This is a Dark time my love- Martin Carter The persona speaks to some-one that he cares for. He tells this person that this is the dark time, which is, in essence, a time of sadness. It is implied, by certain key terms; such as 'dark metal', that it is a time of war. The persona warns his 'love' that it is a dark, sad time. LITERARY DEVICES 1. REPETITION Stanza 1, line 1 & stanza 2, line 7: The repetition of this phrase highlights that there is something seriously amiss. The persona is telling his 'love' that this is a sad and terrible time. 2.ALLITERATION This device literally draws the readers' visual attention to the sentence. The sentence implies that everything that is good and positive is hidden away, or gone. This alliteration sets a sad tone at the very beginning of this poem. 3. PERSONIFICATION This device emphasizes the sad tone of the poem. This is the case because flowers are usually associated with feelings of happiness and cheerfulness. Therefore, if the flowers - embassadors of joy - are sad, then it highlights how really sad the times have become. 4. METAPHOR The contrast in this device is startling. The terms 'festival' and 'carnival' n ot only describes fun and festivity, but also a large amount of each. Both words are associated with wit h huge crowds. This emphasizes how terrible the times have become because guns and misery are plentiful. p lentiful. 5. RHETORICAL QUESTION
Stanza 3, line 13: This device d evice informs the reader/ audience that a threat e xists and that it comes in the dark of night. Stanza 3, lines 14 - 15: 1 5: It is implied that the threat is a soldier through the term 'boot of steel'. The 'slender grass' is the innocent youth who is cut down and trampled by b y these 'boots of steel'. The fact that we are given this information through the use of rhetorical question adds mystery and intrigue to the poem
IMPORTANT WORDS/ PHRASES 1.This is the dark time, my love, love, 6.All round the land brown beetles crawl about. 2.The shining sun is hidden in the sky. 3.Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow. 1.This is the dark time, my love. love. It is the 7.season of oppression, dark metal, and tears. te ars. It is the 4.festival 4.festival of guns, the carnival of misery. Everywhere the faces of men are strained and anxious.
5.Who comes walking in the dark night time? 5.Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass? It is the 8.man of death, my love, the strange invader 9.Watching you sleep and 10.aiming at your dream. 6.'All round the land brown beetles crawl about.' Some variety of brown beetles are scavengers that feed on decaying or dead carcasses. Therefore, when the persona states that they crawl about, it implies that a lot of dead or decaying bodies exist in the land. 7.'season of oppression, dark metal, and tears.' A season is an extended period of time. Therefore, the persona is telling his 'love' that it is a period of extreme sadness. This sadness is brought about by the 'dark metal', which can be literally interpreted as vehicles of war. 8.'man of death' The man of death, in this context, is the soldier. 9.'Watching you sleep' Sleep is a state of extreme vulnerability. This is the case because when one falls asleep, they fall into unconsciousness, which equates to a state of defenselessness. The fact that the man of death, ie soldier, watches the persona's 'love' while he/she sleeps, implies that this person is not only vulnerable, but in extreme danger. 10.'aiming at your dream.' The man of death's purpose is to destroy the persona's 'love's' dreams, or desires. MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE The mood of the poem is a sad one. The persona is giving his 'love' sad and depressing news. TONE The tone of the poem is also a sad one. THEMATIC CATEGORIZATION Racism, places.
Dulce Et DeCorum Est- Wilfred Owen Wilfred Owen, the poet, tells of his first hand experience in war. He tells the tale of tired and wounded soldiers walking through dirt and sludge. Suddenly, there is a warning about gas, which the soldiers hurriedly and awkwardly heed by donning their helmets. Unfortunately, one soldier is too late in donning the helmet and his companions watch him 'drowning' in the gas. The unfortunate soldier was thrown in the back of a wagon, where it is implied that he was left to die. The persona points out that if you (the reader/ listener) could have witnessed these events, then you would not tell children the old lie: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It is sweet and honourable to die for one's country). 3.Bent double, 1.like old beggars under sacks Knock-kneed, 1.coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the 4.haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge. 2.Men marched asleep. 2.Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; 5.deaf even to the hoots Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! Gas! Quick boys! - 6.An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling, And 1.flound'ring like a man in fire or lime ... 7.Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, 8.He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the 9.wagon that we flung him in, 2.And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, 1.His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, 1.Obscene as cancer , 1.bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,My friend, you would not tell with such a high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: 10.Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. LITERARY DEVICES 1.SIMILE
Stanza 1, line 1: This simile introduces the ex haustion of the soldiers. Stanza 1, line 2: This emphasizes not only the tiredness of the soldiers, but the fact that they might be sick as well. Stanza 2, line 19: This device gives a visual image of how the soldier physically reacted to the gas. Floundering implies flopping about, th erefore, the soldier was flopping about violently. We know it was violent because fire and lime illicit excruciating pain. Stanza 4, line 39: This device gives a visual image of the expression on the soldier's face. This is a particularly grotesque image that highlights the soldier in the throes of death. Stanza 4, line 39: Cancer is a horrible disease that takes many lives on a daily basis. Therefore, to compare this dying soldiers face to this disease is to emphasize the agony that the soldier was going through, which was r eflected on his face.
Stanza 4, lines 39-40: This is another graphic comparison that compares the soldier's face to incurable sores. 'Sores' is a disgusting visual image of deg radation which, in turn, highlights the soldier in the throes of death.
ALLITERATION
Stanza 1, line 7: This device points to the level of fatigue that the soldiers were undergoing. Stanza 1, lines 7-9: This highlights not only the fatigue that the soldiers were feeling, but the fact that they were injured as well. Stanza 4, lines 29-30: This device highlights a visually graphic death mask. The soldier is in the throes of impending death.
IMPORTANT WORDS/ PHRASES 3.'Bent double' The soldiers are bent over with fatigue. It is ver y significant that the poet/ persona initiates the poem by highlighting the exhaustion of the soldiers. He is trying to emphasize the harsh realities of war. 4.'haunting flares' Flares are typically used to signal distress. The flare is fired from a flare gun, in the air, where rescue crafts, at sea or in the air, can have a general idea of the location of the soldiers who are in distress. Therefore, to describe the flares as haunting implies that the soldiers are severly distressed by their situation. 5.'deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.' Five-nines are German 5.9 artillery shells. This means that bullets were firing around them while they were walking. The extent of the soldiers' tiredness is also emphasized at this point because the soldiers do not hear the shells going off around them. 6.'An ecstasy of fumbling' The word ecstasy, that is used to describe the fumbling, implies the level of panic that this one word (gas) elicits. The soldiers' were so tired that they could not even hear the five nines, but this one word immediately wakes them up. 7.'Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning.' This describes exactly what the outside world looks like through the lens of a gas mask. The effect of the gas is seen in the mention of the word 'drown'. It implies that the unfortunate soldier could not breathe. 8.'He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.' This is the very graphic result of breathing in the gas. It is a very violent reaction, as seen in the word 'plunge'. The dying soldier did not simply reach for the persona/poet, but he did so in a desperate manner, while all the time being unable to breathe. 9.'wagon that we flung him in' The statement implies that the soldier was left for dead in a wagon. No regard was shown to him, through the use of the word 'flung'. This implies that war is heartless and tragic. 10.'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.'
This statement literally means it is sweet and honourable to die for one's country. The persona/ poet clearly does NOT believe this to be the case.
MOOD/ ATMOSPHERE The mood of the poem is reflective. The persona/ poet is thinking about his experiences in WW1. TONE The general tone of the poem is both sarcastic and ironic. The persona/ poet tries to present a visual of the realities of war while using the haunting words that contradict that reality. It is, in fact, NOT sweet and honourable to die for one's country. THEMATIC CATEGORIZATION War, death, survival, oppression, patriotism
