Wilfred Owen Views On War

Wilfred Owen was an English war poet and soldier, he is regarded to be one of the best poets of the First World War, unfortunately Owen was killed a week before the end of the First World War. Wilfred Owen poems are about the horrors and realities of war and the effect that war has, not just on the soldiers, but also on their families. In Wilfred Owen poems ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ he uses a variety of poetic techniques to convey his perspective on human conflict. Throughout the poems Owen conveys both his personal experiences and his own perspective on war. Wilfred Owen perspective on human conflict was changed as a result of his personal experience with war. In the beginning “Owen was a young poet, just finding his voice when war broke out. He marched off to battle with a romantic view of war common among the young.” Like many others before him, Owen believed the old lie Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori, that it was sweet and honorable to die for one’s country, that there was

‘Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling’ the repetition, use of capital letters and exclamation marks, of gas, creates tension, highlight the urgency and emphasise the danger of the gas attack. The soldiers get their helmets on just in time, however, one soldier does not, he yells out and stumbles, he’s ‘flound'ring like a man in fire or lime’ the use of a simile highlights the effect of the gas, the gas burns like lime or fire, the soldier is in agony. Pathos is also used to evoke pity, sorrow and sadness for the soldier dying from the gas. Owen attempts to convey a message of the inhumanity of war, against weapons that causes so suffering and death on the battlefield. Throughout Owen’s poetry, he utilises a variety of poetic devices to convey his perspective of human