A dictionary meaning of Conflict is "circumstances of open, armed, often prolonged turmoil carried on between nations, claims, or parties". Whilst this description is clear enough it does not come near exploring the true meaning of war in terms of feelings and the effects of conflict on humanity as complete throughout history by the poets. Wars prior to 1914 have inspired poets to record for posterity the grime hard facts of discord and the impact on lives - "While ravens and kites peck at human entrails" (Li Po or Li Bai's "Nefarious War"). Other poets have used war to energize their audience, maybe to take up arms "When can their glory fade? O the crazy demand they made" (Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"), while others have used poetry to record glorious functions to maintain the memory and perhaps justify a earlier conflict - "So on they fought just like a swirl of living flame" (Homer's "The Iliad") which continued to be only as a verbal record for centuries before it was on paper.
The poems examined have explored the different aspects of battle. From Homer's "The Iliad" and his glorious information of Menelaus' Finest Hour through to Alfred Lord Tennyson's homage to courage and honour in his famous "The Charge of the Light Brigade" to Li Po's "Nefarious Battle" this article will explore how poets have considered the impact of battle on humanity. This article will touch on the simple tempo of Whitman's "Beat! Whip! Drums!" and narrative provided in another Walt Whitman's elegy "Vigil Bizarre I Continued the Field One Nighttime I stored one night". This article will compare the glory of any cavalry charge with Whitman's crushing information of the degeneration of the bereaved mother in "Appear from the Areas Father". This article will consider how these poems compare across the range of feeling which mankind has experienced when conflict is announced, fought or concluded. This article will also make guide on John Scott's "The Drum", checking to the distaste for different sounds of battle.
Homer's "The Iliad" is an epic poem revealing to the storyline of the Trojan Warfare. It is occur a period where people considered the Gods to be all powerful and within life influencing every part of human presence. The war described in "The Iliad" was the Trojan Warfare fought between your Greeks and the Trojans in what's now mainland Turkey. The battle occurred in the 8th or 9th hundred years BC. The epic poem worried the famous story of the abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris and her partner, the Greek King Menelaus' war to get her rear and destroy metropolis of Troy. The Greeks arrived close to Troy and besieged the location for a decade. During these years a number of fights were fought and "The Iliad" provided a narrative of these engagements. One particular episode identifies the attack over the body Patroclus, a friend of Achilles, who had been killed by Hector, the Trojan hero. In talking about the fight for Patroclus' body Homer recalls the gods Ares, Athena and finally Zeus and compares the warriors efforts to the people of the Gods "Not even Ares, lasher of armies, not even Athena Viewing the fight here could scorn its fury" Homer shows the supreme work made to retrieve the body of any dead comrade. The use of anaphora here helps to emphasize the colossal effort demonstrated through the conflict that not even the functions of Gods could compare. This evaluation by Homer might have been a useful device in the context of the changing times in which the poem was retold - usually by going actors bringing tales to faraway Greek villages, the evaluation of effort to that of the Gods signifies superhuman power designed, without doubt, to motivate awe from the villagers. Therefore the "Iliad" can be compared to a type of propaganda, not and then entertain the masses, but also to remind them that the men at hands in the service of the Ruler were to be not only respected but feared; in this manner showing an effect on mankind.
Homer models a field that is filled with men grappling, preventing and straining. This titan like have difficulty contrasts with Whitman's elegy "Vigil Unusual I Continued the Field One Nights I kept on the field one nighttime" where in fact the author's reflections on the after struggle scene summarize a quiet depressed place "Vigil wondrous and vigil sweet there in the fragrant silent night, However, not a tear dropped, not even a long-drawn sigh, long, long I gazed. . " His use of long drawn sigh and repetition of "long" suggest time and space for reflection as opposed to the congested feel of the fight in the Iliad. Further, Homer's explanation of the environment "Fought on at their simplicity beneath a blue sky, Clear brilliance of sunshine glittering circular them, not really a cloud around the corner to shadow the planet earth and mountains. Men who fought at a distance worked with frequent breaks" suggest a sunlight scorched, hot perspiration place where grit and dust particles mix with blood to create a fearsome picture. The imagery created could have been familiar to listeners who'll have accepted such a hot eastern Mediterranean climate. Homer's initiatives to ensure his listeners identification go some way to allowing empathy with the heroes in the poem. This narrative style contrasts with the short clipped verse in "The Drum"by John Scott which includes an absence of any information of the surroundings where the conflicts described take place.
In "The Iliad", Homer packages the world providing a qualifications for the listener to hook up with whereas Whitman's poem does not have any intention or dependence on such explanation as his purpose is dramatically different. In"The Drum"the surroundings has no relevance above the meaning that the pounding of the drum is the messenger of doom. Likewise, "Beat! Whip! Drums!" by Walt Whitman is being described with a tentative soldier; the soldier illustrates the hatred he obtains because of this drum that is beating for the announcing of war breaking out. John Scott runs on the quite typical poetic device in "The Drum"; he utilizes poetic meter to set-up the rhythm thus creating an echo of the drums. He uses iambic tetrameter as shown in the following quotation; "I hate that drums discordant audio/ parading round, and around, and round". The routine of the stressed and unstressed syllables (-/-/-/-/) conveys how the drum in the poem has been enjoyed. For Scott, the sound is hateful as it telephone calls teenagers "to battle and land in foreign lands". In Whitman's poem he creates using free verse, however, the heavy strains on the syllables on the beginning line also shows the sound of the drum. This suggests the destructive nature of battle on humanity. The use of onomatopoeia in "Beat! Whip! Drums!" also helps suggest this.
In Homer's "The Iliad", Personally i think as though Homer's exploration on the result of battle on mankind is very clear. He shows the literally grueling connection with being on the struggle field, with the gods as passive spectators. "The Iliad" carries a lot of referrals to the teenagers involved with fight; "Grim and grueling, relentless drenching labour, non stop". Homer is making it clear through the use of alliteration, a list and negative words these men are working very hard. This is set alongside the elegy "APPEAR From The Areas Father", as Whitman also shows the effect war has on teenagers. However, both different poets have different ideas to put across to the reader. Homer wished to show the benefits of the young fighting with each other because of the enthusiastic approach exposed by them. Whitman wanted to show the negative aftereffect of conflict on the young soldiers and their own families. Within the poem the category of the young soldier obtains a letter that says them he has been hurt; "gunshot wound in the breast, cavalry skirmish, taken up to clinic". The impact the notice is wearing the family is damaging so when the mother finds out that her "only son is dead", she is so grief stricken that she wants to perish.
The second historic poem in mind is Li Po's "Nefarious War". Li Po or Li Bai, the deviation of Romanization of, was a poet who resided around 700 BC in imperial China. He was a famous poet who published many poems on various subjects including warfare, love and wine beverages. He was renowned for his capability to write without modification. His job was put in in the court of the Chin Dynasty but he dropped foul to judge intrigue and eventually devoted suicide. Li Po had not been a soldier but in his "Nefarious Battle" the speaker is obviously a warrior, who speaks of his weariness with discord and his representation on war's impact. At the time of writing imperial China was employed in continuous battle to defend its edges against marauding tribes. The effect on its people was substantial. Given the great size of China it had not been possible to guard all the territory under the emperor and therefore much time was allocated to the campaign where the armies would travel for years to battle warring hordes or tribes attempting to steal territory, people or property.
Po appears to suggest warfare is inevitable. His first stanza details locations of the promotions "the head-stream of the Sang-kan", "the Tsung-ho road", "the waves of Chiao-chi lake" and the pastures "on Tien-shan's snowy slopes". This can be in comparison to Homer's explanation of the plains of Troy in which a specific challenge is fought for a particular reason. Li Po provides no particular political reason for conflict other than the need for protection against a foe. "Nefarious Warfare" suggests an unrelenting, grinding attrition where in fact the defenders of the empire have to be ever watchful "Where in fact the Chin emperor built the wall space resistant to the Tartars, There the defenders of Han are losing beacon fires. The beacon fires burn up and never get out, There is no end to conflict" this signifying a frequent state of alertness using alliteration to make the point "getting rid of beacon fires. /The beacon fires lose" where the use of "B" provides a severe staccato and repetition give a prelude to the ultimate "There is no end to war" suggesting an exhausting vigil accompanied by the suggestion of lament that no end to the turmoil is in sight. Due to the depressing words Po uses, one thought springs in your thoughts, Po may be making a plea for peace symptomatic of the need for leftovers from the ever before present hazard and the need for a frequent watch. This can be contrasted to the battle being described by Homer, it is stated that the fighting is done in one place, not over a widespread level.
Additionally, there are many references to the length of war, the actual fact that war continues on permanently. Li Po explains the conflicts as "The long, long war goes on ten thousand miles from your home. The repetition used here's very effective, it creates the reader feels the real manifestation of tedium created by loudspeaker. Also, Po uses the repetition to link to the thought of the life of any warrior being boring; the mere reality that it is the same everyday and nothing at all changes. John Scott uses repetition in his poem "The Drum" with his reference to the troops parading "round, and around, and circular". This is similar to the repetition of "Long, long" which suggests that war has a poor effect on humanity.
Li Po continues on to describe the battlefield in his third stanza. "Within the battlefield men grapple the other person and pass away" offers a brief summary compared to Homer's detailed information of the struggle for Patroclus' body. Li Po's overall economy with words advises a different view of warfare. Definately not it as an illustrious deal with between men for a reason (the restoration of Patroclus' body) the empty, uselessness recommended in this beginning series portray a futility. Li Po contrasts the leaders with the supporters "So, men are spread and smeared over the desert grass, and the generals have accomplished nothing". Here it is the ordinary soldiers that the dying whilst the generals who command the military achieve little by the work of the men. In "The Demand of the Light Brigade" Tennyson identifies this factor of war with his "Not though the soldier knew, somebody had blundered" where generals order the fatalities of men under their command word without thought. However Tennyson continues on to emphasis the heroism and determination to duty shown by the cavalry at Balaclava whereas Li Po's reference to the men and horses dying simply reminds the reader of the impact of challenge to them ("The horses of the vanquished utter lamentable cries to heaven"). This reminds us that the effect of war is not only on humanity, but on the family pets. This is therefore related back to Po's point about the gravity of battle and exactly how it impacts everyone, that it's inescapable and destructive
Li Po advises a whole lot about the leaving of the bodies on the challenge field. The mere reality of different birds of victim pecking at the "human entrails" talks about to us that the dealing with individuals fatalities at the moment was inadequate. This image is repulsive - it is clear that they don't even care what happens to the systems due to the negative wording. However if you contrast this to Homer's "The Iliad", the struggle for a hero's body, such care and passion showed in for the body of Patroclus and also to ensure a proper burial. That is of course false for the bodies being identified by Po. In Whitman's "Vigil Bizarre I Kept On The Field One Night", there a wide range of sources to a brother or very close friend relationship between your two comrades representing, on an over-all scale, the relationship between soldiers during the American Civil Conflict. An interesting point is the fact if we compare "Nefarious Battle" with the perspective of "Vigil Unusual I Continued the Field One Night", it demonstrates the progression in concern for soldiers as human beings, over the hundreds of years, with individual lives and young families rather than simply complete armies or unnamed physiques on the battlefield. At a spot appealing, "The Iliad" and "Nefarious Warfare" were written in several parts of the world; therefore this is from the conflict that exists today. This is the clash of American vs. Eastern culture; it can be interoperated that Homer was presenting the ethos of his people and Li Po doing the same. Both poets representing how warfare is dealt in their culture.
Through out the number of poems that are being considered, there are aspects of soldiers joining in unity. Noticeably it is hardly used whatsoever in "Vigil Unusual I Kept on the Field One Night", as the theory that the poet wants to get across is the idea of the average person love and not of comrades showing unity. One may even sense the feeling of ignorance, coming from the poet, of the troops' feelings or of the dreadful effects of the war-torn environment that encompass them by focusing on one relationship rather than the big picture. However, this is unquestionably false shown in "Nefarious Battle"; Po wishes the widespread effects on humanity to be clear while being read. "Last year we fought by the head-stream of the Sang-kan, this season we are fighting with each other on the Tsung-ho road. We have cleaned our armor in the waves of Chiao-chi Lake; we have pastured our horses on Tien-shan's snowy slopes". The repetition of "we" in this context is an efficient means of attracting the audience and allowing Po to build unity between himself and his comrades. "We" is often used as a motivational device to form a community within a group; it is used to show equality from even the lowest ranked soldier fighting alongside to a King. In this case, Po is trying to present to the audience the universal hurting that is taking place. This is contrasted, with great clarity, to "Vigil Peculiar I Continued the Field One Night", by the writer showing specific anguish instead of a collective misery.
Whilst the misery illustrated by Po throughout his poem does indeed appear to distract from the real descriptive characteristics of the conflict, his message shouldn't be disregarded - that warfare is a detrimental force and nothing good comes from it. However, it is worth note that Po's exploration/explanation of conflict differs from Homer's or Whitman's. Whitman shows an energized methodology towards war, as though, he is keeping in mind action to occur, for example, "Combat! Combat! Drums!--Blow! Bugles! Blow! Throughout the windows--through doors--burst just like a ruthless force". This quotation demonstrates a genuine eruption of Whitman's communication here - that warfare is destructive, the explosive "B" alliteration articulated by Whitman shows us the original energy that warfare does in reality bring. Inside the first stanza of "Nefarious War", the thought of tiredness is portrayed by Po with a considered no hope, "armies [have] worn and produced old". An computerized image that involves head when including such words as "old" and "worn" produces the negative vibe intended by Po, it makes us imagine a withering army comprising a few men. Subsequently, Po intentionally illustrating the effects on humanity but especially the military of the united states.
In spite of the; Po uses a lot of lively verbs in the third stanza, comparable to the energy in "The Iliad". Po uses words such as "grapple" and "vanquish". This is set alongside the violent words utilized by Homer. The image in our minds of men "hacking" the lines to parts and the illustration of "both edges dragging the corpse". These expressions are full of energy; they will be the many of the violent cinematic imagery used by Homer to formulate the actual "being there" results the poet would like the reader to see. In addition to that point, Homer wanted to survey the horror of the challenge of Troy; as a consequence he uses much hyperbole to surprise his audience. Among the very moving similes Homer uses to describe the fighting with each other is the hyperlink to flame, relating the fighting as a "swirl of living fire". The main descriptive word here's "fire", which gives the feeling of carnage and mayhem. This is precisely what Homer wants to make; he needs to describe to the reader what a busy fight this truthfully is.
"Nefarious Conflict" has a great deal in common with another Whitman poem, "APPEAR From the Fields Father". This poem handles the torment of war on humanity. It really is about a notice arriving at a household in the us reading that the boy has a "gunshot wound to his breast". This of course is damaging to the family. Whitman then focuses on the mother's response, which is fainting heading "Sickly white in the facial skin" and therefore wishing to expire when she discovers her boy is lifeless. "Come Up From The Fields Daddy" can be compared to "Nefarious Conflict" for the reason that they both package on the result of warfare on humanity and the disturbance of the standard life. "While they stand at home at the door he is deceased already, The only boy is dead". This quotation is enough for what the writer is trying to describe to the reader, the theory is linked back again to what Po would like to get across, the advice of no hope. This image performs in our head, the term "only" automatically creates a graphic of aloneness or "only one", and this demonstrating the disastrous effects that war has on family life therefore Whitman showing no amnesty towards warfare.
If you look at the several poetic devices used by Homer and Po, you will see that Homer runs on the great deal of enjambements to wthhold the flow of the action in the challenge; In Nefarious Conflict there is merely one of these of enjambment. An example from the illiad is; "Achaeans to move him back again to the hollow ships/ And circular him always the brutal have difficulty raging. " It is well worth noting how Homer wants the movement to stay fluent when being read; this is performed by not by using a comma by the end of the first range, "hollow ships". Po needs to have the concept through about the evils of war; he shows this by using negative poetic devices, such as sibilance. Sibilance originates from the Latin word meaning "hissing" the hyperlink to the early belief of an snake hissing; this being the link to evil. As in the bible, Satan disguised himself as a snake in your garden of bad. The representation of the is manufactured by creators' use of s, smooth c, sh and z sounds. "So, men are dispersed and smeared". The annotation "smeared" is an extremely ugly word, it generates an automatic bloodstream shed image, the hint of smearing blood over a sword. The concept of "men [being] spread" is very strong to the audience, it creates an image of an bomb shell hitting the struggle field. This quotation is clear in what Po wants someone to get from his poem; he wishes you to get on the evils of warfare, as shown by the use of sibilance. Po also would like you pick up on the effects of war on humanity, humanity being the men which may have been "scattered and smeared".
Po results in among the normal men affected by the battle participating in his country; he runs on the first hand bill, fabricating the have difficulty of the mankind in traditional China. In the end, war damaged the run of the mill man, not specially trained troops, the average farmer as hinted by Po; "The barbarian does man-slaughter, not plowing". This completes Po's communication to the reader, the thought of war having an effect on not just humanity however the livelihood and the wellbeing of family members. Thus Po intentionally showing the audience the detestable ramifications of conflict on the mankind in China at the time.
Tennyson's "Fee of the Light Brigade" can be an example of a warfare poem written for a purpose that to provide some useful propaganda and to understand this more fully the context encircling the setting must be considered. The Crimean Warfare (1853 to 1856) fought between the allied coalition (Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia) and Russia was the first large level issue to be covered by journalists even as understand it today. For the very first time reports of challenge could be cabled or went back by fast sloop back again to London in time for newspaper works. Accounts of the challenge field by self-employed reporters shocked the house audience as the general public became aware for the very first time of the poor conditions of the fighting troops and the incompetent aspect of the control.
The conflict encircled Russia's continual risk to the Ottoman Empire. Russia required a tepid to warm water port in the Mediterranean and provoked a warfare with Turkey over spiritual things in Ottoman organised Jerusalem. Britain and France emerged to Turkey's aid and directed men and boats to the black sea to counter the Russian danger to the Bosphorus. As of this period, Britain was at its most effective with an empire extending around the globe. English superiority in trade, creation and sea ability provided a sense of invincibility to the country who backed the war. Technology experienced developed to allow telegraphic communications and photography and so it was easy for the issue to be used both in the written form and aesthetically in much shorter timescales than ever before. Russell of "THE DAYS" was the most known correspondent.
The coalition forces had arrived in the Crimea on the dark sea and laid siege to Sevastopol, the key Russian dock in the area. The coalition pushes were thinly stretched through struggle casualties but mainly through disease and poor sanitary conditions. In an attempt to raise the siege the Russian makes attacked the coalition flank at Balaklava. During this action there were three major occasions, the Highland soldier's amount of resistance to a Russian cavalry fee - the Thin Red Range - the Fee of the Heavy Brigade to repulse a further cavalry attack and the most well-known of most, the Demand of the Light Brigade. The first two activities were fine examples of British troops led by their commanders conquering the opponent when defeat appeared certain, nonetheless it is the Demand of the Light Brigade that has been world famous for its pointlessness. Against all the accepted guidelines of warfare of your day, the English Light cavalry recharged the main body of the Russian army due to a poorly worded order. Many men and horses were wiped out for no gain.
The Fee was reported by Russell and and also other reports of the indegent handling of the battle, public opinion changed against the turmoil. Florence Nightingale famously intervened with the wounded and setup a hospital in Scutari. Questions were brought up in parliament and long after the war ended there have been concerns on all areas of the handling of the battle. It is against this backdrop that Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" must be considered. Like Homer, Tennyson got specific known reasons for the development of his poetry. The conflict had proven unpopular so that Poet Laureate, Tennyson may have been responding to the public attacks from the establishment by delivering the demand in its more favourable light. Tennyson emphasises this in his previous three lines "Honour the demand they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!" He keeps this exaltation to the previous to leave the reader in without doubt that whatever the reason why for the blunder the fee was an honorable thing.
Tennyson starts the bill by recreating the rhythm of the horses cantering, "Half of a league, half of a league, Half of a league onward". That is a good example of dactylic meter with the previous foot "onward" as trochaic. This use of meter really helps to set up the prologue to the action - the cavalry steadily evolving on the opponent.
Tennyson will take the audience to the centre of the action, "Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to remaining of them, Cannon before them", and "Stormed at with shot and shell". This use of anaphora and alliteration simulates the result of gun flames as the cavalry move down the valley. Tennyson provides this imagery to create the arena of the carnage the men experienced. "Boldly they rode and well, In to the jaws of Death, Into the oral cavity of Hell". Here Tennyson tells us that regardless of the storm of lead these well trained disciplined troops kept going where perhaps others could have stopped. He increases this point earlier in the poem "Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a guy dismayed?" This seems initially a rhetorical question, however Tennyson quickly confirms the irrelevance of the question with "Theirs never to make reply, Theirs never to reason, Theirs but to do and expire" in doing so he reminds the reader that the troops were there to do their work rather than question the intentions of their leaders. The repetition of "Theirs" is emphatic. It isn't for the soldier to reply to an order neither is it to attempt to fathom the intricacies of military strategies, their job was to follow orders and perhaps die along the way. Tennyson is reminding the audience of the nature of soldiering and warfare.
The first three stanzas offer with the procedure, the fourth addresses the action at the weapons while the fifth represents the go back of the Light Brigade. Tennyson repeats his use of alliteration here again Stormed at with shot and shell to remind the reader that the cavalry was under fire both in to action and homeward bound.
Against a backdrop of criticism of the conflict Tennyson is reminding the reader during that the action was to be admired "When can their glory fade?
O the outrageous charge they made! All the world thought about. " Here reminding the audience that through the action Britain remains respected. This contrasts with Li Po's Nefarious Conflict that has none of them of the elements of message covered within Demand of the Light Brigade. Li Po's poem is at its heart anti conflict; "So, men are spread and smeared over the desert grass, Plus the generals have achieved nothing" implies the definite pointless waste material of individuals life by the soldiers', leaders. On the other hand Tennyson's only reference to the poor control of the conflict was "Not although soldier knew, Someone had blundered"
Tennyson's assertion that some good came out of the action exampled by the splendid military precision displayed by the cavalry "Boldly they rode and well" and "Flashed almost all their sabres bare, Flashed as they changed in air" recommending military discipline and prowess, this contrasts with Scott's "The Drum"- "I hate that drum's discordant sound, Parading around, and around, and round" the repetition of circular provides an imagery of pointless drilling of soldiers undergoing repetitive duties for no visible reason.
In conclusion, the number of poems and poets that I have included in my review have expressed the entire range of thoughts and views from the heroic to the wastefulness of battle but, in the long run, all have provided a graphic portrayal of the result of battle on mankind. Of the main poets that I've focused on, Homer and Tennyson focus on the power of conflict and portray individuals sacrifice as the best in. On the other hand, Po wants to see folks of the terrors of conflict in order that humanity will learn from the terrible deaths of the war-torn rather than have wars in the foreseeable future. While Po has more of the wide-reaching communication, probably targeted at a far more at a higher politics level, Whitman similarly portrays conflict as wasteful, he specializes in a lot more personal, everyman damage that soldiers' fatalities have on young families back home. Finally, John Scott's poem, "The Drum" portrays the initial bravado and pleasure that war can incite in both military and the folks at home, but ends with the brutal realities of the "mangled limbs, and dying groans, And widow's tears, and orphans' moans, And all that Misery's hands bestows", that demonstrate the truly terrible effects of war on humanity, which can be properly summed up by Benjamin Franklin (1706 -1790), "There never was a good conflict or a bad peace".
