How are the dead presented in this anthology? Refer to two or three texts in your answer. (World War One Literature)

The dead are a central focus for war poetry and the notion of death is trivialised throughout the poems in this anthology. Poems such as 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke glorify the dead and display the afterlife as a reward for their service in the war, as well as supporting the idea that they will live again 'under an English heaven'. Contrastingly, Charles Sorley's 'When You See Millions of the Mouthless Dead' describes the dead as weak and degrades their efforts by stating 'it is easy to be dead.' Similarly, Isaac Rosenberg's 'Dead Man's Dump' portrays their death as undignified as their 'brains are splattered on a stretcher-bearer's face' and they were not killed on their own terms, but instead when 'the shrapnel called 'the end'', leaving them only with a 'weak scream'.

This presentation of the dead is reinforced in the structure, with Rosenberg's poem having an irregular rhyme scheme and stanza length, which emphasises the unpredictable nature of conflict and depicts the dead as helpless victims. In contrast, 'The Soldier' is a sonnet and the regimented structure mirrors the solidarity the soldiers feel with their country and shows them as heroes. Sorley's poem is also a sonnet, but here this form is used to contrast the tone and message of the poem, perhaps hinting at the idea that he can't help but have love for them even though he attempts to stay distant from the situation. This idea is reinforced by the poem being written in second person, which could suggest it was written to a specific person, or could be argued to be aimed at himself in a therapeutic attempt to come to terms with what he has faced. This shows the the presentation of the dead is not always clear in some poetry, as contrasting ideas can be found even within a single poem.