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Critical analysis of wilfred owen poetry
How Does Wilfred Owen Use Language and Poetic Devices to ..
Critical analysis of wilfred owen poetry
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Poetry and music have been strong ways for expressing human emotions, thoughts, and experiences. They have the unique ability to evoke strong emotions and connect with people on a deeper level. This essay will analyse the theme of war in Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" and Redgum's song "I Was Only Nineteen". Both texts use significant poetic and stylistic devices to comment on the horrors of war and its impact on soldiers. Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" was written during World War I and described the horrors and reality of war.
War is a transformative event because it alters people's perspectives of war, and leaves them suffering, mentally and physically. When the soldiers experienced the true realities of the war, they were left haunted, as depicted in the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen. This poem explains the true realities of the war and how he was left with a damaged mental state. Owen says:
War is inevitable, futile and hopeless, as the poem Dulce et Decorum Est, discusses the horrors of war and how soldiers just end up dying grim, unheroic deaths. “Flound’ring like a man in fire or lime... Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” A line found in the second stanza vividly creates an undoubtedly disturbing image of gassed soldiers, stumbling and collapsing, choking on thick green gas.
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime. — Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
The narrative from numerous media sources mentions how veterans struggle when they return from wars or fighting; however, they portray a certain media that leaves others voiceless. Wilfred Owen and David W. Powell try to combat those discussions with their true experiences and sights from their wars in trying to find their voice again. By utilizing their words, literary devices, and punctuation choices, both writers attack media and propaganda for fantasizing about the wars that occur. If men come back, they tend to have PTSD from the sights, so by describing those sights, Owen and Powell try to alter the minds of the reader to become more empathic towards veterans. By doing such, they begin to receive their voice again.
Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum est” shows what life was like for soldiers in WWI. The poem discusses a soldier's point of view of losing someone they knew on the battlefield and their thoughts about the worthiness of the sacrifice after the fact. The speaker uses diction and imagery to show their disdain for war in the poem through a series of negative emotions such as fatigue, and sadness. The speaker uses diction to show their disdain toward the harsh reality of living on a battlefield and the mental toll it takes.
Both Dulce et Decorum Est and Mametz Wood present the incompetent results of war. Dulce et Decorum Est indicates the horrible facts and deaths in war. Moreover, Mametz Wood highlights how precious life is and how easily it can be lost as a result of battle. In this poem “Dulce et decorum Est”, Owen portrays the deadly effects of conflict through the use of metaphor: “as under a green sea, I saw him drowning”. Here, he describes the pain of the gas attack.
This poem is written to the reader, as can be seen through the poet’s use of “my friend” and “you” to address the reader, and the use of “my friend” makes the poet and the reader form a deeper connection. The metaphors, such as the metaphor comparing the poisonous gas to a green sea, enhance the image of the scenes. Using “poisonous gas” provides some imagery, but not as vivid imagery as the detailed description, “green sea.” Similes, such as “bent double, like beggars under sacks” and “his hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin,” are used as well to enhance the imagery and give the poem its haunting tone people pick up on when reading or listening. When Owen describes the blood-curdling scene of the dying man hurdling at him and slowly dying from the gas, the readers and listeners can hear the screams of the men echoing in
In the poem “ Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, imagery is being used by showing men in war who are getting gassed. “ I saw him drowning, in all my dreams, before the helpless sight, he plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning”; this excerpt shows protest to war by showing how
Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is one of the most famous poems from the “soldier-poets” who fought in the World War 1. In 1917, Owen was diagnosed with “shell shock”, commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder,
Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ structure hints to the uncertainty of war. In the first eight lined stanza, Owen describes the soldiers from a third person point of view. The second stanza is shorter and consists of six lines. This stanza is more personal and is written from a first person 's point of view. This stanza reflects the pace of the soldiers as everything is fast and uncoordinated because of the gas, anxiety and the clumsiness of the soldiers.
Instead of having a career as a traditional author, he became a war poet. The author’s experiences in the war gave his literature a purpose, especially in poems such as “Dulce et Decorum Est”, where he educates others on the realities of trench life. In these poems, Owen depicts the damaging pictures of men dying every day for the people they love at home. Going off to war provoked a stronger love for and desire to help one’s country. 2
Through both of his poems, Dulce Et Decorum Est and Disabled, Owen clearly illustrates his feeling about war. Both of them convey the same meaning that war destroyed people’s lives. For Dulce Et, Decorum Est, it mainly illustrates soldier’s life during war, the dreadfulness of war, whereas, Disabled illustrates how war have damaged soldier’s life. Also, the saying that said that war it is lovely and honorable to die for your country is completely against his point of view. Owen conveys his idea through graphically describing his horrible experiences in war.
In the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est,” Wilfred Owen writes about a soldier traumatized by experiences of gas warfare during the First World War. The title, which translates from Latin to “it is sweet and honorable,” seems to promote and encourage war or patriotism. However, the title is actually ironic: glancing at the lines of the poem, readers quickly realize that the title reflects the public’s image of war, not the reality of the lives of soldiers. Through his use of strong imagery, diction, and shifts in tone and tense, Owen shatters the public’s idealistic notion of war and addresses his anti-war, anti-propaganda sentiments.
Wilfred Owen was one of the main English poets of World War 1, whose work was gigantically affected by Siegfried Sassoon and the occasions that he witnesses whilst battling as a fighter. 'The Sentry ' and 'Dulce et Decorum Est ' are both stunning and reasonable war lyrics that were utilized to uncover the detestations of war from the officers on the hatreds of trenches and gas fighting, they tested and unmistakable difference a distinct difference to general society impression of war, passed on by disseminator writers, for example, Rupert Brooke. 'Dulce et respectability Est ' and the sentry both uncover the genuine environment and conditions that the troopers were existing and battling in. Specifically The Sentry contains numerous utilization of "Slush" and "Slime" connection to the sentiments of filthy, messy hardships. 'The Sentry ' by Wilfred Owen was composed in 1917 and is Owen 's record of seeing a man on sentry obligation harmed by a shell that has blasted close him.
