‘Mental Cases’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ are two outstanding pieces created by Owen, each using techniques such as hyperboles, personification and imagery that associate the two poems, giving us, the readers, a bigger picture of what is happening in the poets eyes. In the poem Mental Cases Owen expresses his perception that war is taking away a soldiers future, a life full of happiness. It illustrates the bloodshed and suffering of war, using a series of graphical description of young men who are treated for war-related illness’, such as shellshock. It was a heart-wrenching poem for Owen because he himself was a patient of shellshock. The repetition of question marks and dashes illustrate the confusion and frustration witnessing Owens fellow comrades, it is a demanding tone begging for explanation for the entrapment of victims.
How does Wilfred Owen present war though his poems? Wilfred Owen produce a poem called dulce et decorum est. In this poem Wilfred Owen explores the many horrors and cruel ordeals of World War One. He does this by using horrific imagery and techniques such as vivid imagery and dramatic descriptions. Owen then seeks to convince the reader that it is not honourable or right to die for your country, as the title of the poem suggests so.
Making Catch-22 the remarkable as well as groundbreaking masterpiece it is today. Catch-22 is one of Heller’s greatest works because the book consisted of satirical humor which eased the thought of war. Heller changed the way America looked at war by showing the readers another side of war that could only be seen if one had participated in a war themselves, such as WW II. He had turned the realism of war into a surrealistic masterpiece “Mr. Heller’s novel changed the formula, and in the process lifted realism to new surrealistic level” (Solomita).
The desire for superiority and domination has plagued the twentieth century by power struggles between nations in the form of wars and large numbers of casualties. Over the centuries, poetry has endeavoured to communicate human emotions and ideas. Some present a glorified war in order to portray their love and patriotic attitude to their audience. Such a view is presented in “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke. Quite alternatively, some poems demonstrate a more realistic representation of war such as Kenneth Slessor’s poem “Beach Burial” and the first excerpt from the film production ‘Saving Private Ryan’ which encapsulate the futility of war and the intolerable atrocities on innocent lives.
Turner does an exceptional job capturing the painful and terrible moments of the war in Iraq. I can imagine a retired veteran reading this poem and instantly relating to it, which is why this poem is so powerful. The first half of the poem uses explicit language that says “Nothing but bullets and pain/ and the bled-out slumping/ and all the fucks and goddamns/ and Jesus Christ’s of the wounded/”(2-4). This powerful, yet vulgar language is what sets the tone for this poem and also delivers the message to the reader that going overseas was no easy experience. This helped in adding more of a reality and complexity to the poem.
The poem uses several poetic conventions to help in the conveyance of its message, such as, similes, sibilance, alliteration, oxymoron and the vivid and horrific imagery used throughout. Wilfred Owen’s ironic position as a soldier gives a deeper meaning to the words as it allows the reader to see war from the point of view of one of its participants. He has acknowledged that the poem is indeed based on one of his experiences at war. In earlier times, psychological disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were not given the concern that they deserve and instead was put down to a simple case of “Shell Shock”. It is known that Owen was a sufferer of “shell shock” and was sent to fight on the front lines after the few months of recovery he was given to “get over
Although both Birdsong and Regeneration present the horrors of World War 1, the authors also look at the affects of war on relationships. It will be interesting to see how love and sex is nuanced as the relationships experienced during this time have many complications. Both authors portray relationships between men as the most important form of love during the Great War. On the battlefield, love between men is an accepted and desirable occurrence as it means that soldiers have something to fight for and their friendships give them the strength to carry on. In ‘Birdsong’, we see a close bond between Stephen and Weir.
The title of the poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est is a contradiction of what the poem is about. Owen displays war as not sweet, but brutal and hard hitting. I will portray how this poem deals with issues of war by focusing on the structure, imagery, word choice and the poems message in this poem. The poem consist of four stanzas and is about how badly represented the soldiers are fighting to keep Britain safe. The poem starts with what the soldiers actually look like.
The most effective of these tools in conveying wars futility was the use of graphic imagery to evoke emotions in the reader. This was particularly evident in the poem Suicide in the Trenches and the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. This invited reading was also supported by comparative methods into analysing the film Saving Private Ryan, the play King Henry the Fifth and the poem Anthem for Doomed Youth. Conference Paper: Futility of War Littered through the pages of history are the remnants of past wars and conflicts that have wreaked horrifying havoc and a lasting sadness on humankind. Like the ink stains the paper, the soils of planet Earth are soaked in the blood that spills from the wounds inflicted by futile conflict.
The title and structure of the poem contrasts with the content of the poem, helping to convey Owen’s anger at those who advocated war. The title, which translates to “sweet and right it is,” suggests that the poem is about something positive and glorious – the Great War. This is emphasised by the structure of the poem, which is very rigid as it is written in iambic pentameter and has an ABAB rhyme scheme. The title, coupled with the rigidity of the structure represents the powerful left right march commonly associated with soldiers. It also represents the strength and power the public associated with the British army during WW1.