War Poetic Devices In Wilfred Owen's War Poetry

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Wilfred Owen is a British war poet who among many is highly regarded to be the best and most influential war poet during the First World War. He was known for his successful use of war themed imagery and the poetic devices he utilized in his poems to bring the reader realistically closer to war and the severe occurrences he personally endured. In order to be fully aware of Owen 's powerful emotions and disturbing themes played within his poems it is essential to develop an understanding of his life experiences and personal history.
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born on 18th March 1893, in Oswestry where he was raised by both of his parents and later became the eldest of four brothers. In his spare time he picked up a hobby of reading and …show more content…

This use of alliteration not only help portray the horrifying sounds of World War I but are also used to convey a distressing mood for the reader and allow for a greater insight into Owen 's life. In addition, other poetic devices such as hyperbole and oxymoron’s are more subtle within the text and may need a closer analysis to be understood. These devices can be seen in lines 5-6 of the first stanza "slow panic, Gouged these chasms round their fretted sockets" where 'slow panic ' is oxymoronic and 'gouged ' and 'chasms ' are hyperboles. Owen successfully utilizes these specific techniques and poetic devices to further advance his message of propaganda and re-establish the mental horror endured through war. This positions the audience to acknowledge the link between Owen’s personal history and the meaning behind his …show more content…

The poem accurately refers to a horrific incident that Owen witnessed in a dugout trench on the front line. It focuses on this particular occurrence as the flooded trench is being hammered down by explosions when a sentry was blasted from his post and blinded from an explosion. Owen describes the sentry in a way that seems traumatising and haunting for the author. The light in the poem is a symbol for hope and heaven where Owen states in the final verse “ours had long gone out” meaning that his hope and heaven have disappeared whereas the line “I see your lights” can be interpreted that the blind sentry is in heaven and free from the horrifying images. As juxtaposed to "Mental Cases", Owen illustrates men in their prime become mentally tormented and haunted by the war. This evokes a clear image for the reader as it becomes more emotional when considering that this is a real life experience that Owen was faced

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