Henry V as War Poet

There argon many different military positions to struggle pacifists find it mor all(prenominal)y outrageous and unnecessary, differents a necessity to protect and agitate their own untaught and that of others. During the life of Shakespe be the earnest of the King on his throne was unstable. Defending the throne and social constancy through state of state of warf aref are was imperative. This is reflected thematically in enthalpy V, with Shakespeare promoting the King as a betokenly appointed ruler and encouraging acceptance of this. end-to-end henry V on that point are very strong references to God, sin and salvation.warfare is viewed as a moral and sacred means of upholding the stead quo. With this in mind, heat content V opens with the mature king, The mirror of all Christian kings, seeking acknowledg workforcet for declaring war on France, with total heat asking the Archbishop if God is happy with his yell to the french throne. May I with right and conscienc e make this title of respect? Henry, asking the Archbishop for support as King of England, demonstrates his desire to fight in the name of God, confirming that Gods appointed monarch is bound by phantasmal laws.Later on in the play we learn of Henrys other apology for war accolade. He says he is not interested in prosperous he only wants honour and glory for his republic. But if it be a sin to covet honour, then I am the most offend soul alive. Henry will not proceed with war unless his conclusiveness to fight is justified by the Church. No longer will he be reckless in conflict, as he was in his jr. daylights. Before battle Henry prays following success he offers thanks. struggle is viewed as both necessary, justifiable and sanctioned by God.Despite this spiritual view, war is too promoted as a plump for and a noble adventure, a means to bond with dear friends. Having been given tennis balls as a provocative insult, war is seen as the inevitable outcome and Henry dec lares war, by truism the games afoot. This metaphor of war being a game continues through the whole play, despite the fact that it is a wicked and extractiony game which results in hideous suffering and bloodshed. Interestingly, Jessie pope,a jingoistic war poet, also represented war as a great adventure game that all boys should accede on, as seen in her poem Whos For The Game? . She specifically addresses the younger multiplication in her chatty tone with lines such(prenominal)(prenominal) as Come on, lads. and personifies the country as a female, with the attitude that the men should be protecting and component part her. She appeals to the protective instinct and the patriotic desires of the individual by doing this, by saying Your country is up to her neck in a fight, and shes looking and occupational group for you. The poem is structured with rhetorical questions which aim to persuade and get along men to join force and fight.As a propaganda poem, the repugnances of war are evaded and the creative thinker of a fun game promoted with vivid description and verbs. The red crashing game of a fight? Before Harfleur, Henry is also at his rhetorical best to wholee and inspire his team. War is regarded as an inherited duty. On, on, you noblest side of meat. Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof . Repetition is use upd as a means of get alongment, with Henry stressing the words On, on to urge his soldiers forward, and alliterating the f sound stresses that contend and carrying on from their fathers preserves family honour and security.It is better to die engagement for England, to close the wall up with our English dead, then be cowardly, as Rupert Brooke reinforces when he says There shall be in that rich earth a richer trunk concealed A disseminate which England bore, shaped, make aware. In these quotations it is clear that the products of England have the duty to fight and defend their motherland, or at least die honourably trying. Si milarly, Brooke justifies war by stressing people were duty bound to fight for their country. He too believed that England do him who he was and it was his duty to protect it. A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware. In this sense, Brooke also believed that he was a possession belonging to England and that he owed a debt to his country. Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given. Henrys persuasive speech stresses this same idea. Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture.The Soldier promotes patriotism by focussing on the beauty of the country rather than the actual fighting rather ironic for a war poem. As in Henry V, there is the idea present that England is superior and worth more than than other countries, as shown by the use of the word rich. and in that rich dust a richer dust concealed, the dust being Brookes remains. The poem is Brookes personal tale about him giving his body back to England. gives back the thoughts by England given patriotism would encourage a man to fight, courage is an essential quality to fail War is promoted as an act of courage. Most of Henrys key speeches in the play, such as the charge of Harfleur and the one delivered on St Crispians day, were designed to raise pot liquor and work up courage. One prominent idea, especially in the St Crispians day speech, is that the fewer men there are, the greater share of honour.Henry also tells his soldiers not to fear death, saying that it would be honourable to die for their country. If we are markd to die, we are enow to do our country loss. At times Henry dissolves his powers of status and leadership to become one of the brothers. He labels him and his soldiers a happy few, a band of brothers, rather than calling them an army and presenting them as a unit thats not only hostile and foreign to the attackers solely also to individually other. He uses pronouns such as we and us rather than I and you.This demonstrates equality and unites th e army to encourage the bonds of brotherhood between them a cunning rhetorical tactic to persuade and encourage soldiers to rise above their individual circumstances and differences and become a more robotic mass. In contrast, poets such as Owen and Graves deliberately focus on the individual, whereas Henry encourages his soldiers to lose their individuality for the sake of England. This is seen as a clever leadership tactic leading under the guise of not stringently following a leader, but of everyone being of equal status.War is instinctively a natural act of defence, and is Henrys get-go thought when he is insulted. When provoked, animals attack, as shown in the imaginativeness of Act 3, Scene 2. Henry tells his soldiers that when they hear the spud of war, their first actions should be those of the tiger, acknowledging an aggressive and instinctive side to these men. Then pursue the action of the tiger Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. According to Henry, these anim alistic tendencies should dominate them in this fight. Disguise fair nature with hard-favourd rage.War is a glorious and natural defending action to these men, and they have to be active to follow and encourage this instinct. Like Pope and Brooke, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves were patriotic, but when they truism firsthand the horrors of war their attitude changed. Graves poem A Dead Boche dilate his change in attitude. Today I found in Mametz Wood, a certain cure for a lust for blood. War may be an expression of courage, patriotism, honour, but to Graves Wars Hell , as declared in A Dead Boche.Graves focuses on the torment of an individual soldier, meaning that the ravages of war cannot be sidestepped. No one can view the Big-bellied, spectacled, crop-haired, Dribbling hurt man as honourably and happily dying and returning to the territory of his home country. We are forced to see the horror of war, a horror which Henry cleverly acknowledges but as the fate of the enemy and t he consequence of arousing his anger When the siege of Harfleur fails, Henry attempts to uncivil his charge into the city by painting a vivid picture of what will happen if the French do not surrender. Defile the locks of your shrill shrieking daughters Your fathers reverend heads dashd to the walls. The use of onomatopoeia and alliteration in shrill shrieking emphasises the outrageously violent consequences of war. Nature doublingry is also used in the line mowing like grass your fresh-fair virgins. The image of mowing grass usually creates nice images of the springtime and getting the earth name for blooming, however here the simile creates a dark image, as we are not mowing grass we are mowing through and cutting down efflorescence infants, indeed the innocent in war.Henry is presenting war as a punishment, not just to the French soldiers, but even to the non-participants in the fighting as well as the Shakespearean audience. In his speech he emphasises the attacks on the m ost helpless and innocent people in the community, such as the fresh-fair virgins, describing graphic deaths involving rape and mindless violence. Henry has an attitude towards this war that lets him believe that God will not see them as wickedness with conscience wide as Hell because this invasion has been sanctioned by Him, and as a result he is prepared to do anything to fulfil his claim.However, the proofreader and the audience of this play must wonder if God is used as an excuse by Henry because what kind of God would sanction such Hell on earth? Whos For The Game and The Soldier give acknowledgments for war defending your country and owing a debt to it respectively. However, Wilfred Owen, another war poet, failed to give any justification in his poems, purely because he didnt see the reasons behind war He aimed to show the reality and horrors of war in his poems for all participants, the most remarkable being Dulce Et Decorum Est.Owen questions how such pain and degradat ion be justified. In his poem Anthem For Doomed Youth, Owen presents a world devoid of divine order and intervention a booby hatch on earth. This was the reality of the war hero stories about those heroically dying to protect their country. no prayers nor bells There are no bells ringing worshippers to Church to glorify God, and the only choir is that of shout shells. Religious imagery is used to highlight the horrific, hellish reality.All the weapons in this poem are personified wailing shells monstrous anger of the guns implying the attitude that war is not a natural phenomenon it is completely man-made destruction here. This attitude starkly contrasts with Henrys viewpoint in his prayers and speeches, as he believes that war is a natural part of all men and therefore life. The mirror of all Christian Kings also sees God as his motivation, inspiration and his protector, and God is listed first in his battle cry as they charge toward glory. God for Harry, England, and paragon George Henry cleverly presents war as only being hell for the French with the English glorious in battle or death. Henry deliberately focusses on collective disgusting images, such as I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur till in her ashes she lie buried. , which is a threat not just to individuals such as the governor but to the whole city itself. Using such images takes the emphasise off the consecutive foulness of war that poets such as Owen and Graves aimed to put into the light. Henry uses collective images to take the focus off his individual weakened soldiers, plagued with casualties and illness.During his bluff the focus is not on the actual torment that the knock kneed hags that had been vow through sludge (as soldiers were described by Wilfred Owen) were going through. The focus in on the potential horror in the images of rape and mindless violence evoked by Henry that stop people such as the Governor from looking at the army that may not even be able to carry ou t such an attack too closely. On the whole, Henry V glorifies war. It is represented as an opportunity to display courage, heroism and brotherhood.The consequences of war are addressed in some poignant speeches, yet bland the audience marvels at Henry and his army. Patriotic poets such as Jessie Pope are similarly sparing with their images, intent to encourage conscription and bravery, whereas the horrific truth about war is starkly presented by Wilfred Owen in his poems such as Dulce Et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth. Overall, war is war, but there are many different attitudes to the event, and some when presented in the right way ultimately prevail, much like Henry and the English did over the French with simply a few words.