Does it really matter?

Does it matter? - losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,

And you need not show that you mind

When the others come in after hunting

To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter? - losing your sight?...

There’s such splendid work for the blind;

And people will always be kind,

As you sit on the terrace remembering

And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter? - those dreams from the pit?...

You can drink and forget and be glad,

And people won’t say that you’re mad;

For they’ll know you’ve fought for your country

And no one will worry a bit.

Questions:

g) What three effects of the war on a soldier does this poem tuch on?

h) It is often argued that that the two great wars were fought by working-class men on both sides and that the people they were fighting for, were often more the enemy than the people they were fighting against. Does this poem reflect this attitude?

i) This poem has enjoyed a bit of a revival of late. What reasons do you think there might be for its newfound popularity?

Answers by Kaja and Birgitte:

g) The three effects of the war on the soldier is loosing his leg, loosing his sight and bad dreams.

h) The poem reflects the attitude of question, because the people that are fighting, are fighting agains their own kind, but the people they are fighting for are from the upper class. We believe that they would rather fight with their own kind, than against them.

i) Because we look at the poem in a different way now, than people did before. During the war, they did not care for poems because of the war, but now we are very interested in how the war was and how people felt because it's history.