In the Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, a poem written by Randall Jarrell, describes in just five lines the life of a World War II ball turret gunner, who is on a mission while in an air raid, against Germany. Randall Jarrell goes into great depth and detail about how tough and severe war times can be. He also explains the amount of courage one must have to be willing to fight for ones’ country in such dangerous and hard times. Similarly, Dulce et Decorum Est, written by Wilfred Owen is another passionately written poem about the horrors of war, and the tough times that young soldiers had to go through and the sacrifices they had to make because of their love for their country. Both “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” describe the dangerous times of war, but also reflect on the sacrifice of soldiers and what they go through to protect their country. They present a comparison between the hypocritical, idealistic view of what war consists of, and the shocking and harsh reality of what truly took place during these war times. 

The poem “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” written by Randall Jarrell shows what the life of a World War Two ball turret gunner is like. The ball turret gunner is on a mission of protecting his plane, while he is on an air raid, bombing Germany. Randall Jarrell starts off his poem “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” with “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State and hunched till my wet fur froze” (Jarrell 1-2). These lines are saying that the gunner is born from his mother’s womb, and then ends up in the scary state of being in the belly of a high altitude bomber. In his mother’s womb he is protected by the warmth, whereas in the belly of a high altitude bomber, it is freezing and he is no longer kept safe from the world. The “State” that is referred to, is not referred to patriotically in this use, but it is more used to describe that it is freezing and less nourishing than his mother’s womb. The soldiers are in a way compared to children, who are taken from their mother’s womb, and forced to go into the world. Just like the children are forced to leave their mother’s womb and enter the real world, the soldiers are forced to go to war, and are forced to face the unknowns of war, and possibly even death. Jarrell uses vivid imagery to show and describe how unforgiving war is. He shows the courage that it takes to do the job of a ball turret gunner, and that it is more than harsh. 

Dulce et Decorum Est, written by Wilfred Owen, uses graphic imagery to get rid of the patriotic idea that it is sweet or great to die for one’s country. During “Dulce et Decorum Est,” the soldiers are first referred to as hunchbacked, ill or “old beggars”, that are trudging and struggling through the mud towards their destination. (Owens 1-4). Wilfred Owen creates a far from romantic view of what war is like right off the bat with the words he uses to create such vivid imagery for readers. Owen continues to make his point across about what war truly is when he writes “Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, bloodshot” (4-5). This shows that the soldiers aren’t praised for their hard work and sacrifice, but instead the soldiers are shown as poorly equip and are not able to do their jobs. Then oddly enough, Owen portrays the soldiers as almost beastlike. He paints the image of a monster by saying “All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots” (6-7). 

These two poems seem similar, but in fact have many differences between them. One difference between these two war poems, is the time period in which they were written and the wars they were written about. “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” was published in 1945. It is. It is about the death of gunner in a ball turret on a World War II bomber aircraft. So this poem obviously takes place during World War II. “Dulce et Decorum Est” was published in 1920, and takes place during World War I. Another difference between these two poems is in the tone in which the narrator speaks in each one. In “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”, there appears to be no expression of excitement. Jarrell is addressing a very emotional issue, but the tone that is used is quite shocking. He uses quite graphic images throughout the poem, but he does not seem to convey much emotion throughout the poem. Jarrell does not catch the reader from off the bat and set the reader up for a heart breaking ending. This is all used as a way to set up the final line of the poem, which reads “When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose” (5). This final is completely shocking. It makes the reader pause for a minute and reflect back on the poem and what had just happened. The final line of Jarrell’s poem changes the mood and tone of the whole entire poem, and makes the reader think. The tone used by Owen, in “Dulce Et Decorum Est” is anything but similar to that of Jarrell’s poem. In “Dulce et Decorum Est”, he starts out with attention grabbing and emotional words: “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, /Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge” (1-2). Owen intends to grab the reader’s attention and set an image in the heads of the readers right from the start of the poem. The first stanza is filled with despair, whereas Owen moves to an exciting feeling in the second stanza when he writes “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! / An ecstasy of fumbling…” (9). Then during the third stanza, Owen uses phrases such as “the wage we flung him in” (18), to create a sense of loathsomeness. The poet creates such strong pathos throughout the entire poem that it is hard to not read the whole poem in its entirety. 

While these poems have their differences, they are also more similar than they seem to be. Both of these poems, “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” are similar in that they both show what war really consists of and the horrors of war. They show just how dangerous it can be, and the unknowns of what can happen during war times, including even death. Neither of these poems give a romantic or patriotic view of war, and neither of them describe that it is sweet to die for one’s country, but instead use graphic imagery to show the horrifying parts of it. Wilfred Owen and Randall Jarrell both wrote war poems in a time in which the public needed a reality check about war was really about, instead of glorifying it, as propaganda had done.
