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explore how two poets present the theme of conflict - Coggle Diagram
explore how two poets present the theme of conflict
remains
Wrote by Simon Armitage and is about a soldier who gets his first kill where him and 2 others shoot a looter
Conflict presented through both physical war and internal psychological battles
Looter is shot "a dozen times" and left "sort of inside out" on the ground. The brutality of conflict is further shown when his mate "tosses his guts back into his body" as if he were a piece of meat rather than a human being.
'''probably armed,possibly not'' shows his inner conflict of not knowing if he fully did the right thing or not
the memory of the event haunts him "His blood-shadow stays on the street... I walk right over it week after week
The poem has a cyclical structure as it ends where it began. The repetition of "Sleep'', and ''he's probably armed, possibly not" shows that the soldier cannot escape his guilt the internal conflict is permanent and inescapable
The speaker uses the collective pronoun "we" and describes his fellow soldiers simply as "somebody else and somebody else," showing how war dehumanizes people as well as him not wanting to take full responsibility
bayonet charge
wrote by Ted Hughes and is about a soldiers experience of going over the top in ww1
conflict with nature
The war disrupts the natural world shown by the ''yellow hare'' that crawls in a "threshing circle" the imagery presents war as a destructive force that seperates the soldier from his surroundings causing trauma
The Yellow Hare: The "threshing" hare represents the innocent victims of war. It shows how conflict destroys the natural order.
at first the soldier is motivated by ideas like "King, honour, human dignity, etcetera". However, the immediate reality of conflict reduces the concepts to "luxuries" that are put aside in favor of pure instinct and the desperate need to survive
p1
Quote: "King, honour, human dignity, etcetera / Dropped like luxuries in a yelling alarm".
Analysis: Hughes uses a list of patriotic concepts but dismisses them with the anti climactic word "etcetera". This word shows that in the middle of real conflict, noble reasons become meaningless. The simile "dropped like luxuries" proves that patriotism is useless when trying to survive.
Structure: The poem is written in third-person, creating a sense of distance. This allows the reader to look at how the soldier's mind changes under pressure.
Violent Imagery: "Bullets smacking the belly out of the air" personifies the air as a victim. This highlights the inescapable brutality of conflict.
The soldier becomes a machine, moving with "clockwork" precision. War strips away his humanity and turns him into a tool for destruction.
Hughes presents conflict as something that strips away a soldier's humanity, transforming him into a mechanical object.
Quote: He runs in "clockwork on the dark hour", feeling like a "cold clockwork of the stars and nations".
Analysis: The noun "clockwork" suggests the soldier is merely a cog in a massive, unfeeling military machine. He has no control over his own destiny. The adjective "cold" emphasizes the total lack of human empathy or warmth on the battlefield.
Context: This reflects the reality of World War I, which was the first truly industrialized conflict. Individuals were sacrificed on a mass scale for distant political goals.