“Fellowships Untold” The Role of Wilfred Owen’s Poetry in Understanding Comradeship During World War I - Literature Essay Samples

In his recent study of the relationship between poetry and warfare, The Poetry of War, James Anderson Winn writes of the war poet’s ability to â€Å"convey, often in the same line or stanza, both the intensity of love between men of arms and the powers of forces that constrain the expression of that love; cultural taboos, personal embarrassment and the looming presence of death†. This analysis certainly holds true for the poetry of Wilfred Owen, a soldier whose writing details the uniquely harrowing experiences of front-line troops living and dying together in intense physical proximity. Accordingly, poems such as â€Å"Spring Offensive†, â€Å"Apologia pro Poemate Meo†, and â€Å"Strange Meeting† use stark realism and powerfully emotive imagery to explore the male bonds forged during combat. His depiction of male intimacy in the trenches has led some scholars to explore whether Owen’s work simply reflects an extension of late-Victorian valu es of honour and nobility, or whether the portrayal of comradeship and fellowship in his writing points towards something more subversive and unique. Therefore, it is also useful to consider Owen’s own sexuality when studying the way in which his writing combines front-line homoeroticism and depictions of the grisly realities of trench warfare. As direct witnesses to human loss and destruction on an unprecedented scale, the soldiers of World War One were united in an alienating knowledge of the senseless horrors of warfare. Indeed, much of Owen’s poetry addresses his comrades’ moral detachment from the rest of society, and, in particular, the older generation who encouraged young men to fight in the name of â€Å"glory† and â€Å"honour†. In his 1917 poem, â€Å"The Kind Ghosts†, Owen sneers at the self-satisfied ignorance of those back at home, suggesting that the young men on the front-line have been abandoned by an obtuse attitude of complacency. Adopting stark crimson imagery, the poem chastises the perceived attitude of indifference and neglect towards his fellow soldiers through the figure of a woman living in comfortable opulence, â€Å"Not marvelling why her roses never fall/ Nor what red mouths were torn to make their blooms†. A similar depiction of the psychological isolation felt by his fellow â€Å"outsiders† can be identified in the final stanza of â€Å"Spring Offensive†, where Owen questions the stance of silence adopted by the survivors of a military battle:â€Å"But what say such as from existence’ brink Ventured but drave too swift to sink. The few who rushed in the body to enter hell†¦ Why speak they not of comrades that went under?† [138-46]By speaking for those either unwilling or unable to speak for themselves, Owen demonstr ates the strong ties connecting men in battle, thus exuding a poignant sense of loyalty and duty towards the soldiers beside whom he fought. This display of allegiance and understanding recalls the words of fellow-poet Seigfried Sassoon, who expressed how the brutal conditions of warfare led to an unyielding affinity felt between men on the front-line: â€Å"The man who really endured the war at its worst was everlastingly differentiated from everyone except his fellow soldiers†. As the voice of broken comrades, Owen feels the need to testify on their behalf and awaken the â€Å"Nation at Home† to the futile and destructive nature of the war. As such, Owen’s desperation to rejoin his comrades in battle following his treatment for shell-shock despite the knowledge that he will almost certainly die is a testament to the strength of the bonds formed during warfare. The affecting faithfulness displayed towards fallen troops consequently illustrates how Owen use s poetry as an expression of devotion to his comrades, and as a means of honouring fellow soldiers through written verse. In this way, it is possible to claim that the sense of fellowship and comradery evident in Owen’s poetry serves to humanise the unfamiliar, hostile brutality of war, infusing into the carnage typically â€Å"British† values of loyalty, honour and community. This sense of moral elevation is strikingly demonstrated in â€Å"Strange Meeting†, a surrealistic poem that depicts a confrontation between two dead soldiers – the English narrator and a German enemy whom he â€Å"jabbed and killed† in battle. Rather than engaging with the dominant discourse of hostility and fear of â€Å"the other† evident in much pro-war propaganda, Owen details the striking similarities between the two men (â€Å"Whatever hope is yours,/ Was my life also†), and acknowledges the grim reality of â€Å"the truth untold†, a phrase la den with betrayal and regret at the pity of war. The poem replaces the destructiveness and brutality of battle with an act of reconciliation, culminating in the two soldiers joining each other in an eternal comradeship: â€Å"Let us sleep now†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . It is significant that Owen adapts a line of â€Å"Strange Meeting† from Wordsworth’s â€Å"Ode: Intimations of Immortality† (â€Å"Even with truths that lie too deep for taint†), as both lines are implicit of a highly symbolic process of restoration and moral rebirth. Thus, through the act of comradery in Owen’s poetry it is possible to identify a certain wholesomeness and unity in the face of vast human destruction. The dignified solidarity between the two soldiers also recalls the poignant symbolism of the 1914 â€Å"Christmas truce†, which saw several British and German troops temporarily cease hostilities to exchange gifts and play football in no man’s land during the festiv e period. Consequently, one can interpret Owen’s touching portrayal of male comradeship as a form of redemption and moral sustenance, thereby reflecting the contemporary Christian principles of honour, nobility and dedication . However, some have cited the themes addressed in Owen’s war poetry as an example of how male comradeship failed to function as the dominant culture intended. Rather than serving as a testament to British values, for example, his accounts of the hellish realities of warfare may imply a damaging relationship between male friendship in the trenches and psychological distress. Indeed, when tracking Owen’s writing during the course of his lifetime, it is evident that a stark contrast exists between the pre-war Christian traditionalist and the embittered, questioning individual of 1917. The literary critic Adrian Caesar has developed the issue of Owen’s growing disillusionment further by highlighting an unsettling sense of misogyny in a selection of his poems. For example, the violent condemnation of women in â€Å"Le Christianisme† starkly illustrates his resentment of wives and mothers back at home and their apparent endorsement of warfare – â€Å"One Virgin still immaculate/ Smiles on for war to flatter her./ She’s halo’d with an old tin hat, / But a piece of hell will batter her†. In any case, it is evident that Owen values the love of fellow soldiers over the conventional, domesticated love shared between a husband and wife. In the poem, â€Å"Apologia pro Poemate Meo†, he asserts the superiority of male intimacy and comradeship: â€Å"For love is not the binding of fair lips With the soft silk of eyes that look and long, By Joy, whose ribbon slips, But wound with war’s hard wire whose stakes are strong; Bound with the bandage of the arm that drips; Knit in the welding of the rifle-throng†. [19-25]It is clear that Owen’s fellow comrades, as opposed to women, serve as his inspiration and are the driving force behind much of his poetry. A similar faith in the uncompromising love between soldiers is present in his famed poem, â€Å"Disabled†, which details a young man’s isolation from society following a war injury which has left him â€Å"legless† and disfigured. Contrasting sharply with the ignorance and fickleness of the â€Å"giddy jilts†, who express revulsion and â€Å"touch him like some queer disease†, only his fellow warriors can appreciate the man’s honour and sacrifice. In an affront to the chivalric rhetoric of the age, therefore, Owen is associating the male body with protest and vulnerability. This has led some readers of Owen to claim that the emotiona l bonds formed between men in the trenches served as a rejection of hegemonic ideals of the time, thus bringing to the fore a previously unexplored dimension to male intimacy during trench warfare. It is this apparent departure from late-Victorian principles of chivalry and masculinity that brings into question the significance of Owen’s homosexuality in understanding the themes of his work. Indeed, Niall Ferguson’s claim that a â€Å"remarkably high proportion† of the British officer class were homosexuals ensures that the subject of front-line homoeroticism cannot be neglected in a discussion of male friendship and comradeship in the trenches. While, on the surface, the strong comradeship evident in his written verse could be construed as a conventional display of soldierly duty and solidarity, Owen’s deep love for his fellow comrades often borders on the erotic, a feature of his poetry that largely manifests itself through his apparent fixation with the male body. For example, in â€Å"Futility†, one of the few poems published during Owen’s lifetime, he uses the tragedy of a soldier’s death on the battlefield to reflect on the young man’s attractive vitality: â€Å"Are limbs so dear achieved, are sides/ Full-nerved, still warm – too hard to stir?† Much of Owen’s war poetry expresses a homoerotic solidarity between soldiers at times of great stress and lingers on such details as â€Å"the hands of boys† and â€Å"their eyes†, thus merging images of horrific violence with something beautiful and untainted. Through the imagery adopted in his poems, Owen invites the reader to become a voyeur of sorts and share his respect of the vulnerable beauty of his fellow soldiers. It is this effective fusion of the representative and the erotic that sheds light on the intense attachment formed amongst soldiers in the trenches and thus demonstrates the complexities of male comradeship during the Great War. In conclusion, it is clear that powerful, distinctive bonds developed between soldiers during the intensely stressful and haunting experiences of trench warfare during World War One. The poetry of Wilfred Owen reflects this intimate sense of emotional fellowship by combining the harrowingly macabre with the beautifully erotic. Furthermore, Owen uses his poetry as a means of speaking on behalf of comrades whose voices have been silenced, either through death or through psychological trauma. Despite not necessarily functioning in the way that the dominant British culture demanded, the comradeship formed during the horror of trench warfare prompted the elevation and strengthening of male intimacy, with the love between soldiers serving as an impetus for a vast and affecting collection of wartime poetry.

No Child Left Behind and Standardized Testing Is Not Working

Standardized testing has become something of a norm under the No Child Left Behind Act. It has left the student and teacher responsible in having high test scores and has forced teachers to teach directly by the curriculum. What standardized testing does do is help develop memory, but at the cost of creativity (Emanuel 9-10). This is the problem behind standardized testing is that it has become linear and obsolete (Emanuel 9-10). It has been noticed by many for example Sir Ken Robinson said,† Testing in principal is a logical way of measuring student knowledge†, but he continues by saying that, â€Å"In practice it creates a very dry learning environment†. This shows that the No Child Left Behind Act and standardized testing is not working,†¦show more content†¦Politician do not want this, all they care about is the ability to say that they have higher test scores then everyone else. Until they do not learn that the test scores will not go up until they i nstill interest into students nothing will change (Slon 47-49). Another problem that inhabits the educational system is teachers who are unprepared to prepare students for the many standardized test that are given. An example would be that the average teacher in Finland must go through a grueling curriculum in order to become teachers (Schneider, and Christison 30-32). This shows that we lack in preparing our teachers to teach. This of course also leads to unpreparedness from students, to low test grades and a loss of interest. Teachers should become more flexible in the way they teach, allowing creativity and a way for the student to gain feedback from the teacher to want to learn more of the subject (Slon 47-49). In Creativity on the Brink the Arthur, Arlane Starko, explains of his trip to china. 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Annotated Bibliography On Online Pharmacy - 988 Words

Topic: Online Pharmacy Aim: This report offers a comparative analysis of the domain naming and registration systems to assist a client for choosing URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of an online pharmacy in Australia. Global trends and international perspectives of domain name registration systems has been considered in this project and the dynamics in the respective domain name systems. The research project explores the benefits and difficulties of the restrictive domain name registration system and the addressing issues of several URLs comparing with other websites. It also examines recent rules which allows for the sale of domain name licence in Australia. The main purpose of the website to sell medicine and medical products through†¦show more content†¦We ensure the trust between sellers and buyers. Initially, www.onlinemedshop.com has been selected to the particular client. The main reasons for picking this domain name are - It is short and easy to memorize. Sometimes people struggle to recall a long domain, even it consists with simple words. Also, it is hard to reminiscence a short URL with difficult words. The URL naming terms is related with the website. As it is an online shop, so online is very common term to everyone, whereas med depicts medicine. The URL is unique one, it has been checked by whois lookup. So, there is no copyright infringement. The simple and common terms are available in every search engine. If people type the keyword such as online pharmacy or med or shop in Google it will easily show up the website in the retrieved web list. It is also easy to type. Sometimes people do mistake to type a simple long domain name or a hard one. So, there is less possibility of making mistake when the terms are comfortable to all kind of customers. The terms sound good and it gives impression to the readers that they can get all details of medicines and buy their drugs through the website. There is no hyphen and numbers which causes the domain name verbally hard. However, there about twenty domain names are recommended in the Naming section which can guide the client to choose the best possible URL for their online pharmacy. All names are

Leadership Self

Leadership Self-Assessment Essay As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several separate focus areas and identified my overall strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Over the course of this paper I will briefly discuss each one of these assessments and journal entries as they pertained to me and my leadership.The first assessment I completed was very eye opening for me as a leader. As expected, my score for the overall potential of my leadership was on the higher end of the scale because of my background and amount of experience I have in leadership positions. This assessment portrayed a very accurate depiction of my overall leadership potential because I have always placed emphasis on being very good at what I do while working hard to not follow a path that did not work the first time.The Army spends a great deal of time making followers into leaders and leaders into followers by utilizing several levels of training throughout their military career. This training allows a Soldier to perfect the knowledge and skills required to be an effective leader in every aspect of their job. . . Retrieved December 17, 2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-effective-communication-workplace-20198.htmlFORBES. (2014). The only true leadership is value-based leadership. Retrieved January 14, 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/2011/04/26/values-based-leadership.htmlIvey Business Journal. (n.d.). Followership: the other side of leadership. Retrieved January 14, 2014 from http:iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/leadership/leadership/followership-the-other-side-of-leadership#. UtbFeaFMHIUMilitaryTimes. (2013). 14 leadership traits and 11 leadership principles. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from http://forums.militarytimes.com/showthread. php?1594653-14-Leadership-Traits-and-11-Leadership-Principles-judging-a-leader-or-a-NATIONLussier, R. Achua, C. (2013). Leadership: Theory, Application Skill Development (5th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning