Tuesday, August 31, 2010

War Poetry

My favorite war poem was "I Beg You Brother: Do Not Die!". I find it to be a very interesting poem, saying why are you fighting in this war? It is not our parents parents wish for you to fight! If you die, who will carry on the family name, and what about your young bride? to me its saying, you have so much, why are you going to go waste your life away for some other mans beliefs? My favorite part of the poem is: "His imperial majesty- he himself- enters not the field of battle. So vast and deep is his sacred heart: He cannot wish for you to spill your own blood and another's. To die the death of beasts, to think such death is glory!" to me that seems like an eye opener, I mean who cares if you die a courageous honorable death, cause you are still dead.
the poems seem to have different views, some are patriotic and pro war, others are anti war. like in "The Soldier" its talking about dying but at least there will be a piece of rich earth where an englishman died. this poem is almost opposite the other. I quite liked all the poems and they were certainly well written, but "I Beg You Brother: Do Not Die!" was by far my favorite.

What Is War?

Wars are essentially caused by at least two groups with conflicting ideas. such as: Religious views, political ideas, racial differences, to gain resources, and many other things. Both sides think that they are right and the other is wrong, so they decide to try and force the other side to do the "right" thing. It seems that wars have existed since nearly the beginning of mankind. For some reason we just can't seem to get along! I believe that lots of wars could have been prevented if both sides actually got together and talked about their problems and found a better solution than killing each other. Fear is a key factor in war, you scare the people into joining your cause, get them riled up against your opponent by telling them all the horrible things they are doing. I believe it is a horrible thing, however sometimes it is certainly necessary and I don't blame anyone that is fighting back to protect themselves. Unfortunately, I believe there will continue to be wars as long as the human race exists.