Compare and contrast the styles and techniques of two of the Wilfred
Owen poems you have studied to demonstrate the poet's attitude to war
Wilfred Owen was a war poet from the First World War; he was born in
1893 and died in 1918, whilst fighting in the "Great War". He wrote
his poetry while sitting as an injured soldier on a hospital bed, and
many say this is where he developed his flair for writing. In this
essay, I have decided to analyse two poems; "Dulce et Decorum est" and
"Anthem for Doomed Youth". In my opinion both of these poems portray
Owen's anger towards the war, but do so in very different ways. I am
going to compare and contrast the two poems, so that I get a better
idea of Owen's attitude to war.
Themes are important to any poem because it is what they are about.
The main theme in "Dulce et Decorum est" is that it is not a glorious
thing to fight for one's country; it is actually a horrific and
traumatising experience. This is ironic because the name of the poem
translates to "It is a glorious and honorable thing to fight for one’s
country". I think Owen has done this so that he can lead up to the
last line where he is urging people back at home to cease telling
their children the "old lie" and to me this is effective. Stanza three
is writing about the tragedy of war; it says "Obscene as cancer", and
I think this is a useful simile because it is something that people
back at home, reading the poetry, could relate to. Another theme of
this poem is death; there are many occasions in which Owen talks about
death. I have chosen "guttering, choking, drowning" as an example
because it portrays an image of a horrific and painful way of dying.
Another example of death is “white eyes writhing in his face, his
hanging face” this is effective to me because the use of repetition
emphasises the state in which the soldier is in, and draws a vivid
images in the readers mind. I think these themes show that Owen has a
bitter attitude towards war because he seems to only mention a bad
side of war as if there is no glorious part.
The main theme in stanza one of "Anthem for Doomed Youth" however is
the lack of a funeral for people dying in the war. An example of this
is "choirs of wailing shells"; this means that the only choir they
have when they die is the sound the shells make as they move through
The two poems both show extremely different imagery. When reading Dulce et Decorum Est, the audience would interpret very strong and dark imagery.
Wilfred Owen and Bruce Dawe both experienced war, however they were involved in two different conflicts. Owen was an English soldier and anti-war poet who died a hero in conflict one week before World War I ended. This demonstrates success for the country itself and the veterans being seen as heroes. Contrastingly, Dawe was a university educated anti-war poet from Australia who joined the air force during the Vietnam War. This was controversial for both soldiers and people from the country being conflicted about their involvement in the war.
Whilst in France he decided to enlist in the army; he is quoted to have said “I have enlisted to help the boys as best I could.” This poem was written in Craiglockart Military Hospital in Scotland under the guidance of Siegfried Sassoon. At first glance, this poem may seem vehemently anti-war – but it actually directs most of its bitterness at the people who rally around the troops without ever understanding exactly what they're sending those troops off to do. Owen spent years on the battlefields. The poem itself wasn’t published until after the war, where Sassoon made sure that it was published. In dissimilarity to this, Mary Shelley was of the aristocratic background and was born in Somers Town, London, England on the 30th August 1797 She did a grand tour around Europe including Greece, Italy, and Rome studying culture, arts...
On the other hand, 'Dulce et decorum est' is quite a sarcastic and ironic title. 'Dulce et decorum est' literally translates as ‘It is sweet and fitting’, and it is a quote from the Roman poet Horace. It is repeated in the last line of the poem, which is ‘…Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.’
Dulce et Decorum Est is about the horrific situation that men went through in trench war fare, ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge’. The poem depicts the struggle to survive and the traumatic experiences of the first world war from the horrible conditions that the men had to face, to the gassing of all those around them. This is evident throughout the poem. ‘Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots, of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling’. This use of oxymoron’s allows the reader to create an image in their minds thus bring them closer to the horrific setting of the poem and allowing them to really feel as if they were there themselves.
In contrast, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ gives us the complete opposite. It takes away the lie that describes the war as a place of pleasure and vividness. When in reality it is a...
Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce et Decorum Est." The Faber Book of War Poetry. Ed. Kenneth Baker. London: Faber, 1997. 3-4.
Wilfred Owen was born near Oswestry, Shropshire. His father was a railway worker. He was schooled at Birkenhead Institute and Liverpool and Shrewsbury Technical College. His shortage of money prevented him from attending the University of London. He took up a teaching post in Bordeaux, France. He enlisted in the army shortly after war was declared.
“Dulce et Decorum Est” showing an anti-war side, the poem was originally entitled to Jessie Pope. It shows a tone through out the poem of depression, sadness Owen gets his message across very rapidly and makes the reader feel like they had just experienced the war in the few minutes of reading ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ this is done from the metaphors and magnificent imagery used to show a terrible side of war.
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.
The meaning of "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is "it is sweet and right", yet there is nothing sweet and right about going through what these soldiers went through on a daily basis in WWI. The first few lines use sad and depressing language to express an image of roughy soldiers pushing through an ever threatening battlefield. "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock- kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge" (lines 1- 2) is the way Owen describes the soldiers. This dismisses the belief that the soldiers were happy, proud, and patriotic. This shows them as physically and mentally exhausted, still pushing forward towards the one and only goal of surviving. Their disintegrating body reflects their inner turmoil and tiredness. The horrendous quality of war is shown by the description of the soldiers "men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood shod" (lines 5-6) this enhances the fact that war is not normal. It seems unreal, much like that of a nig...
Some men are victorious while others lay dead and abandoned in the grace of death. There are no witnesses who can claim the memory of a deceased soldier. They are doomed from any religious funerals. No spiritual rights surround the passing of a fallen soldier. Overview (2001) stated “There are no prayers or bells/Nor is there any voice of mourning, on the battlefield, the only observance of death is the choirs of shells that wail, just as a mourner might wail in grief at a funeral” (p. NA). The writer considers the Church of Death to represent the heroes who do not receive the normal ceremonies that are used to honor the dead. This proves that instead of honoring those who have fallen in battles, leaders endorse the indifference loss of
However, they are different. The sand is different. ‘Dulce et decorum Est’ expresses a great deal of horror and anger. I am a snob. The horror is set aside for the terrible pain and terror of the gas attack, not only for the victim, but also for the poet....
The fourth and final stanza makes the speaker’s argument very clear: it is not sweet and honorable to fight and die for the fatherland. The structure of the poem allows the speaker to relay his experience and finish by summing up his argument by saying if anyone else saw what he saw, then “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest / To children ardent for some desperate glory, / The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est” (25-27). The speaker blatantly establishes his argument, the saying Dulce et decorum est is simply patriotic propaganda to get young innocent men to fight for the fatherland, or in other words, a despicable lie that sends innocent youth to their graves.
How Wilfred Owen Uses Language and Imagery in His Poetry to Communicate his Attitudes of War