Wilfred_Owen

Wilfred Owen was a soldier in World War 1, he joined up to seek glory and honour. However he only found destruction, madness and death. The main poem that I have chosen is “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and it is one of Owen’s most famous and influential poems. This poem is also dedicated ironically to Jesse Pope; she was famous for her patriotic poems of war. “Dulce Et Decorum Est” relates to all 5 of Owne’s poems we have studied and shows similar ideas. Stereotypical idea of a young men is that they have a strong built body and physically and mentally strong. But Owen describes them as “Bent double like old beggars under sack” in the first stanza. The simile “like old beggars” helps us visualise the true state of the soldiers in war. It is further emphasized in the second line “Knock Kneed coughing like hags”. The use of alliteration “Knock Kneed” and the simile “coughing like hags” clearly paints a picture in our minds that these soldiers are no longer fit to fight in war but must continue on. The related poem “The Futility” is about a soldier dying in the snow. “Until this morning and this snow”. Owen asks a rhetorical question “was it this the clay grew tall” asking were they born just to be sacrificed and killed, why did they bother turn into life if they were to die like this. He sees war as futile, that’ it’s a waste of time and nothing is glorious about a boy dying in a snow. The word “glory” is related to the main poem “Dulce Et Decorum Est”. The poem “The parable of the old men and the young” has the same idea as “Futility” and “Dulce Et Decorum Est”. The vivid imagery and Owen’s use of metaphor is to describe the situation of the war taken and the cruelty about war that made him writing the poem. Owen used the idea from the bible to appropriate the ending. The quote “Lay not thy hand upon the lad” Owen writes the ending when Abram kills his own son Isaac to describe his anger towards the death caused by selfishness of adults that seeked glory and honour from their children when they were told to stop by God but ignored it. Same theme of dehumanisation is shown in the rhetorical question “what passing bells for these who die as cattle” clearly gives these youth inhuman characteristics. By purposely referring to them as “these” and the use of simile “who die as cattle” to show the mass slaughter of countless youth lost in war. “Passing bells” are referred to funeral bells and Owen is asking the reader what funeral bells they should use for the children that are killed like animals. But as we keep reading the quote “only the monstrous anger of the guns” describes the sound replacing the funeral bells when the soldiers are dead. This quote makes the reader visualise how many gun fires are going to be shot at and how many dead bodies will be on the ground at the end of the day. Human’s identity is reduced to animals with only one purpose to server and to die in war. Soldiers are not only mentally affected by battle but also “Physically” defeated. The poem “Disabled” greatly emphasises on how a man is stripped from his physicality to shear nothing. Owen uses this title to sum up a soldier that encounters with deadly weaponry and how his life was destroyed. Owen creates an unpleasant image of the soldier for the audience and we feel sympathy from this war veteran and reminded no to take our life for granted. Throughout Wilfred Owen war poetry he expresses anger and pity. He expresses anger against the people who have lied to young boys and glorified war and pity towards the mourners of the fallen soldiers. Through his clever use of language techniques he is able to appeal to the readers and shows the “truth” to the so called glorious war. The title and the last two lines of the poem are quotes from the Ancient poet. “Dulce Et Decorum Est pro patria mori” which means “How glorious and fitting it is to die for one’s country”. This line would have been used to encourage young men and even young boys to join the war. However Owen inverts these views and adds the word the “old lie” before the quote. This shows Owens true feelings towards the war and effects on soldiers.