Arms Training and Homecoming are two poems written by popular Australian author Bruce Dawe. Both poems oppose the Vietnam War, but they approach the subject in very different ways. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay. Weapons training is brutal in its subject matter and language. It describes the training that new recruits undergo before being sent to war. It records the scolding of a new group by their sergeant major who forcibly conditions them to become mindless killing machines. The poem suggests that it is better for new troops to be ready to kill instinctively, because any hesitation in the field could lead to them being shot down first: less luck or you would be sent too late, you have none. In addition to the insults that the sergeant throws, the automation of the murder is encouraged by the dehumanization of the enemy with words like "bunch of little yellows", "a pack of Charlies" and "their rotten fish sauce breath" . Physically, it is easier to shoot an object rather than a person. Due to their dehumanizing nature, the insults "look ahead if you had an extra brain" and "you in the back row with the unsightly fat" and the suggestion that the recruits are homosexuals. why are you looking at me, are you a faggot? ", the reader might hate the sergeant. However, Dawe suggests that the sergeant might act this way in order to keep the recruits safe, as shown in the final lines. “You took out everyone like I said and you know what you are? You're dead, dead, dead. » We almost pity him because he probably trained many recruits who did not return from the war. This is very different from how the poem begins. Homecoming is also an anti-war poem although it is much more thoughtful and sober. He talks about the horrors that soldiers experience during their service. “They collect them, whatever they can find, and bring them home. » Every soldier saw the members of his battalion die a painful death. They had to raise up their fallen comrades, because they will never be able to get up again. The horrors they face are imaginable, some soldiers are never the same after serving. The mood of the poem is very dark and sad, you can feel the pain and sorrow that not only the soldiers but also the families of the dead feel. and the returning soldiers. While weapons training dehumanizes, in Homecoming there is much personification “Telegrams tremble like the leaves of a wintering tree and the spider's sorrow sways in its bitter geometry. » This gives the impression that these ordinary objects are alive, that they have their own emotions. “The noble planes moan like dogs” Dawe compared the planes carrying the dead soldiers to dogs, saying the sound the plane made was similar to the whine a dog would make when sad. Dawe expressed that the plane felt an emotion of sadness. “The howl of their return rises” As the plane appears on the horizon, the citizens celebrate, not knowing that this plane is bringing the fallen soldiers home, but a howl can convey different emotions. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized essay now from our expert writers.Get a Custom EssayWeapons Training and Homecoming are anti-war poems, both expressing the horrors of war. One prepares you for..