In poems about war the speaker speak of the ills and the dooms of war, In some they speak of disillusionment, hopelessness, bretrayal, despair and in some about vengenance. With poets such as John McCrae, Willaim Butler Yeats and Wilfred Owen; giving an insight into the hoors that surround them there is a feeling that grows with the audience which is one of sympathy, pity, horror and revulsion all rolled into one. They reflect the horrs and fultility of war and speak for the millions of soldiers who have died and those who fight battles of today. It shows that in the times when soldiers fight they reject patiotism and come to understand the hellish reality of inevitable death and maiming in battle. The subject “war” may raise unanswerable questions and feelings in everyone, especially the soldiers but the authors themselves show the objections to war and the reason to question its importance and validity.

In the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John Mc Crae, he speaks as a bitter medical worker in the fields of battle where poppies grew over the graves of those who have died. This bothers him since he saw people he knew die and saw that things never change around him as they happen day in and day out with people dying and others living. He is so bitter that he takes it out on the enemy soldiers in the last stanza of the poem where he says:

“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
      In Flanders fields.”

In these words it is seen that he does not question those who sent them to fight. Rather he is bitter over those they are fighting for making them loose their comrades in arms. This affects him to such an extent that he mentions that their souls will roam and not have peace unless they are avenged. This immortal work of Mc Crae shows the opposite of what other poets such as Owen hardy and Yeats saw and thought about war.

Owen’s war poetry is a passionate expression of outrage at the horrors of war and of pity for the young soldiers sacrificed in it. It is dramatic and memorable, whether describing physical horror or the unseen, mental torment. His poetry evokes more from us than simple disgust and sympathy; issues previously unconsidered are brought to our attention. One of Owen’s talents is to convey his complex messages very proficiently.

In’ Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen he says (lines 17-18)

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in’

A clear indication of the horror of witnessing this event becomes eternal through dreams. Though this boy died an innocent, war allowed no time to give his death dignity, which makes the horror so more poignant and haunting. They have seen things that they did not care to see or experience the horrors of man that they did not know man was capable of. It is these experiences and many of the sights which haunt the surviving soldiers. They did things which were not the orders that the officials have ordered them to do, but what they have done to save their own lives. It is the tragedy of war that you are not able to stop to help a dying man. They then, not only physically scarred and mentally changed, carrying guilt with them. They have survived, at the expense of others both comrades in arms and foes alike. It goes back to the old saying; “War is about old men talking and young men dying.” With this thought in mind it is easy to see why much anger is directed towards those ignorant of the full implications of war, but, perhaps ironically, his poetry would serve to make them aware of the happenings of this horrific thing.

When one speaks of the format and the diction of war poetry, the foremost name once again will be Wilfred Owen for he uses the words to create images showing what the soldiers experience since he experienced it first hand. He puts everything he has into his work showing that the thought of killing and watching your comrades being killed and constantly trying to survive sounds horrific enough, but the precise detail of the emotions, thoughts and sights of the soldier, would be successful in driving the full horror home. This is where much of Owen’s originality lies, not vague reporting, but deep cynicism and conveyance of the situations that were known to him personally. He sympathizes profusely with the young men who have no idea of the horrors of war or the situation they have gotten themselves into. They were seduced by others and the recruiting posters. If he were still alive today he would cry bitterly against seeing the television ads and the print ads that seek to draw the young into the grasp of war. These were things that he bitterly rejects as well as the patriotic reasoning for war which could all be found in’ Dulce et Decorum.’

A recurring theme in all war poetry is one of scars that may be visible or invisible. The is can be seen by all poets who were associated with war. The scars may make them hate the people who were their enemy as well as those around them. In the poem “In Flanders Fields’ the poet is so scared that he wishes people to continue the fight after he is gone. It is shown when he said, (line 10) “Take up our quarrel with the foe”. It shows his exposure to a life of war and it changed him so much that there would nothing like a normal life. This in itself is classic of war poetry. It shows the human element of the people who were trapped within and the outcome faced.

In “S I W” by Wilfred Owen we see scars as well. But we see the pressures that society places on the soldiers. It shows that the soldiers may return alive and unhurt yet their lives are changed and they are not the same people who went out. In S I W it shows that although the man’s family clearly loves him, they would “sooner him dead than in disgrace”(l.3), leaving him only suicide to escape. This notion of escaping into hell from war is prevalent with soldiers and it is brought home in this piece as well as in many other poems by Owen. The detail in Owen’s poetry puts forward his scenes horrifically and memorably. His poems are suffused with the horror of battle, yet finely structured and innovative. The scenes may be unimaginable by us, and something only a true witness would see thus, Owen acutely describes the impact of violence and the results. The scene witnessed by him is loaded with numerous details that we feel familiar to it ourselves seeing the full horror behind these unemotional terms described.

The writers of war poetry show the war and its effects through their own experienced eyes telling the tales through the eyes of the speakers. The styles used reinforce the message conveyed to the audience by the speakers and the poets. With Owen he underlines his messages with his use of speech and present tense which serve to serve a sense of urgency and directness in his poems. All the senses are utilized by Owen, he shocks with the constant input of sound, smell, and touch as well as sight which increases the dimensions of his images and overwhelm us as he must have been. Owen’s appliance of half-rhyme gives his poetry a dissonant, disturbing quality that amplifies his themes. His stanzas shake when being read, quite the same as someone caught in war.

So many of war poems bring across poignant themes and images, which stay in the mind long after having read them. Though in many cases the writers would state their primary aim is not poetry, but to describe the full horrors of war, they tell experiences and opinions with such clarity and horrid beauty- adding to the poignancy as war is so ugly and confused. A person can read these poems over many times, because each time we can notice some new cleverness or point unseen before. With Owen in particular, his ability to pin point certain images and moments makes the moments recognizable, even to those who have never experienced war. He attempts to connect war with other aspects of human suffering, making him much more than simply a war poet.

Thus it is will all poets of war. We see images too horrible and yet we imagine them. The powers of these poems lie in the diction and the creative genius of the writers that bring these poems to life before our very eyes. They show the emotions that man goes through and how it leaves them changed, in most cases for the worst. They have extremely emotionally driven so when a person reads it, they are enwrapped within the words given. Thus war poetry is beautiful in its own way of describing horror, pain, loss and every other part of emotional content that the writer chooses the speaker to say to us with the hopes that in the end they did their part in speaking to us, the audience.