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.
The other soldiers (including the speaker of the poem, presumably Owen himself) are forced to watch the man slowly die as his insides are burned away by the chlorine gas. His dying body (still alive, but thrashing in agony) is thrown on a cart. We are told that the sight of the dying man stuck in his mind, causing him terrible nightmares for a long time afterwards. He states that if other people had seen that sight, or if they knew how truly terrible warfare is, they would not say that dying in battle is a glorious and honourable thing. The simile, "His hanging face, like a devil's sick of skin" highlights to the reader the worst possible illustration of war.
Owen on the other hand, shows how the reality was quite different; the young men were dyeing and deaths in the trenches. I believe that Owen wanted to open the eyes of the reader to what was really going on in the war to illustrate how vile and inhumane war really is. The first line sets the tone for the rest of the poem "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks". He uses the simile "like old beggars" to show how the average soldier was not being treated nobly or with respect but like someone the lowest class. It also shows how the young, vibrant boys who signed up had the life taken out of them by the war and were becoming "old" before their time.
Throughout the collection of war poems by Wilfred Owen, all the poems share the same subject; “the pity of war”. Therefore unpleasant details and exaggerated emotions play a big part from a war poet who was serving for his country in World War One. W.B. Yeats dismissed Owen’s poetry as ‘all blood’ and ‘dirt’ you could argue that Owen is a little obsessed with it but with no hope and constant death surrounding him on the Western Front who can blame him for feeling this way? The war poem collection could also be considered to face other aspects of war not necessarily the graphic events, but the hatred of civilians, justified details and distractions from war such as coping mechanisms.
However if you read deeper in to the text you find that Owen is criticising the term because his poem shows the exact opposite. "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks." Owen is describing how the war has turned young fit men to near critical health conditions to the extent of Owen saying that the young men are now becoming like old women. The similie is very effective in the context because the reader feels sympathy toward the soldiers because they are being worked near to death. "Knock-kneed, couging like hags, we cursed through sludge."
Owen describes us horrible and degraded scenes of the real life in war and he adds emphasis using allitterations: of the b in the first line Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, of the kn in the second, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, of the m in the fifth, Men marched asleep. Many had lost their bootsof the b again in the sixth of the d But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; In the second stanza he describes us a specific episode, the dead by gas, using another experimental tool, the direct speech, to add phatos. -Gas! Gas!
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.
Question: Compare the ways in which Hardy portrays death in warfare in 'Drummer Hodge' and 'The Man He Killed' Hardy in ‘Drummer Hodge’ is trying to show us how war lowers the value of human life. Straight away, from the first stanza of ‘Drummer Hodge,’ Hardy writes about death in war. It begins with ‘They throw in Drummer Hodge...’ Immediately we can see the lack of respect for the Drummer, as they ‘throw’ him in, ‘to rest.’ Hardy further describes that Hodge is buried ‘Uncoffined – just as found;’ which reinforces our notion of the lack of respect shown towards the dead drummer. This shows us that in the haste of war the drummer is buried as quickly as possible, so fighting can resume, showing us how Hardy may be portraying the lowering value of a human being. We can also interpret this as presenting how death has become a nuisance for the military, resulting in dead soldiers being buried as quickly as possible.
Owen uses simile to compare the young men to old “hags”. “Bent double, like old beggars”, “knock kneed” and “cursed through sludge” set a slow and agonising tone, giving readers an image of the hostile conditions. The verse; “Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all bling; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind” show the basic quality of living in the battlefield being lost. Words like "lame," "blind," "drunk" and "deaf" suggest that the soldiers have been stripped of their bodily integrity before they even enter into battle.
Wilfred Owen portrayed conflict as a negative event, using his poetry to draw a very vivid picture of life for the soldiers in many different situations. From the horrors of a gas attack, “In my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning” (Dulce Et Decorum Est. City College Plymouth handout, Page 38, 2012) the reality of