Similarities Between Wilfred Owen And Bruce Dawe

ore War

By Kayleigh Richmond

Throughout history, literature has provided individual’s the opportunity to express profound, innate ideologies. Each country has a unique culture and those who belong to the land are born into an identity comprised of the nations practices, beliefs and values operating within a timeframe. Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet has said, “poetry can be dangerous, because it gives the illusion of having the experience without actually going through it.” Renowned Poets, Wilfred Owen and Bruce Dawe have explored the devastating concept of war throughout their works. Both poet’s work was heavily influenced and ultimately created as a result of their personal and cultural surroundings.

Australian poet, Bruce Dawe articulated his viewpoint on the social destruction war had on families and loved ones. His poem, ‘Homecoming’ promotes the mental state many soldiers had when sent to war lacking vital survival tactics and training in the battle field. As a result of their insufficient training, many came home dead, this was their ‘Homecoming’.

Dawe was born in Fitzroy, Victoria, 1930. His father was a farmer, however spent an inconsiderable amount of time unemployed. Neither Dawe or any of his siblings had the opportunity to complete primary school. His two younger sisters who wrote poetry supported him immensely in his

Owen was born of a mixed English and Welsh ancestry in Shropshire, United Kingdom in 1893. As a young adult Owen was influenced by his mother greatly and become a devout reader of the bible and a staunch Anglican. From the age of nineteen he perused poetry and immersed himself in the works by Keats and Shelley. Owen was working as a private tutor in France at the time the First World War broke out. The war related propaganda was omnipresent and perused Owen to enlist in 1915 as he felt guilty for his