'Four years,' some say consolingly. 'Oh well,
What's that ? You're young. And then it must have been
A very fine experience for you !'
And they forget
How others stayed behind and just got on -
Got on the better since we were away.
And we came home and found
They had achieved, and men revered their names,
But never mentioned ours;
And no-one talked heroics now, and we
Must just go back and start again once more.
'You threw four years into the melting-pot -
Did you indeed !' these others cry. 'Oh well,
The more fool you!'
And we're beginning to agree with them.
What's that ? You're young. And then it must have been
A very fine experience for you !'
And they forget
How others stayed behind and just got on -
Got on the better since we were away.
And we came home and found
They had achieved, and men revered their names,
But never mentioned ours;
And no-one talked heroics now, and we
Must just go back and start again once more.
'You threw four years into the melting-pot -
Did you indeed !' these others cry. 'Oh well,
The more fool you!'
And we're beginning to agree with them.
Vera Brittain
Vera Brittain uses language to get her anger and frustration across. She uses a metaphor when saying 'you threw four years into the melting pot.' Brittain uses a lot of direct speech during the poem, a lot of sarcasm use when she speaks about people in society. Brittain uses a free verse of is lines in this poem, with assonance to help get her point across. 'They had achieved, and men revered their names.' The title of the poem means the cry of the disabled, this shows how the soldiers feel towards the civilians that stayed. They can come from any place and background but still have the same opinion have the same opinion which soldiers start to believe.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Brittain uses a metaphor to express her anger, as well as sarcasm to present how people are prejudice and just brush off the actuality of the war, ''Four years', some say consolingly. 'Oh well. What's that? You're young'.' to almost say that the war didn't effect the women, and that four years isn't actually that long. 'No-one talked heroics now', Brittain is explaining to the how people don't have much respect or care for the soldiers who fought in the war. Brittain uses elements of sarcasm and metaphors to express her anger and frustration to the reader, causing the reader to empathise and understand the effects the war had on women as well as the soldiers themselves.
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