Henry V as War Poet

There ar sm every(prenominal)-army different military strengths to fight pacifists find it honorablely bring outrageous and unnecessary, a nonher(prenominal)s a necessity to foster and confirm their own agricultural and that of others. During the life of Shakespe ar the security of the business leader on his throne was unstable. Defending the throne and cordial stability through and through contendf atomic number 18 was imperative. This is reflected thematic bothy in total heat V, with Shakespeare promoting the King as a divinely plant ruler and encouraging acceptance of this. throughout henry V on that point are very beardown(prenominal) references to god, sin and salvation. warfare is catched as a moral and spiritual intend of upholding the status quo. With this in mind, heat content V opens with the mature king, The mirror of all Christian kings, quest justification for declaring war on France, with henry inquire the Archbishop if god is happy with his cite to the French throne. whitethorn I with right and conscience make this cl take? heat content, asking the Archbishop for support as King of England, demonstrates his liking to counterbalance in the name of immortal, confirming that Gods appointed monarch is bound by spiritual laws. posterior on in the play we learn of henrys other justification for war laurels. He says he is not interested in gold he more(prenominal)over wants honour and glory for his field. But if it be a sin to covet honour, then I am the most offending soul alive. hydrogen issue alone not proceed with war unless his decision to fight is justified by the Church. No longer go forth he be reckless in conflict, as he was in his younger twenty-four hour periods. ahead involvement Henry prays undermentioned success he offers thanks. contend is viewed as both necessary, justifiable and sanctioned by God.Despite this spiritual view, war is excessively promoted as a game 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 unavoidable consequence and Henry declares war, by byword the games afoot. This fiction of war being a game continues through the whole play, despite the fact that it is a impish and bloody game which provides in horrific suffering and bloodshed. Interestingly, Jessie pope,a super truehearted war poet, also represented war as a great adventure game that all boys should embark on, as seen in her metrical composition Whos For The mettle nearly? . She specifically addresses the younger generation in her gossipy tone with retraces such(prenominal)(prenominal) as Come on, lads. and personifies the country as a female, with the attitude that the men should be protecting and serving her. She appeals to the protective instinct and the patriotic desires of the individualistic by doing this, by saying Your country is up to her neck in a fight, and shes looking at and calling for you. The rime is structured with rhetorical questions which aim to bear and advertise men to join essence and fight.As a propaganda poem, the horrors of war are evaded and the mind of a fun game promoted with vivid commentary and verbs. The red crashing game of a fight? Before Harfleur, Henry is also at his rhetorical outdo to wholee and inspire his team. warfare is regarded as an genetic duty. On, on, you noblest incline. Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof . Repetition is employ as a means of pull aheadment, with Henry stressing the vocalizes On, on to persuade his soldiers forward, and alliterating the f sound stresses that fighting and carrying on from their fathers preserves family honour and security.It is better to die fighting 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 enough earth a richer constellate concealed A dust which England bore, shap ed, made aware. In these quotations it is clear that the products of England imbibe the duty to fight and defend their motherland, or at least die honourably trying. Similarly, Brooke justifies war by stressing mint were duty bound to fight for their country. He too desired that England made 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 aboutwhere grit the thoughts by England given. Henrys smooth-tongued speech stresses this same idea. Whose limbs were made in England, constitute us here The mettle of your pasture.The Soldier promotes patriotism by focussing on the beauty of the country kind of than the actual fighting or else ironic for a war poem. As in Henry V, there is the idea present that England is superior and worth more than other countries, as shown by the use of the word rich. and in th at rich dust a richer dust concealed, the dust being Brookes remains. The poem is Brookes personal tarradiddle 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 survive 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 spirits and work up courage. One prominent idea, especially in the St Crispians day speech, is that the fewer men there are, the greater manage 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 lone(prenominal) hostile and foreign to the attackers nevertheless also to each other. He uses pronouns such as we and us rather than I and you.This demonstrates equality and unites the army to encourage the bonds of brotherhood amongst them a clever rhetorical tactic to persuade and encourage soldiers to rise above their individual heap 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 star(p) under the guise of not rigorously following a leader, solely of everyone being of equal status.War is instinctively a natural act of defence, and is Henrys number one thought when he is insulted. When provoked, animals attack, as shown in the tomography of Act 3, Scene 2. Henry tells his soldiers that when they hear the nail of war, their first proceedings should be those of the tiger, acknowledging an aggressive and instinctive locating to these men. Then imitate the action of the tiger stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. According to Henry, these animalistic tendencies should die hard them in this fight. Disguise fair nature with hard-favourd rage.War is a glorious and natural reason action to these men, and they have to be prepared to follow and encourage this instinct. Like Pope and Brooke, Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves were patriotic, yet when they byword firsthand the horrors of war their attitude changed. Graves poem A absolutely Boche details his change in attitude. at once I found in Mametz Wood, a original cure for a lust for blood. War may be an expression of courage, patriotism, honour, but to Graves Wars glare , 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, D ribbling wounded man as honourably and happily dying and returning to the soil of his folk country. We are forced to see the horror of war, a horror which Henry cleverly acknowledges but as the fate of the enemy and the consequence of arousing his anger When the beleaguering of Harfleur fails, Henry attempts to bluff his way into the city by painting a vivid picture of what ordain happen if the French do not surrender. contaminate 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. record imagery is also used in the line mowing like grass your fresh-fair virgins. The image of mowing grass ordinarily creates nice images of the springtime and getting the earth desexualise for blooming, however here the simile creates a low-spirited image, as we are not mowing grass we are mowing through and cutting down flowering infant s, 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 rise up as the Shakespearean audience. In his speech he emphasises the attacks on the most helpless and innocent people in the community, such as the fresh-fair virgins, describing graphic deaths involving vitiate and mindless violence. Henry has an attitude towards this war that lets him believe that God will not see them as sinning with conscience wide as sanatorium because this onslaught has been sanctioned by Him, and as a result he is prepared to do anything to fulfil his claim.However, the reviewer 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 justifications for war defending your country and owing a debt to it respectively. However, Wilfred Owen, another war poet, failed to give any ju stification 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 notable being Dulce Et Decorum Est.Owen questions how such pain and degradation be justified. In his poem Anthem For Doomed Youth, Owen presents a world impoverished of divine order and intervention a sinning 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 wailing 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 alone man-made destruction here. This attitude starkly contrasts with Henrys base in his prayers and speeches, as he believes that war is a natural part of all men and thence 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 Saint 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 nemesis not just to individuals such as the regulator but to the whole city itself. Using such images takes the emphasise off the true 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 cursing through sludge (as soldiers were described b y Wilfred Owen) were going through. The focus in on the potential horror in the images of outrage and mindless violence evoked by Henry that stop people such as the regulator from looking at the army that may not even be able to carry out such an attack too closely. On the whole, Henry V glorifies war. It is represented as an opportunity to display courage, politesse and brotherhood.The consequences of war are addressed in some poignant speeches, yet still 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.