Comparison of Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth
When I was searching for two poems to compare, I saw these two poems
and wanted to explore them to find out how Wifred Owen uses language
in different ways to warn future generations of the horror of war.
Wilfred Owen fought in the First World War. He enlisted as most young
men were doing, so that they could protect Britain. However, in the
trenches he realized how horrific the war was and started to make
notes about the conditions at first. Then later in a military hospital
he edited and collected these notes into the poetry of Wifred Owen.
'Dulce et Decorum Est' is Latin for: It is sweet and fitting (to die
for one's country). This line is repeated at the end and by the
principles of 'Chaldeni.' I know that by repeating a line at the
beginning and the end it is most remembered. This line needs to be
remembered as the poem is based on the idea of it as 'the old lie'
mocking the established belief of nationalism and duty to your
country. Also, it is mocking the established authoritative language of
Latin that was reserved for the courts and churches. The line is
sarcastic as Owen has now himself seen a gas attack and a man drown
'under a green sea', and has found out that dying out there in a far
off land was a waste of a life and is completely pointless.
How can it be sweet and fitting to die for your country if no one
knows about your death?
Similarly the line from 'Anthem for Doomed Youth':
'What passing bells for those who die as cattle?'
raises the same question - Who cares about these men that die deaths
like cattle that are just bred for their slaughter?
'Anthem for Doomed Youth' is a sonnet. Sonnets traditionally were
...
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...s the life
fading from those who died that day, slowly like the funeral march but
ironic as most of the men who died on the battle fields never had a
funeral. There is irony in 'Dulce' also - the whole poem is ironic.
Owen is saying it is not sweet or fitting to die in battle, to be
flung in a wagon with your eyes 'writhing' in your face.
Owen uses the idea of irony in war in both of these poems as he saw
misery, destruction, and pain and wanted people to be more aware of
the cruelty of war and hopefully to stop it from happening again. Both
poems have an alternate line rhyming scheme. 'Anthem.' uses the form
of a sonnet to portray a distressing message that flows slowly as you
would imagine a funeral march. 'Dulce.' also has a distressing message
but is portrayed in contradiction to its title. The idea of
nationalism, and much it's worth is explored.
When Paul was in the war he and his Friend Kat ran into a recruit that had been shot and they were debating whether or not to put him out of his misery. "We'll be back again soon," says Kat, "We are only going to get a stretcher for you."We don't know if he understands. He whimpers like a child and plucks at us: "Don't go away--” Kat looks around and whispers: "Shouldn't we just take a revolver and put an end to it?" (Page 34). In the movie Gallipoli, the main character Archy was a runner and he had no idea what he had gotten himself into. But when it was his time to cross the front line he had hesitation and did what he had signed up for. In the poem In Flanders Field it makes you feel sad for all the lives that had been lost. “Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.” this gives you a feeling of sadness for all the people who died and their families that they will never see
Wilfred Owen expresses his feelings about war in “Anthem for a Doomed Youth”, which revolves around the events that took place in World War I. Throughout the sonnet, the speaker talks bitterly about modern warfare, noting the harsh sounds of war and questioning the treatment of the soldiers that perish. In the octave, the speaker wonders what can be done to honor the soldiers that died, but realizes negatively that the soldiers only receive death instead of ceremonies. In the sestet, the speaker expands upon this idea of a proper ceremony for the deceased soldiers, saying that the families must be the ones to properly honor their dead. Owen’s use of the Petrarchan sonnet with a Shakespearean rhyme scheme, helps him express his frustration about war and its subsequent treatment of the dead.
Irony of War Exposed in Dulce et Decorum, Regeneration, and Quiet on the Western Front
To draw into the poet’s world, the poet must draw relations between them, including the reader, making them feel what the poet feels, thinking what the poet thinks. Wilfred Owen does this very creatively and very effectively, in both of his poems, Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori and Anthem of Doomed Youth, who is seen as an idol to many people today, as a great war poet, who expresses his ideas that makes the reader feel involved in the moment, feeling everything that he does. His poems describe the horror of war, and the consequences of it, which is not beneficial for either side. He feels sorrow and anger towards the war and its victims, making the reader also feel the same.
At the turn of the century it was a time of strong patriotism. Men foolishly felt that it was their solemn duty to enlist in the war and fight gallantly for their country. There was no greater “manly” honor than to die in battle fighting for the country that you loved so much. It would have been completely “unmanly”, or emasculating to shy away from this God given duty to fig...
Owen uses imagery constantly to convey the conditions and feelings experienced during this war. Firstly I will be exploring Metaphor as it is used so much in this poem. The first metaphor which I will examine is: “Haunting Flares” on line 3 of the first stanza. This quote has so many connotations, my first opinion on this was that the flares which the enemy are firing to light up the battle field are said to be representing the souls of the soldiers fallen comrades. This could also be said to represent the power the enemy has on their own mortality as the bright flares would light up the battle-field exposing everything to their view, this indicates that the enemy always seem to have power upon the soldiers, almost godly. The second metaphor which I will explore is:
Owen's poems the irony between the truth of what happens at war and the lie that was
... the reader using the familiar and comforting phrase and then immediately hammering home the gruesome truths of the conflict. By creating this intentional disparity, Owen’s aim of shocking the reader into believing and accepting his viewpoint is very much closer to being achieved.
...e see a young boy being taught how to use weapons. In “Exposure”, Owen depicts a group of soldiers freezing to death at war, even though they aren’t in the midst of fighting. Lastly, in “Dulce Et Decorum Est” we read about a soldiers who struggles to get his mask on during a gas attack (when the enemy releases a gas deadly upon inhale). Owen describes the soldiers slow death in detail. Not only do these images provide the reader with first hand accounts of war, but they also show Owen’s feelings towards the war. All of these images that are glued into his head will be there forever, which is why he incorporates these realities in his poems, so that everyone can realize that war is nothing more than a inhumane act of terror.
How Wilfred Owen Uses Language and Imagery in His Poetry to Communicate his Attitudes of War
The similar rhyme schemes of the two sonnets allow for clear organization of the speaker’s ideas and support these ideas through comparison and connection. Both poems use or essentially use a Shakespearean rhyme scheme to provide rhythm for their sonnets, while adding extra emphasis to the topics presented throughout them. Owen uses the rhyme scheme in a way to stress his description of the enraged scene of the battlefield, and to further the dehumanization of the soldiers at war. The simile used to compare the soldiers to “cattle”, is connected to the fast “rattle” of the rifles, furthering the image of the inhumane way the soldiers we killed (1,3). Owen alters the Shakespearean rhyme scheme in the eleventh line making a switch to create two lines in a row that rhyme, rather than alternating. This allows for a smooth transition in his description of the ritual that marks a soldier’s death. To draw attention to the tears “in their eyes”, which could be in the eyes of the dead soldier or of their brothers at war, they are connected to the “glimmer of good-byes”, to represent the quick mourning for the soldiers (10-11). The connection here is furthered with the use of enjambment at the end of the tenth line; with no grammatical separation, the thought smoothly transitions from one line to the other. On the other hand, Keats uses the exact Shakespearean rhyme
Owen emphasises that the massacres caused by war do lead to crippling physical damage. In ‘DEDE’, he conveys this by the use of simile paired with alliteration “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”. These two lines, to begin ‘DEDE’ sets the mood of the poem, giving the audience a bitter greeting and asserts their fatigue. The comparison the men to beggars emphasises their ageing prematurely and that they have a lack of control over their life. Owen forcefully highlights how these men are going to war young but dying old due to the ageing of this war
The use of compelling figurative language helps to reveal the reality of war. In the first line, "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,"(1) shows us that the troops are so tired that they can be compared to old beggars. Another great use of simile, "His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin,"(20) suggests that his face is probably covered with blood which is the colour symbolizing the devil. A very powerful metaphor is the comparison of painful experiences of the troops to "[v]ile, incurable sores on innocent tongues."(24) This metaphor emphasizes that the troops will never forget these horrific experiences. As you can see, Owen has used figurative language so effectively that the reader gets drawn into the poem.
Fighting for freedom turns out to be an ironic event. It is ironic because freedom is sacrificed to guard it. Many brave men and women give up their daily lives so they can be shipped off to a place where they must follow orders and engage in combat. They drop everything to defend their country and the rights of the people living there, while giving up some of their own in the process. When on the lines, they are not free to wander around as they please, to sleep whenever they want to, or to eat what, where and when, they want. Unfortunately, along with enduring these inconveniences, some of our heroes are forced to give up the greatest thing of all, their life.
In this Essay I will discuss defamiliarization in relation to Wifred Owen’s poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. I will examine how his use of defamiliarization affects the reader in their understanding of the poem.