Task: Compare and contrast Colin Rowbotham's Relative Sadness and Peter Appleton's Responsibility, paying close attention to form and content.
From: http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/6128
Critical Commentary
“Relative Sadness” by Colin Rowbotham and “The Responsibility” by Peter Appleton
By
Matilde My Kristensen
“Relative Sadness” by Colin Rowbotham and “The Responsibility” by Peter Appleton are both poems written after the end of the Second World War and convey a strong anti-war attitude through the accusatory and sensationalist content, and various literary devices. Their format, style, and choice of literary devices contrast greatly. This is to say that they ultimately produce different effects on the reader. While they both condemn the war and the violence it entails, the messages communicated by the poems have differing nuances: Whereas “Relative Sadness” highlights the irony in the grief felt by those who participated in starting, waging or exacerbating the war, “The Responsibility” reveals the irony in the casting of blames on those very people. Thus, the two poems – having different meanings, using different literary devices and producing different effects on the reader – are both just as effective in expressing a clear anti-war sentiment.
