Analysis Of The Last Laugh Poem

In this poem written by Owen, the events of a typical day in the war is detailed and described to show that war is not as glorious and honorable as those back home picture it. The title, meaning 'how sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country', is actually very sarcastic and depicts the feelings of many of those that were fighting. The first stanza sets the scene and show what the soldiers would be feeling at the time. The men's condition at the time was so wretched th...

War is not a pretty sight. On the battle field, what is seen, felt and heard isn’t fully comprehensible unless one experienced it first hand. Owen’s writing, “Dulce Et Decorum Est”, vividly describes the horrid war that he was in. Owen begins his poem by placing the reader in the environment that he was in. Lines such as, “men marched asleep”, “coughing like hags”, “haunting flares” and “limped on, blood-shod” were effective at conveying an emotional appeal. The conditions that the soldiers were in w...

The soldiers are being attacked by poisonous gas. Owen draws attention to the one soldier who didn’t put his gas mask on fast enough. The poor man is suffering to the point of death in front of his fellow soldiers. Bryan Rivers, in his article, “Wilfred Owen’s Letter No. 486 As A Source For “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” explains Owen’s views about war by stating, “In his depiction of war, there is no “home” or place of safety “well behind”; just when the struggling soldiers think themselves safe from the “tired, outstripped FiveNines,” the gas suddenly overtakes them” (29). Owen concludes this poem by stating that anyone who experienced what happened to that unlucky soldier would view war differently. Owen’s goal was to display the realities of war and not portray it as heroic. This is one example of how World War I impacted

Owen uses very vivid imagery throughout the poem to describe how horrible the war was to the speaker and his fellow soldiers. He starts by describing how worn and tired he and his fellow soldiers are as they start “towards our distant rest” (Owen 695) which can be interpreted as them simply just walking back to their barracks to sleep or, in a darker sense, to their deaths. He describes how they marched asleep and how they were too tired to even hear the sounds of the gas shells dropping behind them. “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” (Owen 695) someone yells when they finally realize what it happening. All of the soldiers scramble to put on their gas masks but at least one man near the speaker can’t make it to his mask in time; “But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...” (Owen 695).

Wilfred Owen wrote about the distilled pity of war from his first-hand experience. Owen concisely features the carnage and destruction of war in both the poems, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Strange Meeting’ Owen uses these poems document the psychological and physical debilitation of war. In ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, Owen uses a various amount of literary techniques to visually depict the cruel and grotesque death from the mustard gas whereas ‘Strange Meeting’, portrays the speaker in conversation with a dead soldier that he is presumably responsible for killing, symbolically which emphasises the effect of the wartime trauma. Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively highlights the carnage and destruction of war to educate the audience on the disillusionment of war.

In conclusion, I think that throughout this poem Wilfred Owen has created a mood of anger and injustice. He has done this effectively by using poetic techniques such a imagery, metaphors, similes, alliterations and rhyme. To make the reader feel the same he shocks them with the true horror of the war and involves them in the poem by using words such as 'you'. Owen's true anger and bitterness comes clear at the end with the ironic statement at the end:

In the first stanza, Owen sets the scene. This stanza contains a lot of simile and metaphors that shows us how crushed these men are, physically and mentally. Soldiers are turning their back to the lights of the battle field “Till on the haunting flares we turned ours backs”. Exhausted, their knees are touching “knock-kneed”, tired of supporting their heavy backpack “like old beggars under sacks”. The condition of the poor soldiers is so miserable that the author compare them to “old beggars” and “hags” (ugly old woman). Some men had lost their boots and the only shoes they have is the blood on their feet “blood-shod”. They are walking painfully, not even hearing the noise made by the shells rushing through the air “deaf even to the hoots”. Then, little bye little, soldiers struggle away from the battle field, shells now falling behind “Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind”.

There are aspects of war that one cannot understand if they never witness it. The lack of connection with soldiers on the battlefield only fuel citizens who want to fight. Wilfred Owen’s poems paint a picture of being on the field to people who do not have this experience. He describes the emotions, thoughts, and struggles of living in the combat zone.

Owen was able to evoke emotions through the use of imagery, as well as the usages of literary devices. This poet tends to use a lot of similes, metaphors and personification to express his image of the death and destruction of the war. ‘The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires.’ The use of personification gives the reader a clear feeling of what Owen is trying to express. Furthermore, sense of demonic force is also shown about torture for the soldiers. . Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle’- personification, alliteration and onomatopoeia combine as methods to make war seen more brutal, violent and cruel. His uses of describing ...

Owen opens his poem with a strong simile that compares the soldiers to old people that may be hunch-backed. ‘Bent double, like old beggars like sacks.’ ‘like sacks’ suggests the image that the soldiers are like homeless people at the side of a street that is all dirty. This highlights that the clothes they were wearing were al...