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comparitive analysis between the deserter and the hero.

Similarities.

• Although the two titles seem to differ, with one being a hero and one being a deserter really they are about the same circumstances. Both men in the poems were trying to escape the war. 
• The mothers of the men are both misinformed and think their sons are hero's that died for their country.
• The hero uses enjambement and so does the deserter.

Differences.

•        The rhyming pattern in the hero is AA,BB,CC and in the deserter the rhyming pattern is A,B,C,B.
  
• The soldier in the deserter was killed by his own country and the hero was killed by an opposing country.

Comments about the poems-

When in the Deserter the line ' an english bullet in his heart'  is repeated twice it adds emphasis and impact on the way the line makes you think. It adds a slight shock to the reader and maybe makes you feel guilty. It also shows that the war had no mercy , no life was spared and no mistake would be taken lightly.

Alice Collett,  Cleophie Alexander, Eleanor Izzard and Leanne Knights.blog party!

Comparison of Recruiting and The Target!!!!

1. Recruiting is showing the public the truth behind the propaganda "Lads, you're wanted, go and help." The Target is very blunt and shows what can really happen on the front line.
2. Both poems use guilt to emphasize their message.
3. Both use caesuras and enjambments.
4. In recruiting the second and fourth lines rhyme in every verse (ABCB) whereas the Target uses rhyming couplets.
5. Recruiting is very literal and doesn't describe much emotion, however, the Target uses a lot of imagery and is visceral.
6. Both tell that the soldiers will die no matter what happens. In the target the poet writes as a soldier who has just killed another man but did not have any choice because he did it to save himself.
7. Both have a mixed number of syllables per verse, this shows that the poet hasn't focused on this.
8. Recruiting is probably written about the poet's own experiences as he was an officer in WW1. Ivor Gurney was also a soldier in WW1 but a lesser one than E.A. Mackintosh and so is showing his own experiences and what he probably had to do.
9. Ivor Gurney writes about the people left at home and all their worries about their relatives on the front line. E.A. Mackintosh however tells them to forget their other life and to learn to "Live and die with honest men."
10. Both poems have four lines in each of their stanzas, which is the typical length for a poem.

Alexia, Katie, Laurie and Felicity.

Comparison of two poems by Wilfred Owen

This is a picture of Wilfred Owen, the poet. This picture demonstrates that he served in the war and died during service.
We are going to compare two poems by Wilfred Owen. One is from the book; The Send Off and the other we found on the internet; Disabled.

This is Disabled

He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
Voices of play and pleasure after day,
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay
When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees,
And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim, -
In the old times, before he threw away his knees.
Now he will never feel again how slim
Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands;
All of them touch him like some queer disease.

There was an artist silly for his face,
For it was younger than his youth, last year.
Now, he is old; his back will never brace;
He's lost his colour very far from here,
Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry,
And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race
And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.

One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg,
After the matches, carried shoulder-high.
It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg,
He thought he'd better join. - He wonders why.
Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts,
That's why; and may be, too, to please his Meg;
Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts
He asked to join. He didn't have to beg;
Smiling they wrote his lie; aged nineteen years.
Germans he scarcely thought of; all their guilt,
And Austria's, did not move him. And no fears
Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts
For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;
And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;
Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.
And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.

Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.
Only a solemn man who brought him fruits
Thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.

Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes,
And do what things the rules consider wise,
And take whatever pity they may dole.
To-night he noticed how the women's eyes
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.
How cold and late it is! Why don't they come
And put him into bed? Why don't they come?

This poem is about someone who has come home from the war and who is now disabled. It could be considered a sequel to The Send-Off because The Send-Off is about someone going into war, and Disabled is about someone coming back. Disabled may be referring to the people he saw around him when he was on sick leave from the war and The Send-Off may be referring to him going to the war.

In Disabled, Owen turns fear into a proper noun; "And no fears Of Fear came yet." This sentence means that the man in the poem didn't fear Fear yet. The use of personification turns fear into a concrete noun making it into someone and making it scarier. When it is a proper noun it seems to be more important, and as it is usually not capitalized the slight change is very noticeable and it makes you feel that you can't escape it. However, Owen does not use personification in The Send-Off and this shows how he can use different techniques for different effects and doesn't always have to fill his poems with every technique, but can use just a few and make them powerful.

When you read both poems you feel empathy for the people in it, but we think that we feel more empathy for the character in Disabled because of what he's gone through; "Legless, sewn short at elbow." This verse is very to the point and makes you realise what's happened. In The Send-Off you feel empathy for the women and children who are losing their loved ones because they are going to war. You also know that most of them won't come back so you feel for them more. When you read it you have the benefit of hindsight and you know what is going to happen to them when their loved ones don't come back.

The last stanza of The Send Off is contrasting to the previous stanza. While before it made it seem as though when the soldiers arrived home they would get a heroes welcome, the last paragraph contradicts this point. "May creep back, silent, to village wells, Up half-known roads" This shows the darker side, the real side of what happens when they eventually return home. The word half-known suggests that even though they may have spent most of their lives living there, the war had had made even the most important and memorable things in life seem distant and foreign.

from Ed Parry, Lucy Oliva, Georgie Bray and Ashley Layer group 3

Comparison of "The Hero" and "Spring in War - Time" ;)

For "The Hero" there are 10 syllables per line, however on line 7 it could be argued that it has 11 syllables as it depends on how you say it. This poem uses rhyming couplets apart from the 1st four lines of the second verse, which uses alternate rhyme - this shows a very clear middle section. This poem uses a lot of enjambement, practically every line is continued into the next. Due to this caesura is used to show the ending of each particular line.

The poem is seen from two perspectives, the worried mother who receives the news of her sons death and the Officer who delivers the telegram and also has to break the news to her. The poem is not necesssarily reccounted from her point of view, quite a lot of the poem is talking about her emotions, so her point of view is a big factor in the poem. It is quite a detailed, narrative poem and it uses speech etc which shows it in more of a story form. As this poem is very explanitary and detailed it lacks technicality.

eg: there are hardly any metaphors, similies or personification in the poem.

Abi Sears, Kate Millington, Tash Black, Hollie Rathbone and Katie Saddler (':

Comparative analysis of joining the colours and the send-off.

1.  Joining the colours uses an AB AB structure, and the send-off uses an ABA AB structure. These rhyming schemes make the poems flow.

2. Joining the Colours has 4 stanzas of 4 lines, with the 4th of each using only 3 words. The Send-Off has 8 stanzas of 3, and then 2 lines. 

3. both of these poems are about men going off to fight the war. Joining the colours is more about what these people will miss, and The Send-off is more about the soldiers getting on the train to France, to their deaths. 

4. the  author of Joining The Colours is Female, and The Send-off is written by Wilfred Owen, a soldier fighting in the war.

5. Both of the poems use enjamberment. An example from The Send Off is "They sang there way To thee siding shed."An example from Joining The Colours " row on row On high tram tops"

By using enjamberment the poets allows the poem to flow as you read it, it carries on the thought from the previous line. 

Dan, Nathan, Henry 

Comparison between Spring in War-Time and The Deserter

1. The most clear difference between these two poems is that The Deserter is written as one exceedingly long stanza, however Spring in War-Time is divided into four short stanza's.

2. Both poems have a rhyming pattern. Spring in War-Time uses alternate rhyming consistently throughout the poem but The Deserter has a less obvious rhyming structure, though there is still evidence of a pattern within.

3. One of the most obvious techniques used in The Deserter is repitition, used very regularly, though Spring in War-Time doe not use this approach, Nesbit uses ellipsis, which The Deserter lacks.

EVELYN, ALIX, Nor and Rachel

Comparison of The Hero and Reported Missing

• Reported missing's rhyming scheme is abbaaccadeedaa where as the Hero's rhyming scheme is aabbccdedeffgghhii which makes the hero sound more lyrical like a song unlike reported missing which sounds less like a song so each line has more impact as there's more description to absorb.
• Both poems show a character trying to look at the brighter side of their situation although in reported missing the character is in denial and doesn't want to accept the harsh realities of war.
• The hero contains speech which makes the poem more personal and emotional for the reader as its more real and portrays a empathic story.

Izzie bex tash and jenny

The Hero and Spring in War Time

Comparative analysis of The Hero and Spring in Wartime.

1. In the Hero the majority of the poem's lines have 10 syllables each but the poet hasn't emphasised it as a key feature so some have 11. However in Spring in War Time the poet has made sure that every line has seven syllables apart from the last, which has three, giving a very clear ending to the poem.

2.  In the Hero, the poet uses rhyming couplets throughout the poem apart from the first 4 lines of the second verse which are alternate rhyming and gives a very clear middle section but in Spring in War Time the poet uses alternate rhyming throughout. This makes it feel more traditional as the poem has the standard stanza length and rhyming.

3. The Hero uses many enjambments to make the poem have the feel as if it is being spoken aloud. This makes the poem flow as it doesn't stop and start at the end of each line. However Spring in War Time doesn't focus too much on technicality and therefore has a much more simpler look and sound.

4. Both of these poems are about grieving women but the Hero is about a mother who has lost her son and Spring in War Time is about a grieving widow.

5. Spring in War Time concentrates on nature and the poet's surroundings. it has a positive approach with flowers growing over graves and that everything will continue although he is dead, whereas the Hero has a negative approach and in the last stanza he talks about that no cares that he is dead apart from his mother as he was a cowardly soldier and didn't want to go to fight.

6. Spring in War Time is a very figurative poem and the Hero is more literal.

Alexia, Felicity,Laurie and Katie.

Our Follower

Having read Dean Echenberg; our follower's website, we would like to recommend it to you because it gives an in-depth list of many war poems. If you do some creative writing over the half-term, you may want to look at his website and pick some more war poems for your writing.

www.echenberg.org/warpoetry

From Ed Parry, Lucy Oliva, Georgie Bray and Ashley Layer - group 3 :)

Comparison of 'Spring in War Time' and 'The Target'

Similarities

- They both create a very clear image in your mind of the experiences that are being described and both are very descriptive.

- In both poems the poet uses enjambement. This technique sustains the mood of the poem throughout and makes the feelings of the person the poem is written from, clear.

- Throughout both poems, there is a clear contrast in feelings. In 'Spring in War Time', at the end of every stanza the mood changes, as the last line always contradicts the rest of each stanza, and in 'The Target', there is a very clear contrast between feelings of the man who is at war and the feelings of the soldiers family, and the consequences they will have to face since their son has been killed. There is a very clear feeling of guilt.

- Both poems give across a very clear sense of emotion, and the writer puts across the feelings so that they appear to be genuine. This draws the reader in and makes you feel sorry for the sufferer. These poems may come as some comfort to both grievers and people who have experienced war.

Differences

- The rhyming patterns in both poems are very different. 'Spring in War Time' has an ABAB rhyming pattern, and we feel that this keeps the poem flowing and keeps the reader prepared for what's coming next. 'The Target' uses rhyming couplets which yet again, sustains the readers interest and keeps the poem flowing.

- Both poems are written from different viewpoints. 'The Target' is written from the viewpoint of someone who has experienced war, and the horrors it brings; 'Spring in War Time' is written from the viewpoint of someone who is grieving and the horrors that the death of close ones brings.

- In 'The Target', the poet uses particular words which makes you think more broadly about things and imagine them more clearly. 'Spring in War Time' has a very positive feel about it most of the time and makes you feel some comfort for what has happened to the person because they appear to be handling it well.

SIAN and TORI

Comparisons between 'The Hero' and 'In flander Fields'

Here are some comparisons between 'The Hero' and 'In flander
Fields':

• They are both written in the same time period.
• Both Poems are writen in 3 stanzas.
• The Hero is written in couplets and In Flander's Fields is written in the
  scheme 'AABBA, AABC, AABBAC.
• Both poems use enjamberment to great effect.
• The Hero doesn't have a distinct rhythm. In Flanders Fields has a sort of rhythm.
• Both poems are about death. The Hero is about the death of someone whilst In Flander's Fields is written as if by one of the many dead.
• In Flanders Fields uses repation and this coupled with the last stanza makes the poem sound rather erie.
• The Hero starts as if 'Jack' was a hero and had died fighting the enemy. We find out later that he actually died trying to escape. This gives the poem a rather dark ending.
• In Flanders Fields there is a slight use of archaic language (Ye).
• In Flanders Fields uses semicolons to move the peom on whilst The Hero uses comas only.

By Nathan, Dan and Henry

Comparison of Recruiting and Spring Offensive

I am going to write 4 points comparing Recruiting by E. A. Mackintosh and Spring Offensive by Wilfred Owen

1. Meaning - Recruiting shows the real truth behind recruitment posters and how they lie, and Spring Offensive is about war in spring-time and how soldiers spend all this time getting ready to fight, just to go and die. In a way, Recruiting shows what life is going to be once you've signed up through these recruitment poster to go to war, and Spring Offensive proves it and describes it in more detail.
2. Both poems don't have a point of view from someone in the poem, but it is from the poet, telling us the poem, not the poet writing about someone telling us the poem.
3. Recruiting emphasises on the meaning of the poem and the truth behind the recruitment posters, Spring Offensive emphasises on the effect on the reader and hits you at then end because you read about how they are all getting ready, and then what leaves you with the biggest impact and what makes you remember the poem is how they all die at the end.
4. Recruiting has a regular rhyming pattern; ABCB whereas Spring Offensive has a very irregular rhyming pattern. In Spring Offensive each stanza is of a different length and has a different rhyme scheme, in Recruiting, each stanza is of the same length and has the same rhyme scheme.

From Ed Parry

Comparitve points on 'Recruiting' and 'The Send Off'.

Our group made 10 comparitive points on 'Recruiting' and 'The Send Off'.

1. 'Recruiting' has a rhyming scheme of ABCB whilst 'The Send off' has ABA and Ab rhyming schemes.

2. 'Recruiting has a set rhyme scheme whilst 'The send off' is just sentances.

3. They both focus on the dark side of war.

4. Both poets died in the war, so probably shared similar experiances.

5. Both poems have enjambement and caesural pauses.

6. 'Recruitment' has a much more defined rhythm, whilst 'The send off' has different punctuation at the end of each line which gives a different rhythm.

7. 'Recruitment' is much more literal.

8. Both poems get more sinister as you go through.

9. Both poems are done as though reflecting on the war.

10. Both poems are about going into the war, not about the actual fighting.

By Tash Beaumont, Georgie Bray, Ashley Layer and Lucy Oliva.

eleanor and jenny

joining the colours and the target comparison

Joining the colours is written in third person where as the target is written in first. This makes the target feel more personal but joining the colours gives a more overall look at the war.
Both poems seem to tell a story if you put them together. joining the colours is about how the soldiers who are soon to be fighting are 'smooth cheeked' as if to say they healthy and ready for what they don't think wont be as horrific as it turns out. The target show the truth about war so you can see what the soldier experiences when he's there, and how he tries to justify it in his mind.
Both poems were probably written around the same time if you look at the birth dates of the writers. this could mean that any similarities in what has been written are true.
The target has rhyming couplets but joining the colours has a ABAB rhyming scheme. A s a result the target flows differenty so each line links to the last so the poem gradually builds a picture in your mind making each line more memorable. The rhyming scheme for joining the colours has a harsher impact because the lines seem to stop dead as you read them which is quite effective.

Comparison of The Hero and Spring in War Time

1-3 is group work the rest is mine

1. In The Hero there are 10 syllables in each line but the poet hasnt concentrated on keeping the same number the whole way through as there are 11 in some. however in Spring in War Time there are 7 syllables in each line apart from the last, which has 3. this gives a clear ending to the poem as if it was read out to you, you would know where it finished.
2. The Hero uses rhyming couplets apaert from the middle which uses alternate rhyming. This gives a very clear middle section to the poem. Spring inWar Time uses alternate rhyming all the way through.
3. The Hero has many enjambements and creates a feeling as if the poem is being spoken aloud. Spring in War Time doesn't focus on technicallity that much and looks and sounds and you would expect a poem to.
4.The Hero is about a greving mother being told for the first time that her son is dead. she is told he died a hero when really he was a coward and was selfish as well. Spring in War Time is similar to this as it is also about a dead soldier but this time by a greving wife/fiancee/sweetheart. she hasnt been told any lies, or so it seems in the poem, and she is telling the world that nothing will be the same without her man.
5.Nesbit has published her poem to immortalise her dead love and as a tribute to him. Sassoon, however, has published his to show the public that what they are told might not be the truth and that 'brave' men aren't always brave in the light of battle.
6.The Hero is written in 3 stanzas, each 6 lines ong. Spring in War Time is also written in stanzas, this time 4, each 4 lines long. they both give a sense of regularity and this makes it comforting to the reader, to have something familiar in front of them.

1-3:Abi, Kate, Laurie and Alexia
4-6: Alexia

Comparison of "The Bohemians" and "Lamentations"

We have compared The Bohemains by Ivor Gurney and Lamentations by Siegfried Sassoon.

SIMILARITES:

1. Both of the poems have only one stanza
2. Neither of them have a specific rhyming pattern
3. They both use the technique of enjambement

DIFFERENCES:

1. In The Bohemians, the mood of the poem is rebellious, lazy and also sympathetic, whereas in Lamentations it is a poem with the mood of sad, slightly disturbing, grief-stricken and distress.
2. Although both of the poems rough outline of the story is about war, they are to do with completely different stubjects within war. The Bohemians is about "certain people" who were rebelling against the uniform which soldiers had to wear. They "would not clean their buttons" and "preferred their hair long." The reason for them doing this was beause they assumed they would die in war and therefore didn't think it would be neseccary for them to dress apropriately.Whereas Lamentations is about a guy who's brother had "gone west" which could mean the brother had literally gone west or that he had died, as later it says "his ramant grief."
3. The symbolism in The Bohemians is of independance, uniqueness and being virtuous. Whereas the symbolism of Lamentations is of how war drives some people mad.
4. In both of the poems they use different techniques, but neither of them use the same ones: a simile is used in The Bohemians: "sped like evil for quicknes." And peronification is used in Lamentations: "from the blind darkness."

By Rachel, Evelyn, Izzie and Alix :)

Comparative Analysis of 'Flanders Fields' and 'Spring in War Time'

Similarities

• Both appreciate everyday life
• Both discuss nature and wildlife [poppies, sunsets, battlefields, etc]
• Both are centered on a person/ people who have been killed
• Both talk about flowers growing over the place of death, but one talks about poppies and the other about violets
• Both refer to the past: in 'Flanders Fields' lines 7 to 8, and in 'Spring In War Time' lines 2 to 4
• Both sound as though they are speaking to someone or the poem is directed at somebody

Differences

• Stanza length
• Rhyming pattern - one is alternate, whereas the majority of the other is rhyming couplets
• At the end of each poem the last stanzas have different moods: 'Flanders Fields' is almost threatening and angry, 'Spring In War Time' accpets the loss but is going through the process of grief
• In 'Flanders Fields' - the author has personified death to add emphasis to the negative emotions felt towards it
• In 'Flanders Fields' they continuously repeat the title of the poem although 'Spring In War Time' doesn't even mention the title of the poem once

By Natasha Black, Katie Rees, Holly Rathbone and Felicity Lawrie

Comparison of Spring In War Time and Lamentations

- The spring in war time refers to a woman who has lost her love (probably husband), where as Lamentations refers to a man who has lost his brother and feeling of love for his country.
-Lamentations has irregular rhyming, where as Spring in war time has an ABAB structure.
-Both refer to the loss of a loved one, although Lamentations is viewing the person grieveing, and Spring in war time is written from the point of view of the person grieving.
-The poem Lamentations uses 'blind darkness' to show death in a more brutal mood where as Spring in war time uses 'sprinkled blackhorn snow' which gives the poem a lighter tone.
-Spring in war time is very descrpitive of the setting where as Lamentations focuses on the description of the man grieving.
-spring in war time uses enjambment 'heart to sing.....of its nest' Lamentations also uses enjambment but not to perfect the rhyming pattern, but to variate the lines
-Lamentations uses the rule of three 'moaned, shouted, sobbed' for effect on the reader. Spring in war time does not use this.
-Spring in war time uses personification saying 'every bird has heart to sing' whereas Lamentations does not use this because its talking about a person already.

by BLOG PARTY
ellie, leanne, cleophie, alice

The Hero and In Flanders Fields

SIMILARITIES

• In their structures the poems are very similar as they each contain three seperate verses
• They both include enjambement, which I feel makes you want to carry on reading
• The mood in both poems is quite proud and determined even though they are both based on death
• In both poem the writter makes you feel sad for them because in The Hero they have lost a loved one and in Flanders Fields they have lost their lives
• They both talk in the past tense but as if it has happened very recently

DIFFERENCES

• The Hero is a story about lies and In Flanders Fields is about the truth
• The Hero is straight forward and follows a story where as In Flanders Fields you have to read between the lines of the poem to realise the poppies symbolise the dead soldiers
• The Hero is based on the tale of one person, where as In Flanders Fields it looks at a large population
• The Hero has a rhyming scheme of mainly ryhming couplets and In Flanders Fields it has a random rhyming pattern
• I think that In Flanders Fields is quite lyrical, because it uses repition, rather than the more strutured story that is in the poem of The Hero

Eleanor Izzie Alix Jennifer

My comparison of 'the send-off' and 'the falling leaves' by bex hill.

We are comparing 'the send-off' and 'the falling leaves'.

From 1- 3 is group work and from 4-9 is my comparison of the poems.

1. The send off has an unusual rhyming pattern (ABAA). it makes it seem jerky and symbolises a train.

The falling leaves has a simple rhyming pattern (ABCABC DEFDEF). In the ABC section the lining is short then long then short but in the DEF section the lines are pretty much the same length. It gives emphasis to the short lines at beginning.

2. The send-off has 4 3-line stanzas and 4 2-line stanzas. The poem goes 3-line stanza, 2-line stanza etc. There is 20 lines in the poem. It gives a nice effect to the poem with the different lengths of stanzas.

The falling leaves just has one long stanza of 12 lines.

3. In the send-off the mood is reflected in the title. It makes the poem seem sad and like a farewell which is what it is. It also explains what is going on in the poem as the soldiers are being sent off.

The falling leaves title explains what the poem is about and is simple and gives a good overview of what is going on.

4. The send off has one simile: 'like wrongs hushed up' but the poem is mostly just description of the setting.

The falling leaves has quite a few similes and one is used to end the poem.

for example, 'They fell like snowflakes wiping out the noon' and 'like snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.' 'They fell like snowflakes' is repeated in both of the similes and is quite effective as it gives an idea of what the falling leaves were like.

5. Enjambements are used in both poems and give emphasis to the second line. An example of an enjambement in the send-off:

'and a casual tramp

Stood staring hard.'

This enjambement emphasizes 'Stood staring hard' and makes it seem really important.

An example of an enjambement in the falling leaves is,

'But thickly, silently,

They fell'

I think this really emphasizes 'they fell'. This makes the words seem more important and like you need to read them and remember them.

6. The send-off is about men going to war and about the women watching them go. It gives the impression that not many men come back after the war which is sad.

The falling leaves is about 'leaves falling from the tree' which I think symbolizes soldiers dying in the war. I think it shows how the soldiers are quickly falling and they are compared to many other things such as snowflakes falling. The poet is saying that she saw leaves falling and then i think she was just comparing it to many other things and it was symbolizing soldiers dying.

7. There is no caesura in either poem. These give a emphasis on the line where the enjambement finishes. The enjambements in both of these poems either fill the whole line or end in a comma. Sometimes the enjambement doesn't need a caesura as the effects on both of them are ok and emphasize the words.

8. The poems are both written about the same time. The send-off is written by a man and could be reflecting his own and his own families experiences. The falling leaves is written by a woman and is more subtle at the way it is talking about the war, if it is.

9. The ending of the poems are different. The send-off ends with a sad line,

'may creep back, silent, to village wells

Up half-known roads.'

This makes a good end as it makes it sound sad and summarizes the sadness of the war and what the poem is about and all the other emotions expressed in the poem.

Whereas the falling leaves ending is quite beautiful in the way it is expressed,

'But in their beauty strewed

Like snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.'

This quite beautiful and makes it sound lovely and finished the poem nicely. It could be interpreted in different ways; you could think that it meant something about the soldiers dying and that it is like snowflakes falling but also, it could be interpreted in some other ways.

10. Both poems use repetition but in different ways.

The Send of uses repetition by repeating something three times when it talks o how 'few' soldiers return; 'So few, so few, too few'. This puts a lot of empathis on this sad line.

In Falling Leaves the writer repeats using a simile about snowflakes which makes the reader really think about the comparison of snowflakes being like leaves and what it implies.

Comparison of 'Perhaps' and 'Reported Missing' by Natasha Black, Katie Rees &+ Katie Sadlerrr 10B

There are many differences between these two poems, here are a few examples:

1. In 'Perhaps' she has accepted that her lover will never return - whereas in 'Reported Missing' she is being slightly stubborn and refuses to accept his death.
2. In 'Perhaps' the mood is conflicted between bravery and sadness although in the other poem the mood is just sad.
3. 'Perhaps' has quite a lot of repetition compared to 'Reported Missing' which has almost none.
4. The structure is very different between the two: in 'Perhaps' there are 5 verses with 4 lines and the other is just one large stanza.
5. The rhyming patterns are also very different. In 'Perhaps' it's very simple - just alternate rhymes on each line e.g. again, blue, vain, you (end words of each line in the first verse). In reported missing its an ABBA pattern e.e dead, place, face, stead.
6. In 'Reported Missing' there are 10 syllables in each line, in 'Perhaps' it goes 10, 10, 10, 6. I think that 'Perhaps' reads better because of this.
7. In 'Perhaps' the last verse contradicts all of the other verses so far. In the others she says how she is try to move on and in the last verse she says how there will always be a part of him that still loves him. There is nothing like this in 'Reported Missing', only it ends on the word dead which is quite dramatic.
8. The last line in 'Perhaps' also breaks a rule/ pattern that has been going on in the rest of the poem, again there is nothing like this in the other poem.
9. 'Perhaps' also includes a case of emjambement and a caesura, and this makes the poem seem more interesting. There is nothing like this in 'Reported Missing'.
10. Vera was 21-25 during the war, compared to Anna who was 15-19, beacause of this i think Vera has an older perception of the war.

Comparison of The Target and Lamentations

Comparison of The Target and Lamentations by Nathan Giles - Donovan and Dan Atlee

1. Lamentations has 1 stanza and The Target has 5 stanzas.
2. Both have powerful openings e.g: 'I found him' and 'I shot him'. Both these opening use active verbs which give the statement s bold power. they put a vivid image in to your mind.
3. Both poems use enjambement to create a complex pattern as the rhyme is there but the idea is carried on. it also makes you focus more on what is being said.
4. Both poems are about people being killed but are different points of view. The Target is from the point of view of the 'Killer' and Lamentations is from the point of view of someone witnessing someone's grief of losing their brother.
5. The Target has an AABB ryhme scheme (Ryhming Couplets) and Lametations has an ABAB scheme.
6. Lamentations uses personification eg: 'the blind darkness' and 'the bleeding war'. The Targert doesn't use personification but does use an elipsis for great effect: 'Prehaps he was the only son...'
   
7. The Target is more up beat and sing song as it is written in Iambic Tretameter. Lamentations ont he other hand is slower and more merose.
8. Lamentations uses a euphemism for death ('gone west') whereas The target just says 'die' very plainly.
9. Both poems are about someone who is confused either the writer as in The Target, Ivor Gurney himself was rather disturbed and spend the last few years of his life in an aslymum, or the man the poem is written about like in Lamentations.
10. Lamentations has alot of physical description about he man who's recieved the bad news. The Target has more description about feelings.
    

Comparison of The Hero and The Seed-Merchant's Son

I am going to compare The Hero by Siegfried Sassoon and The Seed-Merchant's Son by Agnes Grozier Herbertson.

1. Meaning - The Hero is about the woman's grief and how she's been lied to. The Seed-Merchant's Son is about the man's grief and how he realises how precious life is. Both poems have a definite story line but I think that The Seed-Merchant's Son has a more interesting story line because it has more elements to it with how he realises how precious life is.
2. Each poem is in a different tense, with The Hero in the present, and the The Seed-Merchant's Son is mainly in the past.
3. The Hero emphasises on how she's been lied to where as The Seed-Merchant's Son emphasises more on how his son used to be and in the end, the moral.
4. Craftsmanship - Both poems have a rhyme scheme, but both are very different. The Hero has two; rhyming couplets and alternate, and The Seed-Merchant's Son just has rhyming couplets. Using two different rhyme schemes in The Hero makes it seem more complicated, so it has a more serious mood and you focus more on the meaning, than the craftsmanship. With The Seed-Merchant's Son, the rhyming is simple and slightly childish but this just adds to emphasis on how young he was when he died.
5. Neither poems have a very simple rhythm, but The Hero does have a more complicated rhythm and this again makes the poem more serious, whereas with The Seed-Merchant's Son, the simpler rhythm emphasise again on how young he was. Herbertson has not made the rhythm really simple though because then it would like a limerick and would detract from the meaning.
6. In The Seed-Merchant's Son the writer uses symbolism when he describes the seeds; he represents them as new life. This shows us the moral. In The Hero, Sassoon doesn't use symbolism, but I don't think it needs any.
7. In The Hero, the writer uses one metaphor; "cold-footed useless swine," This metaphor in context emphasises the lie that the woman is being told and adds to the seriousness and effect of the poem. In The Seed-Merchant's Son Herbertson doesn't use metaphors but I think if he did it wouldn't add anything, just take away from the simple feel and the emphasis on the age of his death.
8. Both poems use enjambment and ceasural pauses.
9. Effect - You feel empathy in both poems: In The Hero, you feel very sympathetic for the woman because you realise that she is being lied to and that many others like her might have been lied to as well. In The Seed-Merchant's Son you feel sympathy for the Seed-Merchant because he is now all alone and his son was the only thing that was keeping him young.
10. The Seed-Merchant's Son has moral whereas The Hero doesn't. The moral in The Seed-Merchant's Son is that you don't appreciate what you have or life until it's gone.

From Ed Parry

Background information on Agnes Grozier Herbertson

A little bit of background information on Agnes Grozier Herbertson, poet of 'The Seed-Merchant's Son':

• She was pivately educated at Oslo, in Norway, the city of her birth, where she became a novelist, short story writer and journalist.


• After her marriage, she moved to England and lived in Liskeard, in Cornwall.


• She also wrote poems, 'The Seed-Merchant's Son was writen in 1916.

Suggested poetry analysis terminology

Symbolism	The use of an object to represent an idea
Cynicism	Expressing pessimistic attitudes; assuming the worst of things
Alliteration	The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words
Connotation	The related meanings or associations of words
Ambiguous	Having double or multiple meanings
Personification	The assigning of human qualities to nonhuman things
Rhythm	The beat or pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
Lyric	Poems with a song-like quality. Poet expresses his personal reaction to things
Narrative	Poems that tell a story
Assonance	The repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables
Tone	The writer's attitude towards his/her topic
Simile	A figure of speech that compares two unlike things, using the words like or as
Naïvity	Taking a simple approach; often optimistic and over-simple
Onomatopoeia	The use of words to indicate sounds
Pathos	Creating a sense of pity in the reader
Enjambement	Ending a line of poetry without a punctuation mark, in the middle of a phrase or clause
End-stopped	Ending a line of poetry on a punctuation mark at the end of a phrase or clause
Mood	The overall feeling a poem awakens in the reader
Metaphor	A figure of speech that compares two unlike things directly, without the use of an intervening word

Here is the picture again. Fliss and Alexia

This is a picture of Wilfred Owen, the author of 'The parable of the Old Man and the Young.' he was also a solider and was heavily influenced by his friend Siegfried Sassoon. He died, in action at 'The battle of the Sambre', at the end of World war 1 in 1918 on the 4th of November just a week before the war ended.

Here is a picture of the poet  Katherine Tynan Hinkson. The author of Joining the Colours.

 

Siegfried Sassoon

Henry, Nathan, Dan

Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit Hubert Bland

Edith Nesbit, author of the poem 'Spring In War-time' was born on August 19 1858 and raised by her mother since her father died when she was six years old. She was also a very popular author, some titles you will probably recognise (even if it is only from the film version!) her novels include The Story of the Treasure Seekers, The Railway Children, The Enchanted Castle, The Wouldbegoods, Five children and it and The Phoenix and the Carpet.

The poem is dedicated to her husband, Hubert Bland who she married on April 22 1880 and their child was born 2 months later. Hubert died in 1914 of a heart attack. The couple had three children of their own, however due to it being an 'open marriage' when they married Hubert continued an affair with Alice Hoatson, they produced two children who Edith raised as her own. I think this is quite interesting and unusual.

3 years after Huberts death Edith remarried to a engineer named Thomas Tucker and she died on May 1924 of lung cancer, probably due to heavy smoking.

By Kate :)

Ivor Gurney

Born at 3 Queen Street, Gloucester in 1890.He enlisted as a private soldier in the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was wounded in April 1917 and gassed in September the same year. After his release from hospital he was posted to Seaton Delaval, a mining village in Northumberland, where he wrote poems including 'Lying awake in the ward'. His first volume of poetry, Severn and Somme, was published in November 1917, followed by War's Embers in 1919.

Henry Wooles, Dan Atlee, Nathan Giles-Donovan.

Background information on the poet of 'Reported Missing'

Anna Gordon Keown (1899 - 1957) was an English author and poet.

She married writer and physician Dr Philip Gosse (1879-1959), son of the esteemed Edmund Gosse. Her husband presented a large collection of literature to the University of Leeds in her memory when she died. This is known as the Keown Collection.

She had many pieces of work in the collection, one of the most famous is her book The Cat who saw God published in 1932, a comic drama about a cat who is possessed by the Roman Emperor Nero who decides to settle down with an old English spinster. In November the 14th,1932, 'TIME' listed it as one of their "Books of the Week", noting it as "amusing in the English manner."

She wrote 'Reported Missing' during her youth in word war one.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lamentations

I found him in the guard-room at the Base.
From the blind darkness I had heard his crying
And blundered in. With puzzled, patient face
A sergeant watched him; it was no good trying
To stop it; for he howled and beat his chest.
And, all because his brother had gone west,
Raved at the bleeding war; his rampant grief
Moaned, shouted, sobbed, and choked, while he was kneeling
Half-naked on the floor. In my belief
Such men have lost all patriotic feeling.

Recruiting

'Lads, you're wanted, go and help,'
On the railway carriage wall
Stuck the poster, and I thought
Of the hands that penned the call.

Fat civilians wishing they
'Could go and fight the Hun'.
Can't you see them thanking God
That they're over forty-one?

Girls with feathers, vulgar songs -
Washy verse on England's need -
God - and don't we damned well know
How the message ought to read.

'Lads, you're wanted! over there,
Shiver in the morning dew,
More poor devils like yourselves
Waiting to be killed by you.

Go and help to swell the names
In the casualty lists.
Help to make the column's stuff
For the blasted journalists.

Help to keep them nice and safe
From the wicked German foe.
Don't let him come over here!
Lads, you're wanted - out you go.'

There's a better word than that,
Lads, and can't you hear it come
From a million men that call
You to share their martyrdom?

Leave the harlots still to sing
Comic songs about the Hun,
Leave the fat old men to say
Now we've got them on the run.

Better twenty honest years
Than their dull three score and ten.
Lads, you're wanted. Come and learn
To live and die with honest men.

You shall learn what men can do
If you will but pay the price,
Learn the gaity and strength
In the gallant sacrifice.

Take your risk of life and death
Underneath the open sky.
Live clean or go out quick -
Lads, you're wanted. Come and die.

Joining the Colours

THERE they go marching all in step so gay!
Smooth-cheeked and golden, food for shells and guns.
Blithely they go as to a wedding day,
The mothers' sons.

The drab street stares to see them row on row
On the high tram-tops, singing like the lark.
Too careless-gay for courage, singing they go
Into the dark.

With tin whistles, mouth-organs, any noise,
They pipe the way to glory and the grave;
Foolish and young, the gay and golden boys
Love cannot save.

High heart! High courage! The poor girls they kissed
Run with them : they shall kiss no more, alas!
Out of the mist they stepped-into the mist
Singing they pass.

The Target

I shot him, and it had to be
One of us "Twas him or me.
'Couln't be helped' and none can blame
Me, for you would do the same

My mother, she cant sleep for fear
Of what might be a-happening here
To me. Perhaps it might be best
To die, and set her fears at rest

For worst is worst, and worry's done.
Perhaps he was the only son. . .
Yet God keeps still, and does not say
A word of guidance anyway.

Well, if they get me, first I'll find
That boy, and tell him all my mind,
And see who felt the bullet worst,
And ask his pardon,if I durst.

All's a tangle. Here's my job.
A man might rave, or shout, or sob;
And God He takes takes no sort of heed.
This is a bloody mess indeed.

The Bohemians

Certain people would not clean their buttons,
Nor polish buckles after latest fashions,
Preferred their hair long, putties comfortable,
Barely escaping hanging, indeed hardly able;
In Bridge and smoking without army cautions
Spending hours that sped like evil for quickness,
(While others burnished brasses, earned promotions)
These were those ones who jested in the trench,
While others argued of army ways, and wrenched
What little soul they had still further from shape,
And died off one by one, or became officers,
Without the first of dream, the ghost of notions
Of ever becoming soldiers, or smart and neat,
Surprised as ever to find the army capable
Of sounding 'Lights out' to break a game of Bridge,
As to fear candles would set a barn alight:
In Artois or Picardy they lie - free of useless fashions.

The Deserter

There was a man, - don't mind his name,
Whom Fear had dogged by night and day.
He could not face the German guns
And so he turned and ran away.
Just that - he turned and ran away,
But who can judge him, you or I ?
God makes a man of flesh and blood
Who yearns to live and not to die.
And this man when he feared to die
Was scared as any frightened child,
His knees were shaking under him,
His breath came fast, his eyes were wild.
I've seen a hare with eyes as wild,
With throbbing heart and sobbing breath.
But oh ! it shames one's soul to see
A man in abject fear of death,
But fear had gripped him, so had death;
His number had gone up that day,
They might not heed his frightened eyes,
They shot him when the dawn was grey.
Blindfolded, when the dawn was grey,
He stood there in a place apart,
The shots rang out and down he fell,
An English bullet in his heart.
An English bullet in his heart !
But here's the irony of life, -
His mother thinks he fought and fell
A hero, foremost in the strife.
So she goes proudly; to the strife
Her best, her hero son she gave.
O well for her she does not know
He lies in a deserter's grave.

The Hero

'Jack fell as he'd have wished,' the mother said,
And folded up the letter that she'd read.
'The Colonel writes so nicely.' Something broke
In the tired voice that quavered to a choke.
She half looked up. 'We mothers are so proud
Of our dead soldiers.' Then her face was bowed.

Quietly the Brother Officer went out.
He'd told the poor old dear some gallant lies
That she would nourish all her days, no doubt
For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes
Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy,
Because he'd been so brave, her glorious boy.

He thought how 'Jack', cold-footed, useless swine,
Had panicked down the trench that night the mine
Went up at Wicked Corner; how he'd tried
To get sent home, and how, at last, he died,
Blown to small bits. And no one seemed to care
Except that lonely woman with white hair.

The Seed-Merchant's Son

The Seed-Merchant has lost his son,
His dear, his loved, his only one.

So young he was, Even now it seems
He was a child with a child’s dreams.

He would race over the meadow-bed
With his bright, bright eyes and his cheeks all red.

Fair and healthy and long of limb;
It made one young just to look at him.

His school books, unto the cupboard thrust,
Have scarcely had time to gather dust.

Died in the war….And it seems his eyes
Must have looked at death with a child’s surprise.

The Seed-Merchant goes on his way:
I saw him out on his land today;

Old to have fathered so young a son,
And now the last glint of his youth is gone.

What could one say to him in his need?
Little there seemed to say indeed.

So still he was that the birds flew round
The grey of his head without a sound,

Careless and tranquil in the air,
As if naught human were standing there.

On, never a soul could understand
Why he looked at the earth, and the seed in his hand,

As he had never before seen seed or sod:
I heard him murmur: ‘Thank God, thank God!’

The Send-Off

Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way
To the siding-shed,
And lined the train with faces grimly gay.

Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
As men's are, dead.

Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp
Stood staring hard,
Sorry to miss them from the upland camp.
Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp
Winked to the guard.

So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.
They were not ours:
We never heard to which front these were sent.

Nor there if they yet mock what women meant
Who gave them flowers.

Shall they return to beatings of great bells
In wild trainloads?
A few, a few, too few for drums and yells,
May creep back, silent, to still village wells
Up half-known roads.

Spring Offensive

Halted against the shade of a last hill,
They fed, and lying easy, were at ease
And, finding comfortable chests and knees,
Carelessly slept. But many there stood still
To face the stark blank sky beyond the ridge,
Knowing their feet had come to the end of the world.

Marvelling they stood, and watched the long grass swirled
By the May breeze, murmurous with wasp and midge,
For though the summer oozed into their veins
Like an injected drug for their bodies' pains,
Sharp on their souls hung the imminent line of grass,
Fearfully flashed the sky's mysterious glass.

Hour after hour they ponder the warm field, -
And the far valley behind, where the buttercup
Had blessed with gold their slow boots coming up,
Where even the little brambles would not yield
But clutched and clung to them like sorrowing hands.
[ ] they breathe like trees unstirred.

Till like a cold gust thrills the little word
At which each body and its soul begird
And tighten them for battle. No alarms
Of bugles, no high flags, no clamorous haste, -
Only a lift and flare of eyes that faced
The sun, like a friend with whom their love is done.
O larger shone that smile against the sun, -
Mightier than his whose bounty these have spurned.

So, soon they topped the hill, and raced together
Over an open stretch of herb and heather
Exposed. And instantly the whole sky burned
With fury against them; earth set sudden cups
In thousands for their blood; and the green slope
Chasmed and steepened sheer to infinite space.

Of them who running on that last high place
Leapt to swift unseen bullets, or went up
On the hot blast and fury of hell's upsurge,
Or plunged and fell away past this world's verge,
Some say God caught them even before they fell.

But what say such as from existence' brink
Ventured but drave too swift to sink,
The few who rushed in the body to enter hell,
And there out-fiending all its fiends and flames
With superhuman inhumanities,
Long-famous glories, immemorial shames -
And crawling slowly back, have by degrees
Regained cool peaceful air in wonder -
Why speak not they of comrades that went under?

The parable of the old man and the young

So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an Angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him, thy son.
Behold! Caught in a thicket by its horns,
A Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.

But the old man would not so, but slew his son,
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.