I have studied poems of World War II. I found that the poems fell into

1129 Words3 Pages

I have studied poems of World War II. I found that the poems fell into

two categories, Recruiting Poems and Reality Poems.

World War II Poetry

I have studied poems of World War II. I found that the poems fell into

two categories, Recruiting Poems and Reality Poems. Recruiting poems

were those which were written by poets who have never encountered war

but were paid to convince the reader, usually in their twenties, to

sign up with the army. Reality poems tragic and effective story of

what war was really like. They were written after war by a person who

has suffered the consequences of the battleground.

Dulce Et Decorum Est, a reality poem written by Wilfred Owen describes

the struggle of a group of people who have to fight through the

extraordinary events of war day in day out. Wilfred Owen frequently

uses highly emotive language throughout the poem for example

"haunting", "limped" and "guttering, choking, drowning". These help

the reader imagine the terrible pain the soldiers suffered. Owen uses

rhetorical devices such as "you too could pace behind the wagon that

we flung him in"

The title, in English means It Is Sweet And Honourable To Die For Ones

Country. Which at first suggests that the poem represents the army in

a good way. However this is far from the truth. In a way I think that

Owen was mocking the saying but I don't think he was mocking the army

as a whole.

Owen says "Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs" which

means the soldiers are so tired that even when the flares go off

behind them they don't have the energy to turn around to see them. He

also says "Drunk with fatigue" which is saying that the soldiers are

so tired that it is as though they are drunk. Owen says these to

ethicise the tiredness of the soldiers.

The pace changes in the second stanza. The soldiers are woken by a gas

attack. This changes the mood that Owen has set in the opening stanza.

The soldiers are now woken by the fact that their lives are in extreme

danger and they now have to be fully aware of all their surroundings,

which will be difficult because of their tiredness. "Dim through the

misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him

drowning" The green light is the view through the soldier's gas masks.

This is a simile saying that the man is drowning in a green sea. But

really he is drowning in a sea of toxic blood.

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