a world at war

Genre: war literature Main text: selection of poetry

from World War 1 Additional extension text: “All

Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque

Assessment: an essay comparing two poems.

To understand the key points about World War 1.

To understand why so many men volunteered to go and fight.

To analyse how this was reflected in the poetry from the time.

Started in 1914 Britain, France and their allies against

Germany and their allies Ended in 1918 First war in which weapons such as

tanks, machine guns, poison gas and aircraft were widely used.

Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played,

The red crashing game of a fight?

Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?

And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?

Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’?

Who’ll give his country a hand?

Who wants a turn to himself in the show?

And who wants a seat in the stand?

Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much-

Yet eagerly shoulders a gun?

Who would much rather come back with a crutch

Than lie low and be out of the fun?

Come along, lads – But you’ll come on all right –

For there’s only one course to pursue,

Your country is up to her neck in a fight,

And she’s looking and calling for you.

Jessie Pope

What’s the poem about? Who do you think is speaking here? What do you think is the purpose of

this poem?

Going away to war Staying safely at home

Erich Maria Remarque

To examine the use of language features and comment on the effects these have on the reader.

How does Remarque create a sense of horror in chapter 6?

“Suddenly there is a terrible noise and flash of light, and every joint in the dugout creaks under the impact of a direct hit – luckily not a heavy one, and one that the concrete blocks could withstand. There is a fearsome metallic rattling, the walls shake, rifles, steel helmets, earth, mud and dust fly around.” (p.76)

“The recruit who had the fit earlier is raving again, and two more have joined in…I rush out after the one who ran away and I wonder if I should shoot him in the leg; then there is a whistling noise, I throw myself flat, and when I get up there are fragments of hot shrapnel, scraps of flesh and torn pieces of uniform splattered on the walls of the trench.” (p.77)

“We have turned into dangerous animals. We are not fighting, we are defending ourselves from annihilation. We are not hurling our grenades against human beings – what do we know about all that in the heat of the moment? – the hands and the helmets that are after us belong to Death himself…” (p.79)

Level 6: some detailed explanation of how language is

used; some drawing together of comments on how

the writer’s language choices contribute to the overall effect on the reader.

Level 7: comments begin to develop precise, perceptive

analysis of how language is used; some appreciation of how the writer’s language

choices contribute to the overall effect on the reader.

How could we improve this sentence to achieve a level 7?

The narrator describes being under attack. “There is a fearsome metallic rattling, the walls shake, rifles, steel helmets, earth, mud and dust fly around.” This shows that the noise and danger is scary for the soldiers.

Wilfred Owen

“Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”

It is right and honourable to die for one’s country

What might this speaker’s point of view be?

What ideas and images would we associate with this phrase?

How might this relate to the poem and novel you have been studying?

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,Till on the haunting flares we turned our backsAnd towards our distant rest began to trudge.Men marched asleep. Many had lost their bootsBut limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hootsOf tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!–An ecstasy of fumbling,Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;But someone still was yelling out and stumblingAnd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could paceBehind the wagon that we flung him in,And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;If you could hear, at every jolt, the bloodCome gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cudOf vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory,The old Lie: Dulce et decorum estPro patria mori.

Having listened to the poem, what are your thoughts now regarding the writer’s use of the words “dulceet decorum est pro patria mori”?

Consider how Owen’s language choices appeal to the senses:

sight

sounds

smell

taste

touch

Consider verb choices

Consider verb choices

“He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.”