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Rhetorical Devices Used In Wilfred Owen's Poetry

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World war one was one of the bloodiest wars in human history sparking controversy writings and experiences that would shine light on what it was for men.”Some [men] cease feeling through war having seen what they had seen and been through what they’ve been through. Compassion flees from men who sit in trenches day and night listening to explosions and screams of the dying every step of the way, while also stepping on their fallen friends who rot in the sun. through all of this Owen suggests that life is not expendable as it’s lead to believed by the heads of government. Feeling it is not right Owen expressed his experiences in poetry form. Through the use of rhetorical devices specific diction, and tone. Owen shares his endeavours. In the poem “Insensibility” by Wilfred Owen about war is an example of repetition and contrast. Owen uses specific diction and repetition to show us the horrors men like him face. Shows in stanza one that men can sever themselves from all feelings shown by the words “ veins running cold” and saying men should not be used for poems but for …show more content…

Nostalgia is shown through every stanza showing us that being in a soldier's shoe at the time of the great trench wars of 1914 is not an easy thing. Using this tone brings on a sense of pity corresponding together beautiful. the reader feels sorry for the men losing their sense of humanity, the respect for the dead, and the agony of these men. When talking about a subject like this what needs to be in mind is Owen has been through this himself so he has resentment and anger leading to him using this tone in his work. He feels as if he has not been compensated enough for doing this for his country and seeing his fellow man, including himself, turned into animals. During the stanzas there are certain points where the shift of these tones take on one

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Caught in a war that was waged primarily in trenches (big ditches that filled with mud, rats, and rainwater), Owen began to find it hard to justify all the suffering and death he witnessed. He was perfectly willing to sacrifice his life for king and country, but, like many other people, he 'd like to make sure that his sacrifice was actually needed.

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Owen shows this idea through the use of the phrase, "Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. " This is a Roman phrase that means it is sweet and glorious to die for one 's country. In the poem, there is a great deal of tragic imagery used to show that it is not glorious. The poem showed exhaustion, sickness, and death. Then Owen ends by saying if these events that happened during war are witnessed, then the "lie" that it is glorious to die in war would not be believed.

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Owen’s use of compelling figurative language gives the reader a better understanding of the reality of war. He starts out the poem with a strong simile, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks” (Owen 1). This simile compares

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World War I is often considered the second worst war in history. In the view of past warfare we typically focus on the death total that flashes over twenty million. However consequently in doing so we often forget the sheer horror of the warfare and the life of the soldiers on the front line. The soldiers faced many hardships both mentally and physically that shouldn’t be neglected. The journals of Quiren Grossel, Reese Russell, and George Sheppard highlight the extreme difficulty of the hardships they faced while on the front of the vast battlefield.

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Many of his poems had a negative depiction of war that had not previously been as prevalent in war poetry during his time. I was inspired to transform one of his poems to further explore his stance on armed conflict. Insensibility captivated my attention due to the layout of the poem in six stanzas, and the unique nature of his subject. Due to the structure of his poem, I wondered what the effect would be if the bold opening statements in each stanza were taken as “rules” for each soldier to follow. My prose piece turned into an alternate reality, using some quotes from the poem, where soldiers were not told of the honour and excitement as Owen was.

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Both of the poems speak about World War I. According to both poems, fighting for your country is a difficult, but necessary, thing to do. In Owen’s poem this is pointed out when he states, “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning.” This quote shows that the necessary cost to winning a war.

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Analyze Owen’s developing style through the poems, ‘Sonnet (on seeing a piece of our artillery brought in to action)’ and ‘Song of Songs’. Wilfred Owen’s developing style throughout his poems changes dramatically through these two poems in the way that he uses imagery and structure. These two poems were written in 1917, however, they both talk about different things. Artillery Sonnet talks about war and Song of Songs talks about love. This is strange due to the fact that themes of war riddled his poems at this time.

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During World War 1, a poet and soldier named Wilfred Owen wrote multiple poems about what happened around him during the war and his views on it, his view on war was completely different to others such as For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon. Owen shows what the reality of war is and explains what he has seen during the war. Firstly the way he describes war as, Secondly what the soldiers have to deal with during the war, thirdly what the effects on the families and friends of the soldiers. Firstly, the way Wilfred Owen Describes war as is.

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Finishing on the third stanza, Owen has used colour once again. “ purple spurted from his thigh”, it illustrates the bruises he had gotten from war and the deep impact on him, a colour signifying life and languor. Ending the poem with soldiers in the institute waiting for people to come emphasizes the fact that he is dependent and helpless. Also it reflected back to the start of the poem where he was waiting for death to come. “ How cold and late it is!

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Firstly within the poems, both Owen and Harrison present the horrific images of war through use of visual imagery. “And leaped of purple spurted his thigh” is stated. Owen describes the immediate action of presenting the truth of war as horrific and terrifying . The phrase “purple spurted” represents the odd color of the blood which was shedded as the boulder from the bomb smashed his leg in a matter of seconds. The readers

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In this quote, Owen seems to be paying homage to all the romantic poets (like Keats and Shelly) whose poetry has been able to soothe him and has even often resounded deeply with his situation or with the problems he was going through. At the time, when Owen

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The pain that the soldier could get from guns could only last for a moment, but it also could be a pain that comes slowly, gradually and kills you with tough and suffer, which is an agony for mentally and physically, connecting to theme. “The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells” is from seventh line in first stanza. Owen also uses symbol to describe the scene of soldiers dying in the battle field by comparing with actual funeral in church with friends and families grieving his death. However, there are no beautiful calming voice choirs from the church in the battlefield to make the dead person rest in peace; no people to grieve, no funerals there. Instead, they here the sound of dull and big sound of shells attacking them.

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A heroic couplet structure within the poem provides a degree of clarity while still asserting the chaos and cruelness of war. Once again, it can be inferred that Owen himself serves as the speaker. However, this time his audience is more focused on young soldiers and families rather than plainly the public in general. In contrast to the previous work, this poem is set primarily in a World War I training camp, signifying the process young soldiers go through prior to deployment to the front line. The tone of this poem is more foreboding and condemnatory, not only describing the training soldiers but outright degrading their forced involvement as morally wrong.

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978 Words | 4 Pages

Each stanza

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