War in The Soldier and Exposure Essay

Compare and Contrast The Soldier by Rupert Brooke and Exposure by Wilfred Owen. Discuss the differing interpretations of war offered.

The language used in The Soldier by Rupert Brooke and Exposure by Wilfred Owen is vastly different from each other, even though both poets are talking about the same time, and events. Both The Soldier and Exposure give very different views on the war itself. Although each of the poems are detail accounts of the war, they both hold a deeper meaning to the words written on the pages. In Exposure Owen sets out to show the reader what the conditions were like in the First World War, whereas in The Soldier Brooke sets out to show the war as a very honourable and noble thing to become a part of.

As both poets have very different views on the war, in fact, almost opposite views, each poet uses different types of diction, figurative language, imagery, sounds, and tones to achieve his purpose. In The Soldier Brooke uses both fluid and long, yet well-linked sentences for his poem, thus giving the reader a soothing effect, for example, he only has three sentences over fourteen lines, and he uses a sentence such as, And think, this heart, all evil shed away, a pulse in the eternal mind, no less gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. This sentence, although very long, is very detailed and flows well, due to the soft words he uses throughout the poem. Whereas in Exposure Owen used short, blunt sentences, that do not flow when reading, such as Worried by silence, sentries whisper, curious, nervous, But nothing happens. These short sentences show the reader the sharpness of the surroundings and the intensive atmosphere. Also, these rapid rolling adjectives are used to portray a feeling not only of suspense, but also a blunt way of creating a sense of anticlimax.

In The Solider Brooke makes the war seem glorified and heroic, the line That there's some corner of a foreign field, that is forever England. Owen explains to the reader that although there will be a field somewhere, in a foreign land, it will be forever England, this short sentence is very blunt in the way it talks about some land being forever England, it gets straight to the point that the war, and Englands part in it will never be forgotten. This makes, to the reader, the war sound gallant and noble. Whereas in Exposure Owen there is a very subtle reference to death the innocent mice rejoice; the house is theirs. It was a common fact that the soldiers had to share their beds in the trenches with mice and rats. This short sentence brings home the reality of fighting in the war and is a great contrast the picture portrayed in Brookes The Soldier.

The theme of the last stanza in Exposure is the influence of God on the battlefield For God's invincible spring our love is made afraid. Throughout the poem, Owen is heavily accentuating the message love of God seems dying. It would seem the ultimate comment to say that the battlefield extinguishes the very belief in God. Whereas, in The Soldier there are no references towards God and him not looking over those at battle, this could perhaps show the reader that God was not needed at this time, that the soldiers Brooke is talking about did not need any God for support and felt they could fight, and win, this battle with their own power and control. The last line of this poem In hearts at peace, under an English heaven shows possibly, the ignorance that Brooke took towards the war, and that his views were that the soldiers were happy fighting for their country and dying under English heaven.

My view of both The Soldier by Rupert Brooke and Exposure by Wilfred Owen are that they both come across as having very different views towards what happened and was happening during the early stages of World War One, and that perhaps Brookes view were a little more ignorant than Owens. Clearly, Brooke took a more heroic approach to what was happening at the time, whereas Owen took a more depressing approach and obviously wanted the reader to get a feel for what was really going on, and how the soldiers actually felt on the battlefield and in the trenches.