War Poetry

Wilfred Owen The poems written by Wilfred Owen are about the horrors, the ugliness, the suffering and the countless tragedies that war has brought. The anti-war them and serious tone used in his poems is extremely effective at portraying ear as horrid and devastating. The detailed descriptions of blood, guts and death are overpowering. In the poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est', Owen stresses how war should not be glorified or glamorised. The title meaning 'It is sweet and becoming to die for one's country' is used satirically because the poem describes the horror and agony that the soldiers endured during their time in the trenches.

This poem is very strong and emotional because he gives us mental images of how horrible war is. In this piece Crane keeps repeated "war is kind". These three words really show how he and other Americans felt about war. He is not saying that war is good. He is saying this in a sarcastic way.

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.

In the poem "Dulce et Decorum Es... ... middle of paper ... ...inions about war, in fact, almost opposite opinions, each poet uses different types of diction, figurative language, imagery, sounds, and tones to achieve his purpose. There are also a multitude of differences between ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘The Soldier’. While ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ conveys the ruthless reality of war and mocks the very act of patriotic death, Brooke uses ‘The Soldier’ to stress that it is undeniably an honor to die for ones country. To build on his tone, Owen uses harsher, more repulsive onomatopoeic words that give off ‘g’, ‘c’ (k) and a lot of hissing ‘s’ sounds, which continue to keep you on your toes-“ knock-kneed… sludge… trudge… guttering… choking… gargling”. But Brooke uses softer words, such that give off ‘f’ sounds.

Picturing ‘old beggar under sacks’ tells us what war has done to them. It also tells us they are battle weary and scared of what is ahead of them. The use of similes in the first stanza allows the reader to understand the anguish of war. The poet is able to use words the words to paint a vivid and terrifying picture of trench warfare in the mind of the reader. The Hags is connected with the word beggers as they both outcasts in society.

In doing do I will look at how each poet is effective in conveying the message through their use of imagery. Wilfred Owen most eminent poem regarding war is known as Dulce et Decorum est which means The Old Lie in Latin. T... ... middle of paper ... ...eam for fighting for their country is in reality a living nightmare both physically and psychologically and in fact there is nothing honourable in war and life on the battlefield. Instead he wants the reader to understand that war rapes a soldier of human dignity. He does this effectively through the use of his bold description of the gas attack incident and his elaborate description of the soldiers appearances.

The Views of Rupert Brooke and Wil My selected poems are 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke and 'Dulce et Decorum est' by Wilfred Owen. Both war poems but conveying their different feelings and presenting their views of war in radically different ways. The poets have polarized views of war with Rupert Brooke writing his poem in a romanticized and patriotic way referring to the possibility of death as a noble cause, for England the land that gave him life. This is at odds to how Wilfred Owen views the reality and horror of war. The poets choice of title 'Dulce et Decorum est' which translated means 'It is lovely and honourable to die for your country' which in its self is irony, misleads you to think that the poem is going to be about how blissful it is to die for your country and how proud you should be, when the reality is so different.

Owen presents us a sarcastic view towards the idea of being honorable to sacrifice for their country and buttresses it with abundant of horrific images. It is a war sonnet that captures the feelings of survivors to those who lost their lives in war. The use of a sonnet creates a sense of intensity in his poem, briefness and portrays the nature of death on a battlefield. Moreover, Owen uses the rhyme scheme of “ababcdcdeffegg” to show the strong division between the lines. The choice of a sonnet allows Owen to convey his message effectively and remain emotional to keep the readers interested.

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.

Owen generates two powerful images aimed at discouraging the mere thought of war by its emotionally distressing descriptions. The way in which Owen moved the images from a general concept to personal illustration by addressing the reader directly, 'If you could hear' ... ... middle of paper ... ...ening circumstance. Owen is, effectively, placing the blame of the war's consequences squarely on the shoulders of the society that supports it. CONCLUSION! Wilfred Owen's extremely powerful poem, 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' thoroughly criticises the ideology of war being 'a sweet and glorious way to die, fighting for one's country'.