War and Poetry: Perspectives by Bruce Dawe and Rupert Brooke

Overview

• War is depicted as a multifaceted human experience with deep physical, emotional, and psychological impacts.
• Poets Bruce Dawe and Rupert Brooke illustrate contrasting views on war.
  • Bruce Dawe: War as emotionally damaging and brutal.
  • Rupert Brooke: War as a virtuous and patriotic sacrifice.
• Both poets explore the serious costs of war using compelling language techniques to influence audience opinions.

The Role of Poetry in Shaping Perceptions of War

• Poetry helps shape our understanding of war's cost.
• Both Dawe's "Homecoming" and Brooke's "The Soldier" reflect on the idea of war's sacrifice.

Rupert Brooke's Perspective

• Romanticizes war: Presents death in battle as honorable and uplifting.
• Key Quote: "If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England.”
  • Uses metaphor and euphemism to create a glorious image of a soldier’s death.
• Themes: Honor, patriotism, and sacrifice.

Bruce Dawe's Perspective

• Depicts war as inhumane and savage.
• Key Quote: "They’re bringing them home” referring to the return of dead soldiers.
  • Highlights mortality and dehumanizing nature of war.
  • Describes dead bodies "piled on the hulls of Grants, in trucks in convoys."
• Themes: Reality, emotional impact, and dehumanization.

Emotional Depictions in War

Rupert Brooke

• Uses national symbolism and first-person voice to demonstrate individual devotion.
• Key Quote: “A body of England’s, breathing English air.”
  • Metaphor shapes death as meaningful and personal.

Bruce Dawe

• Soldiers presented as anonymous victims.
• Key Quote: "The hollow space of the hangar” and repetitive phrase “they’re bringing them home."
  • Illustrates isolation and grief through impersonal language and auditory imagery.
  • Emphasizes routine nature of death in war.
• Themes: Emotional detachment and loss.

Conclusion

• Both poets use language techniques to unpack war’s cost from contrasting perspectives.
• Rupert Brooke: Uses patriotic lenses to conceal war’s violence with honor and sentiment.
• Bruce Dawe: Confronts war’s realism highlighting emotional and physical impacts.
• Language Techniques:
  • Brooke: Romantic metaphors.
  • Dawe: Blunt imagery and repetition.
• Both poets reveal the deep effects of war on individual lives and societal memory.