The poet is saying that people should not talk about war as enthusiastically as it gives the impression that war is glorious. Furthermore, he says that the idea that ’it is sweet and right’ to die for your country is entirely untrue. Through this, we are able to form the opinion that war is not okay because it is a serious thing that carries many negative consequences. In Wilfred Owen’s poem Dolce et Decorum est, the use of similes conveys the harsh reality of war on soldiers as it changes them dramatically and kills the majority of them. In the first two lines of the poem, Owen uses the similes “Bent double like old beggars under sacks, knocked kneed, coughing like hags” to paint a grim picture in readers minds of how the soldiers were.
Sassoon’s poetry described the horrors of the war and how disgusting it is. Two poems which show the perspective of war is: Firstly, Counter-Attack, which describes how war is like; and secondly, died of wounds, which show the condition of war. The poems relate to the feeling and emotion war creates. Also it shows how horrible war is. The techniques that Sassoon has used in the poems are: imagery, simile, metaphor and onomatopoeia.
(Shaffer 45) He originally “cried for days without stopping” (45) when the depiction of his god was “[torn] off the boy’s wall and [thrown into] the dustbin” (45) by his father. Alan seems to accept the replacement of “[t]he Christ …loaded down with chains, and the centurions…really laying on the stripes” (45) with a “remarkable picture” (45) of a horse with eyes “staring straight at you” (45). On one side Alan has his mother “night after night having [the bible] read into him” (34) and his father on the other side atheist, and tries “to put a stop to it” (34). The poster of a crucified Jesus represents a spiritual and sacred figure, until his father “threw it in the dustbin” (45) and replaces it with the image of a horse that seems to suffice a messiah. Alan then focuses spiritual mentality on the horse as he treats the new photo as a god-like figure when he “knelt down” (51) infront of it, and chant to it “like the bible” (50).
Owen compares soldiers fighting in war to sick old men because it shows that soldiers are like outcasts from society. At the top left of the poster, the image shown represents the difficulty and the terrible physical outcomes, soldiers found travelling on ground particularly in sludges as Wilfred Owen states in the first stanza: “Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge” The use of the word Knock-kneed is alliteration for emphasis, a hard, staccato sound to echo the harsh mood of these lines and soldier’s misery. It stresses echo the brutality of the soldiers’ destruction, their transformation from healthy young men into ‘beggars’ and ‘hags’. The use of the word coughing compares men to sick women, showing how they are unrecognisable; they have lost their masculinity, youth, health and therefore are now deemed to be outcast’s within the society. The word sludge is onomatopoeia to imply how heavy and difficult the ground is to cross for soldiers.
Owen commented on his poetry that ‘my subject is war, and the pity of it… all a poet can do is warn.’ Owen and Sassoon were both trying to warn young men against war and inform the public on how brutal and disgusting war actually is In both poems, after describing the obscene conditions of war and the impact that these conditions had on the soldiers, the poets dedicated a stanza to condemning the reader on any encouragement they may have had towards young men going to war. They did this through the use of personal pronouns. In ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ Owen condemns the use of the saying “Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori” (It is sweet and fitting to die for your country) by using personal pronouns to involve the reader in the reality of war “If you could hear at every jolt/ the blood come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs… my friend you would not tell with such high zest… the old lie: Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori.” In ‘Suicide in the trenches’ personal pronouns are also used to disapprove of the encouragement of war “You smug faced crowds… who cheer when soldier lads march by/ sneak home and pray you’ll never know/ the hell where youth and laughter go.” Personal pronouns are used in order to involve the
Owen's use of diction and figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is horrid and devastating. The use of very graphic imagery also adds to his argument. Through the intense content of the poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est," Wilfred Owen shows the reader the horrors of war. Owen compared the soldiers to animals in order to bring out their suffering. "Knock-kneed" is a condition that makes knees hit together when walking.
WAR PHOTOGRAPHER LITERATURE Write about the poem, war photographer, in which my opinion is very effective in highlighting important social issues. Explain what these issues are and examine and discuss the various ways in which the poet conveys them. The poet is addressing the issues of war and morals of people. In stanza one, the poet shows how gruesome war can be, “spools of suffering set out in ordered rows” The poet, Duffy, highlights the contrast of what happens at the war sight from where he is now. The word spools also suggest never ending, hence he suggest the never-ending suffering those at war are burdened with.
‘Apologia Pro Poemate Meo’ – Wilfred Owen ‘Apologia Pro Poemate Meo’ deals with the atrocities of World War I. The poem conveys the battle between good and evil, both within the soldiers themselves and war as a whole. This poem gives insight into Owen’s intent to criticise the people who persuade the soldiers to sign up. By starting the poem with ‘I’, Owen indicates this is a personal poem similar to ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ and ‘The Dead Beat’ but unlike these poems, it is not inspired by personal events. Yet like ‘The Send Off’ and ‘Spring Offensive’ , this poem encapsulates a note of prophecy and appears to have an exolted tone as through all the horrors of the war, the soldiers managed to ‘give their laughs more glee than shakes a child.’ This pure love and pure horror expressed in this poem is mutually exclusive.
The Melancholy and Pessimism in Housman's Poems A.E. Housman was a human figure whose life and career were often moving as well as extraordinary. The melancholy and pessimism in Housman's poems capture the attention of readers and is perhaps the reason why his poetry is still read and studied today. Alfred Edward Housman, a classical scholar and poet, was born in Fockbury in the country of Worcestershire, England on March 26, 1859. His poems are variations on the themes of the regrets and frustrations of young men, especially soldiers.
War Poetry Introduction A poet is generally a man who feels something and tries to express his ideas and emotions about this thing in a way far better than that of the ordinary man. And the more effect of the subject, the better the poem. So when t comes to war we find that the poets express themselves in the most eloquent way. War, just hearing this word makes one think of many clashing ideas about it. Every single person on this earth has a clear idea about war and some of us already have a personal experience with the tragedies and suffering of war In this simple thesis we will talk about war poetry and its major poet, Wilfred Owen.