Wilfred Owen

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).

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.

Also, words like "guttering", "choking", and "drowning" shows us that the troops are suffering in extreme pain and misery. If you haven't noticed, most of these words are examples of cacophony, which are words with harsh and discordant sounds. As this poem is about how harsh and terrible war is, Owen's use of cacophony is very effective in generating the tone of the poem. Is it really that sweet to die for one's country?

The first stanza sets the scene and show what the soldiers would be feeling at the time. The men's condition at the time was so wretched th... ... middle of paper ... ...are a repeat of the title, and also and added line to clarify the actual meaning of the poem. Owen mocks the idea of war being an honorable and nationalistic way to support ones country as he describes a situation in which death is detailed in gruesome detail. This poem is harsh, yet effective in displaying the acts of war and the affect the it has on all of the people involved, especially the foot soldiers who served in the front line, the trenches. Owen serves as a great example of the losses that war brings.

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.

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 speaker describes these soldiers as ‘shadows’ which rock in the twighlight. As described from the first 2 lines. Though the severity is amplified in the rest of the stanza. With description such as ‘Drooping tongues from jaws’, shows how demented these soldiers have become with the trauma they have experienced. Further effects of witnessing of the horrors of war are also sensed in the sixth line, ‘Gouged these chasms around the... ... middle of paper ... ... decorum est Pro patria mori, It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country.

Owen’s main aim was to open up the truth about war and the horrific and gruesome reality of being a soldier, contradicting the propaganda illustrating soldiers as heroic, honorable, and proud. Owen’s poem ‘Strange Meeting’ shows the horrors of war through dramatic and memorable imagery that allow us to feel deep pity for the young soldiers, whether it’s physical or the soldier’s inner mental pain. For example, “They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress” (line 29) is a metaphor describing the violent attacks during the war. Meanwhile, “With a thousand fears that vision's face was grained” (line 11) gives a clear picture of what the dead soldier’s face was like, bringing pity to the reader. These images are used to show the immense harm and the brutality of war and its effect on men.

The Old Lie! Dolce et Decorum Est is an anti-war poem written by Wilfred Owen. It is due to his frustration and anger against the people who use the old lie, it is sweet and right to die for your country, which is a translation of the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. Through this poem, Owen who himself took part in World War 1, has no difficulty to convince us that the horrors that took and balance the idea of those who encourage war. The poems theme is taken on and created throughout the use of many poetic devices and appeals such as imaginative appeal, sensual appeal as well as intellectual appeal.

The stanzas are effective in unveiling the reality of war because it “appalls through its horrifying physicality and its presentation of suffering that is endless” (Sillars 219). He described his fellow soldier’s painful death as “obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud, of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues-“(23-24) he is describing the cruel reality of war. Owen unveils the lie when she says that others “would not tell with such high zest” (25) to “children ardent for some desperate glory” (26) the lie that it is honorable to die for one’s country if they had