Wilfred_Owen__Choose_Three_of_Owens_Poems_That_Reflect_Sorrow_(Elegy)_and_Anger_(Satire)

War as you can all imagine is a horrific situation to experience. One that will scar you for life and that is if you are lucky enough to get out of it alive. Those who have lived through a war or fought in one would have a permanent imprint of it left on them in their minds and in their hearts, enough to be able to speak of the terrifying images of war either with grave sadness or passionate anger or even both. Their intention would be to warn us all of the folly of mankind and the disastrous consequences of such bloody actions that we human beings take against each other without comprehending the deadly fall out that comes from such violence against one another. The ugly face of war is clearly portrayed and criticized in many poems. One poet Wilfred Owen in his world war one poems, Dulce Et Decorum Est, Anthem for doomed youth and Futility writes of the horrible conduct of people and the terrible effect of war with both sadness and anger. One of Wilfred Owens’s talents is to convey his complex messages very proficiently and he does so in his poem. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est. The line “If in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind the wagon that we flung him in” asks us to imagine the dead from war as they are being carried off. The horror of witnessing this event becomes eternal through dreams. Though this boy died an innocent, war allowed no time to give his death dignity, which makes the horror so more heartbreaking and haunting in addition the word “you” is used in those lines as well as the line “if you could hear, at every jolt” this is engaging responders forcing us to empathies. Also the diverse use of instantly powerfull imagery through heavy description is used through out the poem as in “ like old beggars under sacks” shows the utter exhaustion of the soldiers and how war has wearied them and the word “bitter” in the line “bitter as the cud of vile” appeals to our sense of taste and the distatefulness of the war left in our mouth from it. And the line “if you could hear at every jolt the blood come gargling from the forth corrupterd lungs” forces us to hear at the sounds of death as if we were there. Therefore sensory imagery is heavily used throughout the poem to demonstrate the hardship, exhaustion, horror of war, as opposed to the glorified message in the title which ironically translates “It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country" which conradicts the content of the poem which portrays through imagery the extream suffering of war and there is nothing sweet about that let me tell you. This is also reinforced at the end of the poem as Owen states “my friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie Dulce Et Decorum Est”. In the poem Anthem for doomed youth, Owen uses personification when describing the sound the gun makes in the line “Only the monstrous anger of the gun” . The effect once again is to hear not only the sound the guns make, but the angry emotions that come with it. It is as if the guns are speaking for the soldiers. The alliteration that you hear in the words “only the rifles, rapid, rattle” deliberatelty mimiks the sound of constant gun fire with the repetition of the “r” sound and the effect that would mentally have on those who heard it constantly. As these are the angry sounds of war. Also of significance is the fast pace rhythm that is heard through out the poem. This pace illustrates a sense of speed intensity and urgency which demonstrates how the soldier’s actions are fast, dangerous and continuous, as they are constantly being threatened in the life or death situation of war where everything is happening quickly around them. Therefore anthem for doomed youths high pace energy imitates the violence and rage of war. The effect of these techniques gives you an idea about the horror, hardship, exhaustion and chaos of the war, which caused the participants to suffer. In the poem ‘Futility’ Wilfred Owen illustrates the death of a soldier on the battlefield and questions whether this was the end he planned for. Owen uses this death as a starting point to consider the lamentations of these who were at war. The theme of the poem which is the futility and pointlessness of war is in the title similar to Dulce Et Decorum Est. The poem captures the doubt of war therefore raising larger moral questions about the purpose for war. The first stanza portrays the actions of men who futilely attempt to push and nudge a frozen solider back to life. The second is more reflective. It is presented as a stream of realization where the poet tries to make meaning out of what has happened. For instance Owen uses personification in the lines ‘the kind old sun will know, think how it wakes seeds’ the words sun and seed are personified as sun gives life to seeds and seeds is The beginning of life which is a metaphor. therefore the sun is given a god like power.. Also pun is used in the line ‘Until this morning and this snow.’ The word morning can refer to death and the sorrow that comes with it but can also mean start of a new day. Therefore the message in Owens poetry is a clear warning against war and the devastation it brings the sorrow and the anger. He intentionally uses a host of poetic techniques such as personification, alliteration, metaphors and vivid sensory imagery that mimics the sounds and paints the violent picture of war so those who have not experienced it may learn of its horrors and those who have may never forget them.