Compare the Different Views of War in the Poems ‘Dulce Et...

In this essay I will be comparing the two poems, ‘The Man He Killed’ by Thomas Hardy and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen. ‘The Man He Killed’ is about a man who was in the war and is thinking about his memories in the war. The main part of his experience in the war that he is reminiscing is the killing that he committed and the majority of the poem is focused on that. Thomas Hardy did not go to war himself but it could be thought that he got the idea from a friends experience in the war. The poem is based on the Boer War. The message of the poem is that he was most probably very similar to the man he killed, as in not really knowing what they’re fighting for and why they’re there. ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ is about someone who is†¦show more content†¦These two poems are both still popular in the twenty-first century, which may be because of the fact they are not aimed at a single war, the can both be relat ed to any war that has gone on or that is currently going on in the twenty-first century. Some of the themes from the poems are similar, such as the obvious war and death, but the main theme and message is different. ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ focuses more at patriotism and how war actually affects soldiers. ‘The Man He Killed’ looks past politics and the rules that we should hate our enemies, and shows them from a human perspective. Thomas Hardy’s poem which suggests that even though they’re fighting for the opposing country, they are still the same in some sense, can be backed up by the example of when in 1914 the English and German soldiers put down their guns and played football together. Hardy’s poem is a statement that people who actually fight in wars should not be fighting. As, in fact, if they were to meet in different circumstances they would have been friends. This is shown in the poem when it says ‘you’d shoot a fellow down... if you met where any bar is, you’d help to half a crown.’ This qu ote is saying how strange it is that you would kill a man, who in any other circumstances, you would probably get along with. The tone of ‘The Man He Killed’ is of guilt, confusion and regret. He is disappointed and angry at himself for what he had done. On the other hand the tone of ‘Dulce