Only a few decades after the conclusion of the Crimean War, the Boer War began. Fought from October 11, 1899 to May 31, 1902, the Boer War is considered the first glimpse at the destruction that would be later seen in the First World War (“South African War”). Although strategy was important, such as the detrimental effects of the Boers using guerilla warfare, new weapons were crucial (“South African War”). The Maxim Machine gun was invented in 1885 by Hiram Maxim and quickly revealed its cataclysmic consequences as it could fire at a rate of 600 shots per minute, by far the most deadly weapon of the age (Levy 113-114). Nearly 100,000 lives were lost in the war (“South African War”). However, more than 26,000 were women and children held in …show more content…
This lulls the reader into a false sense of security, perhaps unwittingly expecting a much more upbeat and cheerful tale of war. Also, throughout the poem, the meter is iambic pentameter, with the exception of the last line that only has three feet. This abrupt ending to the poem is much like the sudden deaths of young boys fighting in the war. Suffering is clear, because even before any action occurs, the soldiers are described like hags or beggars, despite their youth. Furthermore, their movements are described as slow, despite German artillery firing behind them. This contrasts the idealization of war that encouraged young men to join the army. Additionally, in lines 9 and 10, fear is clear in the battle when Owen writes “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys—an ecstasy of fumbling,/Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time” (Stallworthy 188). Moving at such a rapid pace from fear shows a sharp contrast to the previous elderly, slow image of the boys, and demonstrates the terror associated with poison gas. The remaining lines in the poem describe a boy whose helmet was not on in time. The image of this boy still haunts the speaker of the poem, which is evident in lines 15 and 16: “In all my dreams, before my helpless …show more content…
His poem, “How to Kill”, expresses his dislike for war. Douglas first compares a child playing a ball game to a man holding a weapon. Children are trained from a young age with seemingly innocent games how to kill as an adult; hitting another child with a ball transforms into shooting them with a gun with deadly accuracy. Despite realizing that the enemy is, in fact, another human being with a family and a life, the soldier is still able to kill as if war is treated like a game. Furthermore, lines 15-18 state that “…I am amused/to see the center of love diffused/ and the waves of love travel into vacancy./How easy it is to make a ghost” (Forché 599). This reinforces the idea that one can only kill if targeting a man is seen as a game. Additionally, Douglas is able to show how much death occurs in war by describing Death as a familiar—typically a summoned spirit associated with witchcraft—which demonstrates how frequently Death is called upon. Killing is far too simple. This poem demonstrates that there is no honor left in war; it is nothing more than a game, in which killing is child’s
...ths, but it lasted years. Owen betrays the men of the young generation being brutally slaughtered, like cattle, and were fated to death. Owen recognizes the feelings of the family and friends of the victims of war, the people mourning over the loss of their loved ones. Owen also uses personification in the poem, “monstrous anger of the guns” which reinforces the concept of the senseless slaughter of the soldiers. This makes the audience think about the war, and the image of heavy machine guns can be pictured in their minds, bringing them into the poet’s world of poetry.
In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’. Owen, throughout the poem, creates the impression of the trenches for the reader and stanza one helps to set the scene. The soldiers, who have been fighting for a long time in the trenches, are finally returning to their billets to rest. The exhaustion of the men is shown here through similes which compare the men to old beggars and hags, ‘like beggars under sacks’ and ‘coughing like hags’, although they were young men, showing just how exhausted they were and the effects the war is having on them physically. Also, the men are ‘blood-shod’ which makes them seem more like horses than human beings. Owen also uses metaphors in stanza one to describe the terrible tiredness the men were suffering from, ‘men marched asleep’. The stanza describes how the poor conditions of the trenches are putting a strain on the soldiers, until they are ‘knock-kneed’ and having to ‘trudge’ through the ‘sludge’ to get to their place of rest. They are ‘drunk with fatigue’ and limping with wounds or loss of boots. This stanza also illustrates the ...
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...
Owen uses imagery constantly to convey the conditions and feelings experienced during this war. Firstly I will be exploring Metaphor as it is used so much in this poem. The first metaphor which I will examine is: “Haunting Flares” on line 3 of the first stanza. This quote has so many connotations, my first opinion on this was that the flares which the enemy are firing to light up the battle field are said to be representing the souls of the soldiers fallen comrades. This could also be said to represent the power the enemy has on their own mortality as the bright flares would light up the battle-field exposing everything to their view, this indicates that the enemy always seem to have power upon the soldiers, almost godly. The second metaphor which I will explore is:
...e see a young boy being taught how to use weapons. In “Exposure”, Owen depicts a group of soldiers freezing to death at war, even though they aren’t in the midst of fighting. Lastly, in “Dulce Et Decorum Est” we read about a soldiers who struggles to get his mask on during a gas attack (when the enemy releases a gas deadly upon inhale). Owen describes the soldiers slow death in detail. Not only do these images provide the reader with first hand accounts of war, but they also show Owen’s feelings towards the war. All of these images that are glued into his head will be there forever, which is why he incorporates these realities in his poems, so that everyone can realize that war is nothing more than a inhumane act of terror.
Owen emphasises that the massacres caused by war do lead to crippling physical damage. In ‘DEDE’, he conveys this by the use of simile paired with alliteration “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”. These two lines, to begin ‘DEDE’ sets the mood of the poem, giving the audience a bitter greeting and asserts their fatigue. The comparison the men to beggars emphasises their ageing prematurely and that they have a lack of control over their life. Owen forcefully highlights how these men are going to war young but dying old due to the ageing of this war
The tone is bitter and intense in a realistic way. It is achieved by the vivid and gruesome images in the poem. Wilfred Owen 's use of imagery in this poem is by depicting emotional, nightmarish, and vivid words to capture the haunting encounters of WWI that soldiers went through. In the first stanza, Owen depicts his fellow soldiers struggling through the battlefield, but their terrible health conditions prevent them from their strong actions in the war. When Owen says, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags” (lines 1-2). This provides the readers with an unexpected view and appearance of soldiers, as they usually picture as strong, noble, and brawny-looking men. Soldiers sacrifice themselves to fight for their country and are exhausted from their unhealthy lifestyle. In lines 7-8, “Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of gas-shells dropping softly behind,” they have lost the facade of humanity and their bodies are all wearied and weak on their march. This reveals a glimpse at the soldiers’ actions, as well as inferring to a psychological effect of the war. Then in line 5, “Men marched asleep,” the author is making abnormality to be one of the major purposes of the war, that it
Also it is comparing the war to a game, which is a euphemism as well as a metaphor. It is a euphemism because war is a very serious, dangerous matter; whereas a game is something that people enjoy and never get seriously injured in. By using this euphemism, Jessie Pope - the poet – lessens the severity of war, and makes her readers’ think of it as enjoyable, and something that they want to do.
The images drawn in this poem are so graphic that it could make readers feel sick. For example, in these lines: "If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/ Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs/ Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud,"(21-23) shows us that so many men were brutally killed during this war. Also, when the gas bomb was dropped, "[s]omeone still yelling out and stumbling/ [a]nd flound'ring like a man in fire or lime.../ [h]e plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning."(11-12,16) These compelling lines indicate that men drowned helplessly in the toxic gasses. These graphic images are very disturbing but play a very effective role in the development of the poem.
The poem is a combination of two sonnets. In the first sonnet, Owen uses present tense, as if we the reader are there to see it with him. Placing the reader and himself with the other soldiers as they walk, crawl and fight through the mud and grime of the battlefield. He views them as "beggars". They have lost the image of humanity. They are wore out and desensitized to everything except their orders. In the second stanza the action happens, we read/see poisonous gas force the men to put their helmets on. Owens focuses on one unlucky young man that was not fast enough to get his mask on and see's him “Drowning” and reaching for help, it was too late as the gas tears at his flesh and lungs. Owens uses metaphor and simile to invoke a dreamlike image, “Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,” and “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” Comparison of the mist of green gas to a sea contains the simile, And the clever metaphor is found when he compares the gas victim to a victim of drowning in a sea.
Comparing two war poems written by Wilfred Owen: Dulce et decorum Est. and Anthem for Doomed Youth. In this essay I will be comparing two war poems written by Wilfred Owen: ‘Dulce et decorum Est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’. By Comparing the two I will be able to distinguish the fact that Wilfred Owen is very anti-propaganda and that's why he feels so strongly about this. The two poems have many similarities but also a fair amount of differences, which I will be discussing in this essay.
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’s poem uses symbolism to bring home the harsh reality of war the speaker has experienced and forces the reader to think about the reality presented in romanticized poetry that treats war gently. He utilizes language that imparts the speakers experiences, as well as what he, his companions, and the dying man feels. People really die and suffer and live through nightmares during a war; Owen forcefully demonstrates this in “Dulce et Decorum Est”. He examines the horrific quality of World War I and transports the reader into the intense imagery of the emotion and experience of the speaker.
The similes and metaphors used by Owen illustrate very negative war scenes throughout the poem, depicting extreme suffering of young men fighting during World War I. The first simile used by Owen describes the soldiers as “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”, giving them sickly, wounded, and exhausted attributes from battle and lack of rest (1). Next, the soldiers are described as “Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”, which once again portrays these young men as sick...
In the first stanza Owen uses strong metaphors and similes to convey a meaningful warning. The first line, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”, describes the soldiers tremendous exhaustion. They have been brought down to a beggar’s level and are being compared to low society. To reinforce this the speaker says, “And towards our distant rest began to trudge” (3). Everything seemed farther and so the troops desire for relaxation and peace. Owen uses metaphors:”Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots/B...