Pooja Bhuva's Blog: War Poetry

TOPIC OF THE BLOG:-

This blog is a part of a thinking activity given by Megha ma'am from The English Department, MKBU, Bhavnagar. Check out Megha Trivedi's Blog (Click here) for more information and knowledge about War Poetry and other works and writers. In this blog I am going to explain my point of view about War Poetry and Movies, Songs etc. related to it.

WAR POETRY:-

Naturally, one can easily understand poetry which is written for wars or has characteristics of War called War Poetry. Some are on the side of War or some are anti war poems. Poetry which deals with the subject of War. Simply, there are two types of War Poetry.

Patriotic Poetry - Which honors sacrifice and bravery of soldiers.
Anti - War Poetry - Which saws no glory in war but only suffering and destruction.

In our syllabus we studied five War Poetries (The Hero - Siegfried Sassoon, Dulce et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen, The Soldier - Rupert Brooke, The Fear - Wilfrid Wilson Gibson and The Target - Ivor Gurney) and in this blog now we have to compare with other Movies, Songs, Series, any anything related to War.

Aspect	War Poetry	Anti-War Poetry
Tone	Celebratory, patriotic, heroic	Critical, mournful, disillusioned
Subject matter	Battles, soldiers, bravery, sacrifice, glory	Horrors of war, human suffering, futility, peace
Imagery	Guns, bombs, blood, death, destruction, valor	Nature, innocence, love, hope, empathy, pacifism
Poetic devices	Rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, onomatopoeia	Free verse, imagery, metaphors, similes, irony, symbolism
Poetic forms	Sonnet, ode, ballad, elegy, epic	Free verse, haiku, tanka, ghazal, pantoum, sestina
Poets and examples	Wilfred Owen, Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, Emily Dickinson	Yusef Komunyakaa, Denise Levertov, Langston Hughes, Bob Dylan

So, let's dig into this...........

💐WHEN YOU SEE MILLIONS OF THE MOUTHLESS DEAD BY CHARLES SORLEY (POEM):-

When you see millions of the mouthless dead

Across your dreams in pale battalions go,

Say not soft things as other men have said,

That you'll remember. For you need not so.

Give them not praise. For, deaf, how should they know

It is not curses heaped on each gashed head?

Nor tears. Their blind eyes see not your tears flow.

Nor honour. It is easy to be dead.

Say only this, 'They are dead.' Then add thereto,

'Yet many a better one has died before.'

Then, scanning all the o'ercrowded mass, should you

Perceive one face that you loved heretofore,

It is a spook. None wears the face you knew.

Great death has made all his for evermore.

👉"When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead" is a poem by Charles Sorley, a young Scottish poet who was killed in action during World War I. The poem was written in 1915, when Sorley was serving in the British Army in France. The poem is a powerful and moving reflection on the horrors of war and the loss of life that it entails.

The poem begins with the line "When you see millions of the mouthless dead," which immediately sets a somber tone. The use of the word "mouthless" is particularly striking, as it suggests that these dead soldiers were silenced and unable to speak for themselves. This sets up a contrast with the living, who have the ability to speak out against the war and its senseless violence.

The second stanza of the poem explores the idea that these dead soldiers are "not even the bones of heroes," but rather "dust." This is a powerful reminder that these soldiers were not simply heroes, but rather ordinary men who were caught up in a terrible conflict. The poem thus challenges the idea that war is a heroic enterprise, and instead suggests that it is a tragic waste of human life.

The third stanza of the poem reflects on the fact that these soldiers died in a foreign land, far from their homes and loved ones. The lines "Where do the hands of no-man's-land end? / Where lies the shore of this sea of death?" suggest the scale and scope of the conflict, which engulfed large parts of Europe and caused immense destruction and loss of life.

The final stanza of the poem returns to the idea of the "mouthless dead," and suggests that their loss is a warning to the living. The line "Think only this of me: / That there's some corner of a foreign field / That is forever England" is particularly poignant, as it suggests that even in death, these soldiers remain a part of their homeland. However, this idea is ultimately tempered by the final line of the poem: "There shall be / In that rich earth a richer dust concealed," which suggests that the ultimate fate of these soldiers is to be forgotten, their sacrifices lost to history.

Overall, "When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead" is a powerful and moving reflection on the horrors of war and the loss of life that it entails. The poem challenges the idea that war is a heroic enterprise, and instead suggests that it is a tragic waste of human life. It also emphasizes the scale and scope of the conflict, and the fact that many soldiers died far from their homes and loved ones. Finally, the poem suggests that the loss of these soldiers is a warning to the living, and that their ultimate fate is to be forgotten.

💐LOC KARGIL (2003) (MOVIE)

LOC Kargil is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language historical war film based on the Kargil War fought between India and Pakistan. This movie is Produced and Directed by J. P. Dutta. Mohnish Bahl, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Nagarjuna, Saif Ali Khan, Sunil Shetty, Sanjay Kapoor, Akshay Khanna, Abhishek Bachchan, Manoj Bajpayee, etc. Are the star cast of this Movie. The film is based on the Indian Army's successful Operation Vijay that was launched in May 1999 in the wake of the Pakistani intrusion and occupation of the strategic heights in the Kargil sector to flush out the Pakistani intruders from the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC). Here is a full movie available on YouTube.

💐THE PIANIST (2002)

This Movie is based on the autobiographical book The Pianist (1946), a Holocaust memoir by the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman, a Holocaust survivor. This movie directed by Roman Polanski and produced by Roman Polanski, Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde. The movie starcast by Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard, Julia Rayner, Jessica Kate Meyer, etc. For plot and other information for movie visit this site (Click here). Here is a trailer of this movie available on YouTube.

💐WAR CHHOD NA YAAR (2013)

War Chhod Na Yaar is a Hindi language movie released in 2013. This movie has comedic elements in it which make this movie different from other war movies. This movie directed by Faraz Haider and Written by Faraz Haider and Deepak Kingrani with Starring Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Javed Jaffrey, Sanjai Mishra, Mukul Dev, Dalip Tahil etc. Here is the official Trailer of this movie.

💐WAR GAMES:-

Here are some Games which are available in the play store and shows how humankind likes violence and the concept of war which includes in Games too which considers a tool for free to our mind.

💐WORLD WAR HEROES:-

Battle players from around the world in a crazy WWII-era online first person shooter game!

Destroy the enemy and survive tank battles in the center of Berlin and other cities. Participate in team and deathmatch battles, plant bombs and defend them, take part in world war massive warfare! This reference was taken from the play store and here is a trailer of this game.