With a dull, dead throb of syllables that virtually reaches out and grabs the auditor, Owens writes: "If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, / Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud/of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, / My friend, you would not tell with / such high zest / to children ardent for some desperate glory, / the old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est / Pro patria mori." (it is sweet and right to die for your country)
Owens makes clear to the reader knows of which he speaks, because the poem was written, as its inscription states, that it was penned during the war itself on the front lines. Owens setting of the scene of the marching soldiers where "Many had lost their boots / but limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; / Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots / of tired, outstripped Five-Nines6that dropped behind," not only paints a tired picture of marching soldiers, but underlines the poor supplies of the men with very specific details such as the missing boots, as well as the specificity of "Five-Nines" that suggests that the poet knows the world and the conditions of which he speaks, as only a soldier would refer to shell explosions as "Five-Nines."
The poet uses this specificity of language for similar reasons as to Frost -- to set the scene and to verify the poet's knowledge and right to question the cliche at the heart of the poem, but Owens seems even more careful to show that he is a solider, than Frost is to show...
Robert Frost -- Life Issues and Parallels to My Life A Life Filled with Tragic Inspiration Robert Frost was a prolific American writer and poet whose work captured the difficulties some of the most challenging periods in modern American history as well as his personal trials and tribulations. Frost's work is known for the eloquence that he was able to express using the simple language of common colloquial speech (Holman & Snyder,
Robert Frost wrote, "I have written to keep the over curious out of the secret places in my mind both in my verse and in my letters." In a poem, he wrote, "I have been one acquainted with the night." Those unfamiliar with Robert Frost's life story might not realize the significance of those words. Frost was born in a nearly lawless city and grew up in a highly dysfunctional
Robert Frost's adulthood was also riddled with loss. He often felt jealous and resentful that the quality of his poetry was slow to be recognized. Unable to support his family with his writing, for many years he had to work at various jobs, often as a teacher until his grandfather finally gave him land to live on and an allowance with on which to live (Meyers, p. 52). In addition,
"He gives his harness bells a shake / to ask if there is some mistake." The horse's action portrays the tendency of people to question those choices they don't understand. This scene can be interpreted as the disapproving voice of society voicing its demands on those of a more sensitive bent. In much the same vein as the previous stanza, Frost shows a depth of human understanding (and misunderstanding). Our
Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" tells the story of a traveler making the decision to travel the road less traveled, but looking back upon the road not taken and wondering what might have been. On first glance the reader might assume that Frost is touting the benefits of taking the road less traveled, or the path in life that is perhaps most unclear. Too many people assume that the
Robert Frost treats several themes in his short lyrical poem, "The Road Not Taken." First, Frost focuses on the notion of choice and decision: the narrator is faced with a fork in the road and must choose which path to take. He momentarily wishes that he could travel both paths at once and still be "one traveler," (line 3). After hemming and hawing, the narrator chooses the path less trodden.
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