Comparison Paper of all Perspectives

During World War One, many great literary works were written. These works included poems such as Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wirers, and The Soldier. Also written during World War One were short stories such as Birds on the Western Front. Movies such as My Boy Jack were made about the war. Also, many letters were written by the soldiers themselves, like the ones on exhibit in The Fatal Salient exhibit of the Imperial War Museum. All of these pieces have a common theme: war always causes tragedies. Most poems written during the time of World War One talk about the tragedies of war. These poems, written by both soldiers and regular people, describe the sadness and destruction war brings and how people feel about it. Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Rupert Brooke were all soldiers in World War One. They all experienced the tragedies of war firsthand and wrote about them in poems such as Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wirers, and The Soldier. Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen is very sad and despairing as it describes how the poor soldiers dying in battle dont even get proper funerals. Wirer by Siegfried Sassoon is a dark, angst-filled poem that talks about the sacrifices made by soldier in order to win the war. Even peaceful, seemingly happy poems such as The Soldier by Rupert Brooke are really about tragic things. The Soldier describes how soldiers wish to be remembered after being killed in battle. Being killed in battle is incredibly tragic, no matter how at peace with it you are. The theme of all of these poems is that war always causes tragedies. Birds on the Western Front by Hector H. Munro is one of the many short stories written about World War One. It is a very sarcastic story that uses birds as a metaphor to describe the effects the war had on humans. The story describes how many humans homes were destroyed, and how they were forced to move. It describes how some humans were killed by the war, simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It describes how humans, once confident and dominant, were now

forced to be cautious and afraid. Birds on the Western Front describes all of the effects of the war that humans had to learn to deal with. None of these effects were good. Just like the war poems, the theme of Birds on the Western Front is that war always causes tragedies. The Fatal Salient is an exhibit in the Imperial War Museum. Included in this exhibit are letters and paintings that Harold Sandys Williamson, a soldier in World War One, wrote home to his parents. In his letters, Williamson describes his experiences during the war. His letters are incredibly detailed, explaining exactly what happened during his time in the war. He describes terrifying battles, hopeless marches, and tragic deaths. All of the things he describes are things that happened either to or around him. He personally experienced all of it, and it was all bad. Williamson personally experienced the tragedies of war. The theme of The Fatal Salient is that war always causes tragedies. My Boy Jack is a movie that is being made about Rudyards Kipling and his tragic search for his missing son, John. John Kipling had joined the army shortly after war was declared, and had gone missing during his first battle. Rudyard, refusing to believe that his only son was dead, searched desperately for him for ages. Eventually, he finally accepted that he would never find John. This sad movie tells about how war not only affects the people in it, but everyone else as well. Friends and families of soldiers experienced just as much heartache and sorrow as the soldier themselves. John had to experience the tragedy of being killed in battle. His parents had to experience the tragedy of the death of their only son. Everybody is affected by war. War always causes tragedies. Each of these pieces is about the tragedies that war causes, tragedies such as death, destruction, and the loss of loved ones. Each of these pieces, however, describes these tragedies in a different way. The war poems are written by soldiers who actually experienced these tragedies in person. However, instead of outright saying what they experienced, and how they felt, they described it with metaphors and fancy phrases. In Birds on the Western Front, Munroe uses sarcasm and a metaphor to describe how he felt about the tragedies of war. The letters in The Fatal Salient were

written, like the poems, by an actual soldier who actually experienced the tragedies of war. Unlike the poems, however, he is blunter in what he describes. He goes right out and tells exactly what happens and exactly how he feels about it. In My Boy Jack, actors do their best to convey the tragic story of the Kipling family. But how can one who has never experienced such tragedy accurately portray it? I believe that The Fatal Salient was the most effective piece because it was so incredibly outright and honest. Williamson didnt try to hide or disguise what he saw, did, or felt, he simply wrote it. Knowing that what he wrote was what real soldiers actually experienced was heartbreaking, but very effective.