As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. The poems by Tennyson and Owen evoke radically different emotions about war certainly, but they may also serve to dramatize two contrasting spirits in philosophy. On the one hand, the Tennyson poem manages to recuperate some glory out of blunder and stupidity. The poem reminds us that in a war, contrast is everything.
Blundered orders become an opportunity for bravery.
There is a constructive, affirmative side to philosophy as well. It abhors meaninglessness and, correspondingly, seeks significance everywhere, war included. On the other hand, Owen's poem forces us to confront the ugly details of a senseless death. The new technology of chemical warfare exposes the absurdity of patriotic slogans. Philosophy, too, has a critical side where the will to truth unmasks all deceptions and superstitions.