COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE FOLLOWING POEMS WITH REGARD TO TONE IMAGERY DICTION METRE ETC VERGISSMEINNICHT ELEGY
Occasion Elegy for an 88 gunner appears to be written as a response to an apparently real event in which the author discovers the corpse of German soldier on a battlefield and as such qualifies it as ‘occasional verse’ . ... “How sleep the brave” is essentially a war poem usually classified as occasional verse, at the time English forces were engaged on the Continent in the War of the Austrian Succession But the poems reference is more probably to those Englishmen who died at Preston Pans (September 1745).Unlike the author of “Vergissmeinnicht” however, it is unlikely that William Collins was ever a serving soldier and consequently was writing from a purely imaginative standpoint with little experience of true battle and as such the poem lacks the grotesque realism “Vergissmeinnicht” portrays, as in: “and the burst stomach like a cave” Type Although “Vergissmeinnicht” is written as an narrative, the poem is entitled as an elegy, the elegy as a poetic form was first developed by the Greeks and Romans and flourished during the Renaissance. An elegy mourns the death of an individual often focussing on a particular character trait such as martial prowess or enduring devotion. ... “Vergissmeinnicht” could easily be applied as a memoriam to a fallen soldier. ... Theme The themes of “Vergissmeinnicht” involve looking with voyeuristic unease, the de-humanising complacency of death in combat and the abstract purity of love. ... In elegy for an 88 gunner the poet seems to be not only speaking to us but also to his companions: “returning over the nightmare ground we found the place again, and found the soldier sprawling in the sun. ... This is in stark contrast to the world weary realism of “Vergissmeinnicht”. ... The effect of the poem: “Vergissmeinnicht” is primarily disturbing, one of tragedy and clinical detachment evocative of the horrific spectacle of war. ... Steffi, the girl in the photograph, would weep to see today how on his skin the swart flies move; the dust upon the paper eye and the burst stomach like a cave “How sleep the brave” shares a sense of melancholy with “Vergissmeinnicht” but unlike “Vergissmeinnicht” it also has the effect of invoking national pride, although with our contemporary knowledge, attitudes and some would say cynicism it appears to be somewhat naïve and jingoistic in the fervor of it’s content , none the less it represents a very real attitude prevalent among certain social classes at the time of it’s composition.