[Music] hi everybody welcome back to my English literature videos today we are going to talk again about the war poets we started talking about this topic in my last video and we said that war poets wrote during the period of the first world war and their porch was extremely modern okay there were no conventions typical of the poetry of the nineteenth century they actually so the main topic in their poetry was war and they wanted to talk about feelings opinions their state of mind their direct experiences concerning war about propaganda on one side or denounce on the other side why am i saying so well we said last time that there were two completely different perspectives two completely different ideas two completely different groups of war poets on one side poets who wanted to talk about war in a very lyric way and they used a very romantic a very softly soft language and they believed that war was a way to clean the world the world by evil and they believed in the heroic aspect of war in glory and ideals of war also connected with imperialism and Victorian imperialism and also in connected with heroic literature and classic literature and so on and so on so patriotism was extremely important in in in their poetry I'm talking especially about Rupert Brooke and we talked about him in my last video we also analyzed the of his most famous works his son at the soldier in in which he actually talks about this strong strong Authority is Amanda there is a very important rhetoric aspect okay while talking about this topic now today we're going to talk about the other group okay a war poets absolutely opposite completely different so they believed that war was synonym of horror of a tragedy they often talked about their own experiences in in war maybe in trenches and they talked about the horrors of this experience they use a very crude realistic and absolutely a specific language in order to talk about suffering especially physical suffering and they denounced basically the the false well the announced propaganda and the false ideals that were emphasized by patriotism and propaganda especially one of these authors and I'm talking about Wilfred Owen is particularly well known for his strong strong denounce against the war Wilfred Owen was born in 1893 and well in 1913 he went to France to teach went there as a teacher and then in 1915 he came back and he joined the British Army he became an infantry officer and well he was a he experienced work first-person and was completely shocked by the horrors of the life in the trenches he also he met in hospital in Scotland him at secret Sassoon Sassoon was another war poet and with his encouragement is enthusiasm his criticism - he helped Owen to find his own dimension okay as a poet we can say that basically Owens poems were all written in 1917 and they were all published after his death actually in a preface to his work he talked very clearly about the Purple's that poor that poor and Bertram should have in his opinion obviously and I'd like to share with you couple of lines taken from this sort of a manifesto because actually it became in any faster before reading his masterpiece probably his most famous work and poem will analyze it together and the poem is du Chien decorum asked let's see his his his line okay his preface before is very short but very meaningful in my opinion he says this book and he's talking obviously about his poem policy it's not about heroes yeah already says no heroic capers practice here English poetry is not yet feet to speak of them nor is it about legends or lands or anything about glory honour might Majesty Dominion or power except war so he's already saying okay I am NOT going to talk about all the topics that belonged to the other group of them for poets okay for example Brooke he taught it especially about these topics all of them and Owen says no no way my opinion poetry shouldn't talk about that below I am NOT concerned with poetry okay so I'm not here to talk about poetry to make poetry my subject is war and the peachy okay of war so my main topic is war I don't care about poetry or poetic or literature literature things or whatever I want to talk about poetry and the PT of poetry and then he says the poetry is in the PT okay so I talk about war obviously I talked about the PT okay concerning war in front war in war and that is the poetic element that PT and again he goes on says yet these allergies are to this generation in no sense consolatory so pay attention IIIi I'm talking about the PT but that PT shouldn't be considered shouldn't be idealized it ma it shouldn't become sort of an ideal like glory or immortality okay those ideals that are used by propaganda by the other group of war poets not at all you should make on solitary I want to say the truth there is no consolation in what I say they may be to the nast okay probably okay the next one we'll talk about that not me Oh a poet can do today is war this is absolutely important okay he's worn his poetry is a warning okay he is talking about saying be careful pay attention okay try not to be tricked by by by propaganda and so on and so on so I'm warning you I'm telling you what war is okay the truth in fact he says that is why the true poets must be truthful the true poets must be truthful okay the two words are different true and truthful okay so the true poise so real poets okay must be truthful so it must tell something that is based on truth okay there must be truth in their words this is absolutely important and for this reason he writes Luce in decorum asked it is obviously a Latin expression and it means that it is sweet and appropriate defent respectful to die for the fatherland okay this is a typical expression of propaganda obviously and the the main propose of his work here is to say this is a lie don't believe that okay so this work was written in 1917 but it was first published in 1920 it's obviously based on his experience his own experience in the trenches and it is really really hard to read every time I read that every time I teach that I I got goosebumps okay and I shiver it's it's it's really very very powerful let's read it together bent double like old beggars under sacks knock-kneed coughing like hags we cursed through sludge till on the haunting flares we turned our backs and towards our distant rest began to trudge man marched asleep many had lost their boots but limped on blood-shod all went lame all blind drunk with fatigue deaf even to the hoots of gas shells dropping softly behind this is obviously a terrible scenario terrible scenarios of trenches were real life actually he talked about he talks well himself and the other soldiers bent double okay like like old beggars under sacks they were absolutely were bent knock-kneed coughing like hags like witches you can already see from these images that there is sort of a prefiguration of death and he is obviously soldier were young people but they are represented as whole people in this way they're bent ok like old beggars coughing like hags witches are normally also old knock-kneed so the basically the the knees the knees are touching ok while while walking and it's it's it can be compared to the image of our skeleton ok so it's a sort of a prefiguration of death we we obviously talking about himself and his other and other soldiers companions it cursed through sludge ok the curse is the way they talked or the talk was was terrible in this sludge which is a sort of a thick mud okay till on the haunting flares we turned our backs when they heard medically the better when we say so the bright lights exploded us to eliminate the the battlefield at night okay that's the meaning of haunting flares we turned her back so returned and - where's her decent rest began to trudge us so they tried to - duty to get to the place they could actually be safe okay so to trudge me as a walk slowly and and heavily okay men marched asleep they were fast asleep they could Luke asleep because they were extremely tired but also because they were almost dead okay they were like walking dead okay it's terrible many had a la cerva so they lost their boots and limped on but they still tried to continue to talk okay even with an uneven okay stab okay because they were loudly limping bloodshot so they're there their feet were covered in in blood because obviously they were ended while walking without shoes so their shoes were made of blood all went lame so they weren't the only only this is so people were lame but the old situation was lame whole blind drunk with fatigue death so they're deaf they are blind they can't walk they're almost dead okay there is leap that's that's not a true sleep okay that's the sleep of death drunk with fatigue obviously were completely tired deaf even to the hoots of gas shells the hooves are the sounds of loud sounds okay of gas shells propylene softly behind okay behind them and so he goes on like this gasps gasps quick boys and axes you're fumbling fitting the clumsy helmets just in time but someone still was yelling out and stumbling and floundering like a man in fire or lime dim through the misty panes and thick green light as under a green sea I saw him drowning now obviously the shout of the guys who so the gas shells dropping behind them shouting gasps gasps quick boys I can't go away from here that's a safe place and axes you're from me so basically they are moving their hands in a very awkward fashion okay to get the elements in time before the explosion but someone was still was yelling out and stumbling so not everyone was able to get in time to the elements and so they were yelling and stumbling and floundering which means they were moving with great difficulty okay like a man in fire or lime which is terrible terrible a terrible image okay human it was in fire and or in lime in lime it's lime is that a white substance that provokes a severe very very terrible terrible burning so they were burning alive basically and they were moving because they were they weren't able to free themselves from that suffering and the and they end over and the other friends were watching them without being able to do anything in fact he's talking about himself here his perspective dim through the misty panes and thick green light okay so he could watch through his blossoms okay and his glasses are the pace of we can say the glass the glass mask basically and through the green the green air that were provoked by the explosion okay by the gas okay and the explosion through that he could see a dim image okay as if it was under the sea under water actually they couldn't hear they couldn't see they couldn't breathe they felt exactly as if they were underwater a green water the water of a sea and he so he's his friend in the suggestion so his his friend drowning okay suffocate because obviously wasn't able to breathe he couldn't find air okay so there was this math metaphor okay because they felt themselves like as if they were underwater because there wasn't it wasn't an environment where I could survive they didn't have air oxygen they didn't they couldn't move they couldn't see they couldn't hear they couldn't walk it so they couldn't move for this reason okay so he feels underwater and he sees is all his friend drowning but actually wasn't drowning under water because of the water but he was drowning in in the air okay but the air was full of gas and then there is this couplet okay it's Kepler which emphasizes his experience okay and how this experience has affected him and we never cease to affect him he says in all my dreams before my helpless sight he plunges at me guttering choking drowning so this is something that's persecuted in and something that chases him okay and he can't get rid of this image even if he's in his dreams in his in his nightmares today you can see this man he is obviously the front was dead which is a symbol okay of soldiers who died the time jeez at me guttering okay got room in this flickering okay like a sort of a channel about to go out choking okay because as we said before he was suffocating drowning again so the image the metaphor of the water goes on and then then he changes perspective here and until this point he has talked about he was the witness of what what happened and he was actually explaining telling what happened but now something changes in the poem and Owen talks to the reader to all of us to all of you okay and he looks for empathy he looks for help have to do what helped you understand had to see the truth help to destroy the old lie of propaganda and he says if in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind the wagon that we flung him in and watch the white eyes writhing in his face his hanging face like a devil's sick of sin if you could hear at every jolt jolt the Blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs obscene as cancer bitter as the cud of vile incurable sores of innocence on innocent tongues my friend you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory the old lie do Chad economist pro patria mori well now he is really asking for help okay he's asking for awareness he says if you you reader you may may have sometimes some nightmares which are quite common actually in in which you feel like you're suffocating that you're drowning this is something that can actually help it's quite recurring nightmare for me I mean for everyone and I think well if in one of those nightmares you too could piece together with me with the others could could walk okay behind the wagon on which we put that the dying friend okay so him is the friend who is Bryan was dying because of the gas and watched the white eyes writhing and watch his eyes which are not human anymore they are twisting around because he's in great pain because he is a poisoned okay so they are twisting this white they are white okay his face his hanging face like a devil's sick of sin so there is this image in which he is he seems to be victim of some kind of possession okay but the devil the possession the evil okay is the war okay the devil who has caught him caught his friend if you could hear you reader in your nightmare if you could walk with us after the wagon and could hear at every judge so at every movement and sudden movement movement of the of the of the other way again and basically the blood the blood that comes out okay from my friends from the other soldiers lungs which are corrupted which are ruined because of the frou-frou is that form form due to the to the poison okay to the gas obscene as cancer terrible as as cancer bitter as the cud okay the card is that substance that you keep in your Marta Wow you know mister you know when you're in your mouth while chewing and it is also that substance that is created by the acid substances in your stomach there is a sort of a we can say of throwing up okay those things that he had that this guy had to swallow okay the horrors the poison the poison of words the poison of propaganda who took took him there and so this this card creates because of this substance this incurable source owns okay on innocent tongues okay innocent tongues because these guys are innocent okay when they they talk about war they believe in what they say okay because they are victim victim of the eternal lie of propaganda obviously my friend you you reader you my friend you would not tell with such high zest with with so with such an enthusiasm okay to children to young guy is who are really looking for glory for success for immortality you won't tell them that all lie you may you may notice here that lie is written with a capital letter because this is the lie okay they you to mate lie and that lie is the lion propaganda so Dolce decorum s pro patria mori so it's sweet it's it's it's appropriate it's definitely it's respectful respectful its glorious to die for your country for your fatherland for your motherland so this is a obviously I didn't mention before this is a quotation from Horace a case is obviously Layton okay and from the from Horace's ODEs okay this is obviously a quotation from the classic well we can easily understand here what I said what I meant when I said that the two poems that we have analyzed so this one and the soldier so always poem okay in my last video there completely opposite okay they are completely different there is a completely different perspective we can also say that huge difference between Brooke and Owen is that broke didn't have the chance as I said in my last video I already said that and he didn't have the chance to question his ideals because he unfortunately he died before actually experiencing what war was okay there was nothing poetic or romantic or heroic in war but it's just tragic and horrible Oh indeed he did experience life in the trenches he saw the horrors and suffering and there is nothing so decent and and treated and romantic in dying okay in a horrible way I believe that his message is quite modern and interesting today as well they may change the way to fight in war sometimes with sometimes you don't but the the concept I mean the idea is always the same so this is what literature is for it's not just there to for us to enjoy rhymes or verses or also we also like to enjoy verses and and and lines and and whatever but it's also important to get the meaning and to understand warnings and to make them a part of our lives and to be that reader okay that reader that printer Owen talked to okay we want to be that preacher and to be aware what is what is that well I hope that I helped you and that you have found this video quite useful or quite interesting if you did I I ask you to do to like this video thumbs up and please subscribe my channel if you like it if you like what I do share my videos if you believe that someone else can be interested and I thank you thank you for watching thank you for your open minds and your hope and arts and for your support which is incredibly important to me thank you so very much and see you soon bye [Music]