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Wilfred Owen War Poetry Analysis

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Often, poetry is used to portray the highlights of this life or maybe even some of the small bumps we encounter along the way, yet, none really compares to that of war poetry. World War I, much like any other war, was nothing shy of a horror story. Innumerable deaths, traumatizing situations, and the lives of returning soldiers changed forever were, and still are, products of war. From our side, we have our own idea of what war might be like, but Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenburg choose to give us a small glimpse of what “serving our country” is about. Both men chose to write about the harsh realities of war and while these poets have several differences, they share very common ground: educating many about reality of war. Having both been affected …show more content…

Owen and Rosenburg are two amongst many of the most well-known World War I poets. These men both offer a very unique and vivid outlook on war.
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born in Oswestry, England on March 18, 1893 into a comfortable, middle class family. As he aged, his interest in poetry grew. After many setbacks, and not being accepted into many reading colleges, Owen found himself in France teaching English part time. He had barely discovered his love for this new place when on August 4, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium and war was declared. Owen returned home to England unsure of whether he should enlist. On October 21, 1915, he enlisted in the Artists’ Rifles. During January of 1917, he led his platoon into the battle of the Somme. Shortly after, he wrote to his mother, “Those fifty hours were the agony of my happy life” (Bloom, 12). In November 1918 Owen was killed in action at twenty-five. The events during this short season of his life greatly influenced his writing. In his poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est”, which was written while he was recovering from Shellshock, Owen writes from the point of view of a soldier currently in war. He used a language and tone that appropriately revealed the nightmarish scenes he witnessed as a soldier in the trenches. He wrote, “If

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In “Dulce et decorum” owen speaks to “children ardent for some desperate glory” (Owen) as he warn to not follow the deception that his country and men have told him “the old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” (Owen). Through this owen portrays that it isn’t sweet and fitting to die for one 's country and though owen believes this he still continues to fight on. This portrays courage because even though he’s afraid of dying he endures for the sake of his country. Throughout “Dulce et decorum” he shows the horrors and fears he had to experience during warfare for example “as under a green sea, i saw him drowning” (Owen) in which Owen shows an experience he had in World War I, where he witnessed a comrade die horribly in a poison gas

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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.

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