The war poetry has been written by many ‘civilians’ caught up in conflicts and their

words act as a way of striving to express extreme emotions they have experienced

during the brutal war. War poetry echoes compassion humanity desire death

lamentation and the most importantly Marxist ideals in the twentieth century. In the

global war of 1939-45, no poet was untouched by the experience of war.

Owen writes in the preface for the collection of war poem that “My subject is

war, and the pity of war”. The tone of his poetry is melancholic and mournful.

Through his poems such as “dulce et decorum est, anthem for doomed youth, mental

cases and so on, he shares the horrors of war experienced by the soldier on the front

lines of world war I. The representation of the soldier in his poems are usually the one

who is lamenting over his unfulfilled dreams, memories of his love life and injured

young soul. In his poem, he compares soldiers to old beggars and hags because they

were so broken and burdened by their experiences in war. The representation of the

soldiers is like a beggar without boots, limped and drunk with fatigue as they are dead

men. Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Unlike Owen’s pitied emotions, Sassoon war poetry gives the emotion of

anger. In his poem “The General” Sassoon uses two stereotypical extremes of

military rank structure, the simple, front-line grunt and the aristocratic “general”.The

contrast of tone between the soldiers and the general generates a beautiful paradox

when soldiers are grunting and general is happily greeting them. The cheerful tone of

the general at the beginning of the poem is ironic as he is brutally marching his men

into the fray. “He smiled at are most of ‘em dead,”. Sasson also represents Generals as
the brutal hierarchy, who reflects a lack of seriousness and has no concerns with the

massacre of masses. By saying “on our way to the line” Sassoon is reminding the

reader that it is the soldier who is making his way to the front, not the cheerful

General. Sasson referred to the second battle of Arras which took place in April-May

1917 in which more than 150,000 British and commonwealth soldiers were dead. At

the end of the poem, Sasson accused the general and his staff as responsible for the

death of the men.

Similarly his poem “Base details” is about the first world war win which Out of the

approximate 700,000 military casualties suffered by the British during the First World

War, only around 78 of those were of the higher ranks of general and above. In this

poem, Sassoon opens up with anger and shows the distance between the majors and

the soldiers that they commanded. He represents the Majors as the murderers of the

soldiers and overgrown children playing at war with “puffy petulant face”, living in

the best hotels far away from the battlefield. Sassoon dehumanizes the soldiers

through the reaction of the army to their death.

Reading the Roll of Honour. “Poor young chap”

I’d say- “ I used to know his father well;

The representation of Generals and soldiers in Auden’s poetry is not very

different from Owen and Sassoon's. Throughout his work, Auden shows his concern

for people, for proletarian and for humanity. He highlights the Marxist idea of the

class system and raises the question on the oppression of masses under the influence

of higher officials. In his poem “The Embassy”, he ironically displays very cultured,

calm and peaceful atmosphere was “highly trained” diplomats are separated from the

common people. “Two gardeners watched, and priced their shoes”. These Generals
have so much power that even the slightest error of waging the war is so devastating

for the mass. Auden shows that the difference between war and peace is so on the

edge that it can be tipped over by “a verbal error”.

These officials who are about to order the armies to attack are “far off” from the scene

of battle in their luxurious unaffected environment while the so-called ‘ordinary

people’ have their lives thrown into turmoil.

Far off, no matter what good they intended,

The armies waited for a fatal error

With all the instruments for causing pain

This poem doesn’t only echoed the reaction and anger of world war 1 and 2 but One

can also relate these words to the current situation of the world where America is

“highly trained” by all means whether its technologies, machines, army or resources,

is drowning its army in several areas of the world for achieving its dream to govern

the world.

The representation of soldiers and generals in the war poems of Owen,

Sassoon and Auden is almost the same. Owen also shows disappointment on the

bloodshed of soldiers and refer them as beggars who are carrying an unwanted burden

on themselves similarly Sassoon angrily represents the generals as the murderers of

the soldiers. Auden idealizes the old classic heroes in the poem “The Sheild of

Achilles” as their generals were also brave and fought in the front line with soldiers

but his poem “the embassy” echoes modern reaction and depiction of war where high

officials brutally control the lives of their soldiers with their “verbal errors”.