Poetry Essay

For this essay I am comparing the experiences that the speakers of "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "The Man He Killed" had and how it impacted them after the war. Both of the speakers were tramatized well after they had left the war. They did not feel that what they had to go through was really worth fighting for their country. Their experiences changed who they are. The tone and images of the poems were different from eachother. The speaker of "The Man He Killed" had a lot of regret for his decision to kill another man and tried to justify his actions by saying he had to because he was his enemy. The tone of this poem was very sad and showed his obvious regret for what he had done. "You shoot a fellow down you'd treat if met where any bar is, or help to half-a crown." (lines 18-20) In "Dulce et Decorum Est" the speaker gives you a graffic view into what he saw. He felt that if the people who started a war really knew what it was like they would know that the old saying was a lie. The tone of this poem was disgust toward the war and the helplessness the soldiers felt being forced to trudge along.