The Comparison
Wilfred Owen’s poem “The Next War”, and Mary Gilmore’s poem “War” are two poems that have concentrated on the circumstances of soldiers in World War 1. Owen’s own personal experiences have impacted him to create a poem that regards the battlefield and traumatic experiences of war, whereas Gilmore’s poem is more concerning the loss and grief felt by family when there’s the death of a soldier. The two poems aspects are contrasting, this may be because the two poet’s experiences of war were different, one from the perspective of a male soldier fighting in the war and the other from the perspective of a mother losing her son due to war.
Owen’s use of personification, “Death... spat at us with bullets and he’s coughed shrapnel.” contrasts to Gilmore’s use of repetitiveness: “Out in the dust he lies; Flies in his mouth, Ants in his eyes ...”. The variations between the two author’s use of poetic devices, and the contrast between the two initial poems is rather large. Though the two poem’s not only have differences, but also some similarities.
Though there may be many different poetic devices and contrasts through each of the poems, they do have some similarities, firstly, for example: the use of hyperbole. In Mary Gilmore’s poem “War”, the use of hyperbole can be seen in line thirteen, “... Was clods on the heart”, this line shouldn’t be taken seriously, seeing as there isn’t literal clumps of earth on the mothers heart. In Wilfred Owen’s poem, “The Next War” the hyperbole is seen throughout the whole poem. One example, “Out there, we’ve walked quite friendly up to Death; Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland”, should not be taken seriously. The soldiers did not literally walk up to death, and they certainly did not sit down and eat with him. Another similarity is that both poet’s have decided to use the device of rhyming. With Gilmore’s obvious rhyming throughout, and Owen’s less obvious rhyming schemes.
Owen’s use of personification, “Death... spat at us with bullets and he’s coughed shrapnel.” contrasts to Gilmore’s use of repetitiveness: “Out in the dust he lies; Flies in his mouth, Ants in his eyes ...”. The variations between the two author’s use of poetic devices, and the contrast between the two initial poems is rather large. Though the two poem’s not only have differences, but also some similarities.
Though there may be many different poetic devices and contrasts through each of the poems, they do have some similarities, firstly, for example: the use of hyperbole. In Mary Gilmore’s poem “War”, the use of hyperbole can be seen in line thirteen, “... Was clods on the heart”, this line shouldn’t be taken seriously, seeing as there isn’t literal clumps of earth on the mothers heart. In Wilfred Owen’s poem, “The Next War” the hyperbole is seen throughout the whole poem. One example, “Out there, we’ve walked quite friendly up to Death; Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland”, should not be taken seriously. The soldiers did not literally walk up to death, and they certainly did not sit down and eat with him. Another similarity is that both poet’s have decided to use the device of rhyming. With Gilmore’s obvious rhyming throughout, and Owen’s less obvious rhyming schemes.