Pictures of War that Wilfred Owen’s Poems Create

Pictures of War that Wilfred Owen’s Poems Create

Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire in 1893; he grew up in the north

of England. Doing successfully well in school Wilfred wanted to go to

university. As a consequence of his farmers job he could not afford to

participate in university. His father was a railway worker and

therefore didn’t earn much money. Instead of spending his next few

years in college, Wilfred immigrated to France to take up a career in

teaching at his time in Berlitz School, the Great War, commonly known

as World War 1, was undergoing its ‘birth’ and war was later declared

in 1914. Two years after settling in France Wilfred decided to sign up

in training to be an army officer. And later joined the regiments in

1916 posted at the River Somme. In March 1917 he was temporarily

discharged from the front line because of concussion. Owen re-joined

the battalion soon after the accident. Unfortunately he was once again

seized from the front line as a result of ‘shell shock’. In June 1917

he was transferred to a hospital called; Craiglockart, near Edinburgh.

Here he met a poet named Siegfried Sassoon. As Wilfred had already

started drafting poems, Sassoon helped Owen re-draft them to improve

them immensely. More than a handful of poems were produced by the two.

Wilfred’s first work was published in 1918, just before he returned to

the front line. In September, Owen was awarded the military cross.

Wilfred later dies on an attack on the Oise-Sombre canal.

I am going to analyse and show incite to his three most famous poems;

Anthem for doomed youth, Dulce et decorum and disabled.

‘Anthem for doomed youth’ is a relatively short poem, but the saying

‘less is more’ is definitely relevant in this case. The title alone

represents an ‘anthem’ a song or prayer, for the futile soldiers. The

main technique used is the question and answer method. The first line

is the question;

‘What passing bells for these who die as cattle?’

This is comparing the soldiers to cattle and stating that in the

battlefield the soldiers die in such great masses that they can be

easily compared to cattle who get murdered in slaughtered houses.

‘Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle’

This line contains onomatopoeia; ‘Stuttering rifles....’ This

represents the sound the guns make when fired. Also this line has

alliteration; ‘Rifles rapid rattle.’ This helps you set the scene of

the massacring battlefield. The poem has personification within it;

‘Only the monstrous anger of the guns’

This illustrates that the gun has anger, a personality if you will.

Which theoretically speaking is incorrect.