the use of language the writers use to express their views on war
In this essay I am going to compare two extracts of writing, about World War 1.
I am going to look at the use of language the writers use to express their views on war. For the first extract I’ve chosen a very famous piece ‘A Soldiers declaration’ by Siegfried Sassoon written in July 1917, I am comparing this against a letter written home by a junior officer from Flanders in 1916.
Extract 1, A Soldiers Declaration is a very formal piece of writing, the writer starts of by informing the readers that he is ‘making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority’ which isn’t anything to be taken lightly. The Declaration was an open letter published in the Times Newspaper where Siegfried Sassoon wrote about the political errors and insecurities of War. The letter acts as a protest in which Sassoon tells his opinion on how the purpose of war has changed from a war of ‘defence and liberation’ when it begun, to ‘aggression and conquest’, at its current state. On the other hand, Extract 2 is a less formal letter written to a loved one in which the writer documents one days event in a very comic and casual manner. Extract 2 is written mainly to give information and report what has happened in a descriptive and fairly entertaining style, unlike Extract 1which is written as a protest.
Both articles use emotive and powerful language but each uses it in a different way to the other. Extract 1 uses words associated with conflict such as ‘defence, liberation, conquest and aggression’; these words link with the open letter about how the meaning and value of war has changed into a very violent and unjust act. Whereas Extract 2 starts with the repeated use of the word ‘thrill’ followed by the use of alliteration to interest the reader ‘the morning broke fine but foggy, and I went forth to war’. The writer then uses the adjective ‘anxious’ to give the impression something’s going to happen, followed by a variety of verbs, ‘strolled’ ‘climbed’ and ‘creep’
I am going to look at the use of language the writers use to express their views on war. For the first extract I’ve chosen a very famous piece ‘A Soldiers declaration’ by Siegfried Sassoon written in July 1917, I am comparing this against a letter written home by a junior officer from Flanders in 1916.
Extract 1, A Soldiers Declaration is a very formal piece of writing, the writer starts of by informing the readers that he is ‘making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority’ which isn’t anything to be taken lightly. The Declaration was an open letter published in the Times Newspaper where Siegfried Sassoon wrote about the political errors and insecurities of War. The letter acts as a protest in which Sassoon tells his opinion on how the purpose of war has changed from a war of ‘defence and liberation’ when it begun, to ‘aggression and conquest’, at its current state. On the other hand, Extract 2 is a less formal letter written to a loved one in which the writer documents one days event in a very comic and casual manner. Extract 2 is written mainly to give information and report what has happened in a descriptive and fairly entertaining style, unlike Extract 1which is written as a protest.
Both articles use emotive and powerful language but each uses it in a different way to the other. Extract 1 uses words associated with conflict such as ‘defence, liberation, conquest and aggression’; these words link with the open letter about how the meaning and value of war has changed into a very violent and unjust act. Whereas Extract 2 starts with the repeated use of the word ‘thrill’ followed by the use of alliteration to interest the reader ‘the morning broke fine but foggy, and I went forth to war’. The writer then uses the adjective ‘anxious’ to give the impression something’s going to happen, followed by a variety of verbs, ‘strolled’ ‘climbed’ and ‘creep’