The Lorelei in the poem are the Nazis that murdered millions of rabbis and they will never be able to wash the blood off their hands. The speaker says “However sweetly they sing / one hears only the low wailing of the cattle-cars / moving invisibly across the land” (lines 14-16). By saying this speaker mean that people who were not apart of the war hear the sound of trains. Only the few that survived hear the sound of the cattle-cars that carried others to the
Throughout ‘The War poems’ Owen creates a sense of sympathy for the soldiers who fight in war and are forced to endure horrific atrocities that either they themselves commit, or are committed against them, the continual assaults on their physical and emotional wellbeing. In the poems Owen recreates his experiences being an officer on the ‘Western Front’ in World War I, and voices his bitterness towards and rejection of the futility of war; the never ending loss of life at the hands of the British Military. Owen condemns those who encouraged young men to go to war and used rhetoric to give off the impression that war rewarded young men with glory. Owen rejects this in his poems by reflecting his own experiences as ‘Glorious’ and investigating the horrors of war, and their effect on the physical and emotional wellbeing of soldiers. Owen’s poems are riddled with references to the loss of youth, innocence and life.
Owen, through his use of irony, personification, and vocabulary, also brings out religion as a non-caring factor. In the first line of Owen’s poem, he addresses the issue with the question, “What passing bells for these who die as cattle?”. Passing bells are bells that are rung to mourn over someone’s death and announce it to the world. Owen is asking were are those bells for all the soldiers being slaughtered in battle. These bells that are usual rung, are often rung by churches.
War In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” Owen uses persuasive Similes and metaphors to convey the reality of war. Owen’s tone of disgust brings alive the five senses and challenges the notion that it is “sweet and proper to die for ones country”. In the Final Stanza of the poem, Owen’s uses several similes to depict a gruesome and disgusting image. “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin” (line 20), the speaker’s use of this simile is very powerful. Sin is the devil’s reason for existence.
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. And as a result, it encourages the reader to consider the impact the war had on both, the soldiers who survived, and those who didn’t. Dulce et Decorum Est brings to reality that war is not what people say it is. Given by its very title, ‘It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country’. Although, it only an illusion reinforced throughout the poem, along with its irony and sarcasm that is ‘The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori’, it is not sweet and fitting to die for ones country.
Personification such as the “surly sullen bell” (Line 2), is used to create the auditory imagery of the gloomy church bells meaning the funeral has come. This use of personification and auditory imagery (which is also alliteration) is what tells his mistress and the world he is officially dead so she should no longer hold onto him or their love, she must move on. Fearing that people will “mock” her for not moving on is revealed in the last couplet, he believes the sorrow will change her and she will go into a deep sadness that people will frown upon so she will be lonely forever. Therefore moving on would be her best decision. He encourages her to continue to move forward without him using phrases such as “if you read this lone remember
In the war poems Mental Cases and Dulce Et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen utilises poetic techniques including aural and visual imagery to convey the notions of the glorified misrepresentation of war, psychological effects and futility of war. Drawing from his personal World War 1 context, Owen further conveys this meaning by challenging responders through the confrontation of the harsh realities of war. Within the poem Mental Cases, Owen shows how the soldiers have been drowned in misery and been brutally affected by war leading to the notion of the glorification and misrepresentation of war in society. He shows the audience the aftermath of war and how it’s not as romanticised as society believes. He emplys the use of imagery in the quote “Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish, Baring teeth that leer like skulls' tongues wicked?” (Lines 3, 4).
“…Did they really believe that this war would end wars…it all happened again, and again, and again,” this use of rhetorical question and repetition emphasises the anti-war sentiment that both Bogle and Dawe capture. Similarly in Homecoming, it is illustrated the dehumanisation of war. “…mortuary coolness…deep-freeze…sorrowful…frozen sunset…wintering tree…bitter…grief…”through an extended metaphor, it is suggested the implications on the society from the death of thousands of loved ones; the coldness is symbolising the death, grief and struggling of society and the individual. Dehumanising effects give poets their anti-war point of view the effectively portray the bonds between the society and the
The anger is transferred onto the weapon which spits their hatred onto the soldiers. “No mockeries now for them no prayers nor bells” is a contrast between church bells and “monstrous anger of the guns” No, Now, No and nor is also a form of assonance using every second or third word to create a beat. Finally there are religious connections Mockeries, Prayers and Bells which is also lexical word choice. The brutality is shown throughout the poem but mainly in the octet where the battlefield is the main focus. The relatives at home find religious actions comforting.
This quotation shows how much this solider is suffering but it also shows how no human on earth should die like this as it seems like a terrible way for a man’s death. The old lie: Dulce et decorum est – Pro patria mori” This quotation is placed right at the end of this poem, It means ‘Sweet and beautiful it is to die for one’s country’ In Latin. There is some irony in this last stanza, but Owen is also very serious. He uses the saying as a warning and a final attempt to persuade the reader that war is monstrous. He describes the saying as 'The old Lie,' which I think means that he is trying to say that it is a trick.