However, it is of key significance that the millions who died and suffered in this futility will be forever remembered. Their inconceivable experiences and horrifying statistics must be taken into... ... middle of paper ... ... shells “wailing” their “shrill, demented” mourning. The last sounds these soldiers are forced to listen to are their killers’ ridiculing at their naïve decision to fight. Weapons in Owen’s poems are personified to mock the war and reinforce its futility. The poetic techniques used in Wilfred Owen’s war poetry sweep the reader from the surface of knowing to the essence of truly appreciating his ideas.
Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” makes the reader acutely aware of the impact of war. The speaker’s experiences with war are vivid and terrible. Through the themes of the poem, his language choices, and contrasting the pleasant title preceding the disturbing content of the poem, he brings attention to his views on war while during the midst of one himself. Owen uses symbolism in form and language to illustrate the horrors the speaker and his comrades go through; and the way he describes the soldiers, as though they are distorted and damaged, parallels how the speaker’s mind is violated and haunted by war. Chaos and drudgery are common themes throughout the poem, displayed in its form; it is nearly iambic pentameter, but not every line fits the required pattern.
The Red baron realistically portrays the misguided notions that war is somehow noble, but as the story progresses the reality and horror of war reveals itself The works of Richard Gabriel and George Mosse contribute to the argument. Gabriel argues from a psychological standpoint. He proposes that throughout history, war has always been so horrible. In fact the ability of man to endure the psychological impact of this horror is so low that most soldiers that survive are in some way mentally damaged by the experience. Mosse argues that the idealization or romanticization of war can be traced back to how war is portrayed by writers and how it influences idealist.
Furthermore the word “stained” implies that the photographer has been permanently affected, causing him to lose his innocence, like the veterans in “Mental Cases”. “Mental Cases” is about the effects of war on soldier’s mental state. The poem paints a picture of horror and pity for the war veterans. The soldiers are described to be “baring teeth that leer” which suggests animalistic qualities by showing their teeth defensively. The “multitudinous murders they once witnessed” is an alliteration to emphasize the mass killings.
As one can imagine, Kien is haunted daily by gruesome hallucinations and memories from the battlefield. Kien begins to write about his war experiences, which turns into an obsession. He claims it is obligated as his duty to write about the war, and yet “seems to write only to rid himself of his devils” (Ninh, 49). His motivation is to “expose the realities of war and the tear aside conventional images” (Ninh, 50). It is not just Kien whose life is destroyed by the war.
Although the poems "Recalling War" by Robert Graves and "Mental Cases" by Wilfred Owen are both concerned with the damage that war does to the soldiers involved, they are different in almost every other respect. Owen's poem examines the physical and mental effects of war in a very personal and direct way - his voice is very much in evidence in this poem - he has clearly seen people like the 'mental cases' who are described. It is also evident that Owen's own experiences of the war are described: he challenges the reader with terrifying images, in order that the reader can begin to comprehend the causes of the madness. Graves on the other hand is far more detached. His argument is distant, using ancient images to explore the immediate and long-term effects of war on the soldier.
Even though the poets came from contrasting backgrounds, they were able to personalize war to make it hit a chord with the reader and display the bleak reality of war that regular citizens may not have realized, Hardy, through emotional pain and Owen, through imagery. In “Dulce et Decorum Est”, Owen successfully illustrates the physical punishment that war deals out to its soldiers. Throughout the first stanza, there is a great deal of imagery that gives the reader a good look at what war is like for soldiers who are, “knock-kneed, coughing like hags” (line 2) which shows visual and auditory imagery. The line continues with “we cursed through sludge” (line 2) with both auditory and kinesthetic imagery and ends with the soldiers “ limp[ing] on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind” (line 6).
This is to challenge the speaker to think of what could of caused their conditions and with the subjects being nameless it spans the fact that there is more than one returned soldier like this. Good morning (Afternoon) my fellow disciplinaries, These words from Wilfred Owen, which helped shape our understandings of the human condition, our understandings of the realities of war and the horrific deaths of which were experienced and witnessed by the soldiers of World War one. Known as one of the leading poets of the first world war. Owen’s poem Dulce et Decorum Est, themed the horrors of trench and gas warfare are heavily utilised to contrast the public’s perception of war of that era. The speaker describes these soldiers as ‘shadows’ which rock in the twighlight.
Southern slaveowners claimed that they were upholding their Christian duty by engaging in slavery, rescuing slaves from a life of struggle and faithlessness. Douglass dispels this myth by exposing the many flaws of Mr. Covey’s morality, shocking northern Christians with his Christian hypocrisy and faulty character. Douglass introduces Mr. Covey as a “nigger-breaker,” denouncing his ability for human emotion and sympathy(79). Douglass evokes a sense of ethics and judgement in his Northern audience as he questions the authenticity of Mr. Covey’s faith: “I do verily believe that he sometimes deceived himself into the solemn belief that he was a sincere worshipper of the most high God” (82).
Owen serves as a great example of the losses that war brings. Many other poets, writers, and great minds were lost to the horrors and tragedies of war. Owen had a profound effect on the way that people view war and the events that take place. It also serves as a testament to what people involved with war had to go through, and what the survivors remember most of all, the sickening acts of voluntary torture.