech begin...
