War

Nobody likes war. Many start wars, fight them, or even want them for what they believe will come at the end (if they win) but nobody likes war itself. Therefore it is important to know as Wilfred Owen suggests in "Dulce et Decorum Est" that the old saying in the title is a lie. It is not sweet to die for one's country; Nothing is proper about hurting someone and getting hurt in wars. The imagery of desolate battlefields and torturing deaths act as an effective wake up call for people who holds a heroic view of war as glory, conveying the message that wars should be avoided, not encouraged.

However, it is a painful fact that wars do happen, and people do need to fight. Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier" offers an entirely different view on war which can somewhat consulate the soldiers going to war, especially for those who are conscripted there, not by choice. The pastoral imagery of England shows Brooke's patriotism and pride in his country, and also serves as a temporary distraction from the nasty images that are to be seen on the battlefields. His idea that if soldiers (from England in this case) die, "there's some corner of a foreign field / That is forever England" (2-3) gives their death a meaning, as if they will be more than just another corpse lying on the ground.