Comparing two WWI poems

Poetry · Three voices on dying at war

Who would agree with whom?

Tap a poem to hear its voice. Then look at what the voices share and where they clash.

Imagine Naidu, Brooke and McCrae in one room, talking about dying at war. What would each say?

Predict, then check

Poets’ lives shape their attitudes and how they want the reader to feel. Have a go before you reveal.

Naidu protested against the British Empire’s rule over India. What might that suggest about her poem’s attitude to soldiers dying in the war?

What you need to know

• ‘Compare how’ asks for similarities and differences in ideas, language, structure and form between two poems.
• The question gives you a topic, such as dying at war, and will usually give one poem. You choose the other.
• Have a goA question says: ‘Compare how the poets present dying at war in ‘In Flanders Fields’ and one other poem.’ What is the topic, and who picks the second poem?

  The topic is dying at war, and you pick the second poem.

  A comparative question gives the topic and will usually give one poem, leaving you to choose the other.

• The most successful comparisons cover the similarities as well as the differences.
• Think of the poets as being in conversation: would they agree or disagree about the theme?
• The speakers differ: India in ‘The Gift of India’, one soldier in ‘The Soldier’, and the dead soldiers in ‘In Flanders Fields’.
• Mood is the emotional undertone. Attitude is how the writer thinks or feels about the subject.
• The moods: grief or despair in Naidu’s poem, peaceful and patriotic in Brooke’s, reassuring in McCrae’s.
• Brooke and McCrae present dying for your country as a patriotic duty, a positive attitude. Naidu’s attitude is negative.
• Have a go‘Reassuring’ and ‘positive towards dying for your country’ both describe ‘In Flanders Fields’. Which one is the mood, and which is the attitude?

  Reassuring is the mood. Positive towards dying for your country is the attitude.

  Mood is the emotional undertone, while attitude is what the writer thinks or feels about the subject, so they need separate labels.

• Naidu and Brooke both personify their country as a mother, but with different effects.
• Have a goSam says: ‘Naidu is against dying in war and Brooke is for it, so their poems share nothing.’ Sam is confidently wrong. Name one thing the two poems have in common.

  Both personify their country as a mother.

  Opposite attitudes do not mean nothing in common: the same method can be used to say opposite things.

• A single paragraph outline plans your argument: topic sentence in full, supporting detail in notes, concluding sentence in full.

The big picture

Comparing poems is not a list of differences. A ‘compare how’ question asks for similarities and differences in ideas, language, structure and form, focused on a topic such as dying at war. Ask who speaks, what the mood is and what the attitude is. Naidu’s ‘The Gift of India’ is negative about dying in war, while Brooke’s ‘The Soldier’ and McCrae’s ‘In Flanders Fields’ are positive. Naidu and Brooke both personify their country as a mother, with opposite effects. A single paragraph outline turns your comparison into a plan.

⚠ Watch out

Mixing up mood and attitude. Mood is the emotional undertone, while attitude is how the writer thinks or feels about the subject. In ‘The Gift of India’ the mood is grief or despair and the attitude to dying in war is negative. Give each its own label in your comparison.

Memory hook

Think conversation, not list: who agrees, who argues, and what they each do with the same method.

Check yourself

Choose two of the three poems. Say whether their attitudes to dying for your country agree or disagree, then give one reason a poet’s experience might help explain the attitude. Use the word ‘might’.