Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon were both war poets who wrote anti-war poems, and both also depicted the violence and the brute physicality of war. For example, in "Dulce Et Decorum Est," Owen wrote of "the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs" and "vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues." And in "The Death Bed," Sassoon described "the pain (which) / Leapt like a prowling beast" and "tore / His groping dreams with grinding claws and fangs." These very physical, grotesque images paint a stark, uncompromising picture of the brutal reality of war, and both Owen and Sassoon prioritized this reality in their poems to decry the waste of war, and to make sure that people were fully aware of what the soldiers went through.

Rupert Brooke and Alfred, Lord Tennyson can also be compared, as both of these poets wrote poems which, in contrast to Owen and Sassoon, idealized and glorified the war. For example, in "Charge of the Light Brigade," Tennyson implored the reader to "honour the Light Brigade" who rode into a disastrous battle, and repeatedly exclaimed that the soldiers who died, the "Noble six hundred," died honourable deaths because they died for their country. The whole poem is suffused with language which describes the courage of the soldiers ("Right through the line they broke . . . Boldly they rode and well") but doesn't mention any of the harsh reality of the battle. Brooke, in "The Soldier," similarly celebrated the patriotism of those, like the eponymous soldier, who gave their lives for their country. The soldier in the poem takes consolation and pride in thinking, as he dies in his hospital bed, that "there's some corner of a foreign field / That is forever England." The soldier then thinks of "hearts of peace, under an English heaven," and, with these thoughts soothing his pain, dies a relatively contented death.

Let's assume we are considering the war poets of World War I. Given the complexity of warfare, the interpretation and representation of such by the war poets of the time varied greatly. Some poets generally valorized war, while others pointed to the horror of its violence. There are, however, some common threads that run through many of the quintessential war poems during and in the wake of WWI.

Perhaps the most striking similarity between WWI poems which are otherwise disparate is their rhyme scheme. "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke speaks romantically of dying in a foreign land in the name of defending England. "Absolution" by Siegfried Sassoon explains in grisly details the horror and irrevocable loss caused by war. "The Man He Killed" by Thomas Hardy is neither proud nor lugubrious but does point to the sad irony of killing those in battle who are so like oneself. All three of these poems feature an "abab" rhyme scheme, otherwise known as alternate rhyme. Why do all these poets employ such a rhythmic, consistent, predictable pattern of rhyme?

The war poets of this period may frequently use an "abab" rhyme scheme for several reasons. In the first place, this use of rhyme invokes a steadiness which is much like marching into battle: "left right left right" and "abab." Many of these poems were written in the to convey an important anecdote and/or message and therefore tap into rhyme as a way to anchor words to memory. Finally, by using an old, even-tempered, and traditional rhyme scheme, the poets pay homage to the seriousness of their subjects. The rhyme scheme endows the poem with an air of solemn reverence befitting its subject matter: war, life, honor, and death.