Position:Home>Poetry> Capital Letters For Words That Do Not Need Them? I Look At A Poem & I Just Don&#
Question: Capital Letters For Words That Do Not Need Them!? I Look At A Poem & I Just Don't Get It!!?
Hi everyone, I am currently studying World War 1 poetry as part of my English Literature A level!. Poetry is not my strongest area by far so I am admittedly struggling as some of the poems are incredibly deep and complex!.
My question is why would a writer start certain words with a capital letter when it is not needed!? Is there a word for this technique, is it for emphasis to show the importance of the word or something else!? To give an example I am currently studying the poem "The Dead" by Rupert Brooke and he starts the words Dead, Love, Pain, Holiness, Honour and Nobleness with capital letters!.
I am basically just looking for some advice from you poetry experts and some tips if you have any on how to actually get my head around war poetry!. I can stare at a poem for an hour and not get it but when it is explained I suddenly understand it!. Now I know I need to understand it on my own as there is no study guide in the exam so I am getting really nervous!.
I am way out of my comfort zone and my teacher expects a lot from me because of previous grades so help please lol!. Thank you for taking the time to answer! XxWww@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
The capitalizing of abstract nouns--e!. g!., Love, Pain, Holiness, Honour, Nobility, Freedom--was a tradition in the 18th century, a hold over from German (English is a Germanic language) in which nouns were capitalized!. They were almost personifications!. The difference between nouns and proper nouns was less distinct three centuries ago!.
As for war poetry, World War I was the first modern war, one in which the combatants were not two men facing each other but machines fighting machines, with men as bystanders!. It made war more horrific, more impersonal!. In _The Iliad_ two people who fight one another know each other; in one instance they come to an agreement and do not fight!. In World War I the fight was between two unknowns who might well have been friends (cf!. Thomas Hardy's poem "The Man He Killed!.")
The old ideals were dying as the modern world started!. Psychology had shaken the roots of identity to the core so that played into the sensibilities, especially in Wilfred Owen's poems!. Some of the poems experiment with off rhymes and changing rhythms as a way of reflecting the distress and uncertainties!. Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon's poetry reflects the emotional fragility of the soldier!. World War I was doubly distressing for England because the era marked the end of the great English empire, when Britannia ruled the waves and the old securities of England--faith in the church, the goodness of English village life, the established order of classes--was breaking down in new ways!. It is all there in Dickens if one reads carefully, but World War I brought it to the fore!.
You sound mildly afraid of poems!. No need!. They were written out of human sympathy and need!. I guess it's one thing to say that, though, and another to feel it!. Good luck on your A levels!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
No word processors so no bold type!. If you were to read the poem out loud, the word with a capitol letter would be of a higher volume than the rest of the word and a slight pause before continuing the poem!. It 'pain' is an ache, but 'Pain" is the concept of pain as defined by the words following it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I think it's an example of personification!. He's personifying Love, Honour, Pain and Nobleness!. To compare them with a king!. The Capital letter is for emphasis, probably to emphasise their importance and to tie in with the royal virtuous theme!.
Www@QuestionHome@Com
For the same reason that you start EVERY word witha capital letter!?!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Yup, emphasis!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
from the words you've listed, it sounds like it's being done for emphasis!. Www@QuestionHome@Com
Reading the poem - the technique used is personification!. Brooke is using these words as names, e!.g!.
Holiness, lacked so long [note alliteration also] and Love and Pain,
[repitition of "and" to add more emphasis]
Honour has come back, as a king, to earth!. [It is interesting that earth has a small "e" meaning soil - where so many people were killed, rather than the Earth]!.
Hope that helps!.
To the post arguing that it is a matter of harking back to old traditions - he is right that Early Modern English used capitals much more freely - but if this was the intended effect, why limit their use to a few personifications!?Www@QuestionHome@Com