Imagery In Dulce Et Decorum Est

War has been going on for a long period of time. That shows plenty of people sacrificed their lives fighting for their country. Being at war, people gain experiences and develop feelings that they choose to express through writing. Their writing influence the reader’s thoughts about how war is really like. Writers choose to express their emotions and experiences about war through their pieces of literature by using imagery, irony, and structure. Imagery is an important element that writers use to help the audience picture and sense the words written. In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” he uses the element of imagery as one of the main ways he protests war. He wrote “ We cursed through sludge” (2). By reading that line it gives the reader a clear image of how tired the soldiers must be be from the lack of sleep. Stephen Crane uses imagery as an important part in his poem “War is Kind”. Crane says “ A field where a thousand corpses lie” (11). This gives the audience a clear view of what was must have looked like through the soldier’s eyes. Another line he wrote was “

Crane uses structure in his poem very effectively. He wrote “ Do not weep/ War is kind” (4-5). He repeats these lines three times in his poem to show emphasis. In O’Brien’s prose he uses the structure by listing the items. He write “ P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellant….” (2-3). He efficiently uses listing to protest war by showing how the order of lists are proper and in order but in war it is actually disorderly and dysfunctional. Another author that uses structure is Crane he uses the rhyme scheme pattern at the beginning but breaks it throughout the poem. He does this to show traditions are meant to be broken. Structure is an important element in writing because it’s how the reader perceives the piece of