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The Death of a Soldier

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31 January 2014 WILLIAM FAULKNER AND THE DEATH OF A SOLDIER The experience of war is always gloomy and leaves countless victims in its part. Countries go to war for different reason and citizens passionately dedicate their lives in the defense of their beliefs sometimes through the act of war. The view of war in the poems of Wallace Stevens “The Death of a Soldier” and William Faulkner’s “Two Soldiers” paints the unglorified struggles and agonies that comes with war even in modern times. Wallace Stevens’ poem, “The Death of a Soldier” portrays that death as instant and dispassionate for the falling Soldier; he metaphorically compares it to the season of autumn because leaves falls from the tree branches with discomfiture. Just as the Soldier falls in battle field, the leaf in autumn falls swiftly without any memorials because nobody mourns. Wallace stated that “As in a season of autumn. The soldier falls. He does not become a three-day personage, imposing his separation, calling for pomp.” This declaration echoes that no expectation of memorial is mandatory when a Soldier dies during his patriotic act of fighting for his country instead they are quickly forgotten. His view as a modernist poet about the life and death of a soldier is metaphysical in meaning since he believes that death is not in any way a life event that is celebrated for or by any fallen Soldier. William Faulkner’s poem “Two Soldier” relatively regarded war as though inevitable gives the opportunity for one to show his dedication and patriotism towards his own country but when one dies fighting for his country, he is forgotten because war victims (Soldier(s) has no glory attach to death. He also depicted two brothers (Pete and the narrator) who loved each other so much that nothing will separate them but when the older brother Pete decided to join the army because of the bombing destructions that the Japanese has committed in Pearl Harbor, the younger brother could not accept the separation and was determined to fight alongside his brother. His (that is the narrator) convictions invigorated him into the expedition to walk to Memphis in other to reach his older brother Pete; even though he was aware that his age was a disqualifying factor to be a Soldier. He wanted to just help the Soldiers by doing his own part “In his eyes he can bring water and firewood for the soldiers, being too young is not even a thought for him. He wants to do his part as well, as long as he is with his brother.” In comparison, Faulkner’s poem illustrated the pain of letting loved ones go to war or rather in this case to be separated, death through war was without due honors for such a noble cause; such sacrifice was just in vein. Wallace Stevens explored the metaphoric explanation of the autumn leaves falling without any memorial to a Soldiers death because as an act of self-sacrifice, “Life contracts and death is expected.” War although inevitable has always been dreaded by so many throughout human generations. Some perceive war as a patriotic duty, while many sees it as an obligation with the ignominy of death.

Works Cited.
Saint Leo University. "Two Soldiers." Select Writers of the Twentieth Century: A Brief Anthology. New York: Pearson, 2005. 288-98. Print.

Saint Leo University. "The Death of a Soldier." Select Writers of the Twentieth Century: A Brief Anthology. New York: Pearson, 2005. 74. Print.

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