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The War


            "The Anxious Dead," by John McCrae and "A Page from Our History," by Raymond Souster, both poets are about brutal wars and poor soldiers. The first poem is about the soldiers who gave their lives in the war and the second poem is about Mackenzie King. There are three things that two poems are different. Firstly, their form is different. "The Anxious Dead" is very formal and lyric poetry. It used lots of figure of speech such as rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter and very detailed. But "A Page from Our History" is informal and even conversational. It's free verse poetry and not detailed and it is quite short in length. Secondly, imagery is different. The first poem used tons of imageries. The speaker described sound of war by "fall silent," "chorus," "silence deep" and "quiet dam." Also, he says "flashing muzzles" and "O, guns" to image guns. Whiled the second poetry almost didn't use imagery. The speaker just describes two things; Steve being sent off to war and injured veterans after the war. Lastly, their purpose is different. The first poem is to reveal senselessness war, guiltless soldiers' deaths and to think about what the war is. It's not an adventure, it is very serious. While the second poem is to reveal Mackenzie's indeed. Mackenzie King was become famous after he sent soldiers to the war, while the soldiers were killed and injured. Also, the veterans are poor and having not very good lives after the war. It makes us feel empathy towards the soldiers who were sent untrained and unprepared into the battlefield. These two poems are saying about horror of wars. However, they used very different ways to sympathy towards to soldiers. "The Anxious Dead" described the real exact situation and feeling of the middle of the war while "A Page from Our History" used contrast between Mackenzie and Steve; one became an easy hero, while the real hero lost everything, his physical body and money.


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