Compare & Contrast Lovelace's “To Lucasta”& Owens' “Dulce et Decorum Est”

Compare and contrast the ways Lovelace's “To Lucasta” and Owens' “Dulce et Decorum Est

Introduction

For this particular paper the poems selected to be compared and analyzed are, Lovelace's “To Lucasta” and Owens' “Dulce et Decorum Est”. Both these poems are about the war and show a different perspective on it. The reason behind choosing these poems is because on a personal level I appreciate the work of Lovelace and considers this poem one of his best.

Discussion

Lovelace's Lucasta

Lovelace's poem Lucasta is based on the civil war; it tells the story of a young soldier off to fight leaving behind his beloved Lucasta. The poem stresses on the importance of honor and duty before anything else. The soldier asks his beloved to not think of him as selfish or unkind as he is leaving her side to fight in the war. His referral to Lucasta as Sweet shows the implication that he considers his beloved innocent and unable to understand the dilemma the speaker faces in having to leave her behind. The words Nunnery and chaste show that Lucasta is God fearing pure at heart she knows not of the evils of war.

The poet shows his determination in going to war by symbolizing the war as a mistress, the first foe is the enemy who has come between them and has made him want to leave so that he may be able to fight along with the other soldiers. He continues showing his utmost fortitude when he mentions with a stronger faith embrace, which means he has accepted his part in the war and had embraced his faith with devotion and honor.

In the last stanza the poet expresses that if Lucasta understood his reasons and his determination to fight within the war she would also fall in love with his reasons as he has. He knows that he might sacrifice his life but all of that is justified to him and he wants her to see it too the love to beat the enemy and serve his own country. In the end the poet says that if I wasn't an honorable man, determined to fight off the enemy I wouldn't be worthy to love you my beloved (Dorgeloh, 2012).

.Owens' “Dulce et Decorum Est”

The title of the poem is a Latin saying the words were widely quoted at the start of the First World War. The literal meaning is "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country taken from a poem by Horace. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honor to fight and die for your country. This poem was written by Owen on his own experience of fighting in the World War I. Owen was an officer of the British army and he was shelled in Craiglockart. This poem was a bitter statement by Owen against the attack on the ...