Discuss Wilfred Owen’s presentation of war in the following two poems
Dulce et Decorum est
Wilfred Owen vividly and acutely portrays the harsh reality of war straight up from a firsthand experience. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ the title, literally translates into ‘It is sweet and noble’, but this title brings out the ironic aspect of the poem, as the readers are aware that the poem is anything but ‘sweet and noble’. Owen seeks to convince the readers that the horrors of war far outweigh the efforts by the patriots to glamourise war. His main goal is to completely destroy the lies instilled by propaganda and to make sure the readers are aware of what ‘war’ really is about. Through the topics of the poem, his dialect decisions, and differentiating the charming title going before the aggravating substance of the poem, he conveys regard for his perspectives on war while amid in the middle of one himself. Owen utilizes imagery in shape and dialect to outline the
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Jun 10. Dear Wife,”, this clearly shows that he is writing to his wife, to tell her about his life and the current state inside the trenches. The second line uses the dual narrative and it is encapsulated in parentheses. The narrator is talking to his friend Bill, asking him for a knife to sharpen his pencil in order to write his letter. Owen uses the parentheses to imitate how the truth was censored by the government, as all letters sent home by soldiers were examined beforehand. The following stanza “I’m in the pink at present, dear”, doesn 't seem convincing enough to the reader as the poem is set in a war period, and it quickly gives the audience a feeling that the narrator is clearly trying to hide something from his wife. This could also give hints to the censorship inflicted by the war generals during the ‘World Wars’ and how the soldiers were forced to write positive things about war to further glorify and glamourise