Interpreting WW1 Poetry Through Museum Artifacts

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Recommended: Propaganda during WW 1

Monday 28th September

On the 28th of September I visited the Imperial War Museum in London with my grade; we viewed two different exhibits from two different timelines, one of them was a World War One exhibit and the other was about the Holocaust during World War 2. As a grade we were given a packet from our respective English teachers that had four poems written about World War 1, our job was to connect the poems to different parts of the World War One exhibit and make the connections between both the poems and the artifacts within the exhibit.
‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is without a doubt one of the most memorable poems from the World War One era. Written by Wilfred Owen, the imagery within the poem and the tone of which it is written in creates an unforgettable visual of what the war was actually like. …show more content…

During World War One and even before the war propaganda was widely used to glorify war (Nationalism and Militarism are perfect examples), the idea of fighting for ones country was an ideal fantasy for young men. There were many examples of propaganda throughout the exhibit; they ranged from posters to leaflets etc. Men fought and enlisted for the war because of their sense of duty, patriotism, anger, for a sense of adventure etc. No one was really ever properly prepared for the hardships and horrors faced during battle until they were actually on the battlefield themselves. Owen captures the harsh realities of war during this leading poem; in the first stanza Owen puts himself in the situation along with his fellow comrades as they march through the sludge of the

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