World War One was one of the deadliest wars America has fought. With over thirty-eight million casualties, soldiers drafted into this war were most likely being written their death sentence. Also, it was not just about putting their physical life on the line but for the ones that made it back alive, their psychological mentality was jeopardized from what they have experienced. So poets and other writers emerged to express to readers all over the world the true and harsh reality of the war. The perception that war was not all about being nationalistic and making your country proud, instead there was gruesome and immoral factors involved. Through two examples of World War One based poetry, “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen and “Dreamers” …show more content…
Both poems begin the same rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefef, as Sasson rhymes with words such as end of the first four lines consist of “grey land” and “they stand” or “to-morrows” and “sorrows” (Sasson). Owen’s first four lines also have this commonality as he rhymes “sacks” with “backs” or “sludge” with “trudge” (Owen). However, even though Owen continues the same rhyme scheme throughout, (ghgh and so on), Sassoon instead ends his poem with a repetition of the previous rhyme. So, in Sasson’s poem the last four line’s rhyme scheme is efef. Other than the obvious rhyme scheme, the literary device that brings these poems to life and makes the readers feel certain emotions is the imagery. The very descriptive imagery helps display the severe conditions of the war in order for readers to understand what the soldiers went through. For instance, Owen uses the sense of hearing to help readers imagine the hurt solider or civilian in the war as he states, “But someone still was yelling out and stumbling” (Owen). As a reader, you are able to grasp on the feeling that this solider was holding on to his life and was hurt because he could not put his helmet on “just in time” (Owen). This imagery using the senses not only makes the poem more interesting but puts stronger evidence towards the point the author is trying to make about war. Sasson also uses imagery to show the severe conditions of the war. One example of this imagery is through the description of the weather and the war environment as he talks about the soldiers “in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain” (Sasson). This imagery helps show the lack of humanity and daily conditions the soldiers have to be in everyday in order to fight for their country. As the reader, Sasson helps you imagine the soldiers drenched in rain and trying to fight a war they do not even want to be a part.
Both authors use sensory imagery to create vivid images in the reader's mind with ease. In Harrison “In the trenches,” he uses descriptive similes and personifications to show the reader the disturbing reality of war effectively. After being viscously bombed, Harrison beautifully describes the “S.O.S” flare that is sent up shortly after being attacked, saying that “the sky is lit by hundreds of fancy fireworks like a night carnival.” This descriptive simile creates a visual image of a sky so bright that it resembles a carnival at night. As incoming bombs were dropping Harrison describes them by using the simile “the air screams and howls like an insane woman,” from this line any reader can imagine what it would sound like if artillery was dropping and exploding near you. Similarly, in twains “two ways of seeing a river,” he uses similes to create vivid images of the “majestic river.” Right from the beginning twain states that “I [have] mastered the language of this water and…every trifling feature…as familiarly as I [know] the letters of the alphabet.” This simile compares his vast knowledge of all the features of the river to his familiarity to the alphabets. The reader can visualize the importance and beauty of the river. Also, both authors similarly utilize sensory
Although there were still poets who wrote of the glories of fighting, poets such as Wilfred Owen, who fought and in the end was killed during the First World War, began to write realistically, showing war in a true light, removing any romanticism. In the poems I am going to look at, we can see a clear divide between the poetry of the pre 1900's and that of the post 1900's. A good example of this pre 1900 approach to war is "Before Agincourt" from William Shakespeare's play "King Henry the Fifth. " This is a speech written in blank verse, which is appropriate for such a significant subject.
Another poem that use sense imagery is “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen. In this poem Owen describes the hellish life of a solider in World War I. An enveloping scene of the poem give vivid details of the soldiers being attack with poison gas. Owen depicts the horrid sight of a solider dying from the attack. “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning” (Owen 1356), this line gives the audience an undeniable visual of war. The use of sense imagery in Owen’s poem bring the taste of the battlefield, the smell of blood, the sound of bombs and the touch of death.
Post 1900 War Poetry By looking at several war poems written before and after 1900, I can see that many elements of the types of poetry change greatly in several ways. I will be looking at a selection of war poems written by three different poets, in chronological order, so as to see if the attitudes to war and writing styles change over time or during various stages of the war. Firstly I will be looking at a poem written by Alfred Tennyson about the charge against the Russian gunners in 1854. The poem is called "The Charge of the Light Brigade" as it is exactly what happened.
Another tool in developing the effectiveness of the poem is the excellent use of diction. The word "blood-shod" explains how the troops have been on their feet for days without rest. 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.
Rupert Brooke was born in 1887. He joined the Navy at the start of the
The poem is divided into three sections with each part dealing with a different stage of the experience. In the first stanza, Owen describes the state the soldiers are in. The first line states that the platoon is “Bent double, like old beggars” (1). This gives the reader a vision that they are exhausted and compares them to the look of beggars on the street, who often times, look very ragged and shabby. The line “coughing like o...
Owen's frames the soldiers dehumanization throughout the poem by using depicting sensory imagery like in the first stanza, “beggars under sacks”, sacks being uniforms and “Coughing like hags”, giving the reader the illustration of old ugly
Owen, Wilfred. “Dulce Et Decorum Est.” World War I British Poets. Ed. Candace Ward. Dover Publications, Inc; New York, 1997.
Poets from many civilizations and across vast amounts of time were always considered agents of change. Their remarkable poems gave them the power to play an influential role on human culture and society. One such poet is Wilfred Owen, who was a soldier for Great Britain during WW1. His writing described the horrors of war that he had seen and it was these antiwar poems which gave voice to the suffering soldiers in the trenches of WW1 and altered the British Empire’s view on warfare as a whole. Today, ladies, gentleman and students of the Brisbane Writers Festival, I am here to present an informative analysis on this man’s revolutionary poems “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Disabled.” They are two of his many poems remembered in English history as some of his greatest works. The poems
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.
He may have used this technique to make war seem if it had made men
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...
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. Through sonnets, Para rhymes, ironic titles, voices and strong imagery, not only is the reader able to comprehend to the futility and the horrors of the Great War, but also they can almost physically and mentally empathise with those who fought. Through the three poems examined, it is evident that Owen goes to great effort to describe the conditions and thoughts of the First World War, thus his works are considered an invaluable asset to the modern literature.
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...