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WORDS AND PICTURES
A Dead Boche
by Robert Graves
To you who’d read my songs of War
And only hear of blood and fame,
I’ll say (you’ve heard it said before)
”War’s Hell!” and if you doubt the same,
Today I found in Mametz Wood
A certain cure for lust of blood:
Where, propped against a shattered trunk,
In a great mess of things unclean,
Sat a dead Boche; he scowled and stunk
With clothes and face a sodden green,
Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired,
Dribbling black blood from nose and beard.
A Dead Boche is, arguably, Robert Graves's most famous poem, and is certainly one of the most famous WWI poems. I think it is a highly effective piece of war writing for several reasons. Firstly, it draws us in through essentially talking directly to the reader. The poem proclaims the "War's Hell!" and I think the poem is effective as it perfectly conveys the horrors of war in something as commonplace as a dead soldier. The poem was written during the Battle of the Somme, and instead of utilising gimmicky, romanticised ideas of "friendship" or "sorrow" in long paragraphs, as many war poems do, it simply shows, not tells, about the horror of the battle, using phrases like "face a sodden green" and "dribbling black blood". Not only does it clearly convey the horrors of the war in its simplest, most primal form of death, it also is appealing to read, maintaining a good use of rhythm and structure, which in turns helps deliver the ugliness and nakedness of the subject.
Gassed by John Singer Sargent
Gassed is one of the most famous paintings of the entire First World War. The scene is the aftermath of a mustard gas attack on the Western Front in August 1918 as witnessed by Sargent. I think the piece is hugely effective for several reasons. Firstly, it is an extraordinarily artistic painting. The brush strokes are lightly painted with an obvious and individual artistic style, and yet still retain a sense of life-likeness. The colours are accurate and portray the sombre mood of the trenches perfectly. The subjects framed well, creating a piece that is visually eye-catching. More importantly, however, is how the artwork is so effective through the sheer grandeur of it. This piece was commissioned by the government for the WWI Remembrance Hall, and is huge in real life. The painting captures such a large amount of life of death. The dying and wounded littering the ground, the blinded soldiers being led pitifully through the mud. The painting is so detailed in its largeness that it captures a football game taking place in the background, showing stark contrast between the soldiers at the front with little kit, and the soldiers enjoying a game of football behind them. This artwork effectively captures the horror of war, the sheer grandeur of the scale of death and injury, yet it also perfectly encapsulates the details of the human beings it portrays, showing us that these blinded men aren't just statistics or liberties, they're real people.
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