HOW DOES WILFRED OWEN CONVEY THE HORRORS OF WAR IN POETRY ? Many of Owen's poems direct anger towards the generals and those at home who have encouraged war.Owen's war poetry is a passionate expression of outrage at the horrors of war and of pity for the young soldiers sacrificed in it. It is dramatic and memorable, whether describing physical horror, such as in 'Dulce et Decorum Est' or mental torment such as in' Disabled'. His poetry evokes more from us than simple disgust and sympathy. Owen sympathizes with the vain young men who have no idea of the horrors of war, who are 'seduced' by others (Jessie Pope) and the recruiting posters.
Anderson shows that war has a damning effect on war journalists as well as soldiers, and that their loved ones and families are also heavily affected. One of these effects on the characters is that they lose a sense of hope and as a result, always expect the worse. Talzani depends on fate to answer the toughest questions in his life and to comfort him by covering up horrors in his past by blaming it on the power of fate, which is out of his control. Dr Talzani admits, ‘would you believe that sometimes I am so tired, or the cave is so dark, I’m not even sure of the colours I give them’. To make himself feel better he embodies a fatalistic view which is that ‘there is no pattern to who lives or dies in war’.
The culture would make their soldiers very brave and loyal in battle, this was done not by upholding a high standard or praising the soldiers from achievements in battle but by harshly reprimanding them. The soldiers during this era were so immensely afraid of the punishment that would come from deserting the war that they would give their lives to the enemy by risking it all. As shown in the text “Some men who have lost a shield or sword or another part of their arms in battle heedlessly throw themselves against the enemy, hoping either to recover what the lost, or to escape the inevitable disgrace and the insults of their relatives by suffering injury or death” (Hunt et. Al 2009, 154). It was derived from this excerpt, that the soldiers during Polybius’ reign were so scared to be punished or even ridiculed for leaving their post in battle or failing that they would bravely throw themselves into the enemies position to regain their arms or face death.
The boys got hooked onto this propaganda and registered for WWI. This lead to deaths, trauma, and fear of the boys.The boys grow to hate war and what its all about. Kantorek is eventually drafted into war himself, and begins to despise his own teachings of what war was, after experiencing the trenches.
The theme of death, is one that is against war. This novel highlights the constant struggle for Yossarian to stay alive and makes him value his life. Death is a horrible thing and Yoassarian does everything he can to try to avoid it. As stated before, these two themes show the ugly of war and cause the reader to see what war is really
Chapter 4, pg. 52. This quote is interesting because he wanted to go to war because he didn’t want to feel shame but in reality the citizens of the U.S made him and the rest of the soldiers feel shameful for going into the war. Tim O’Brien uses satire in this quote to show how this one character felt about this
An important theme throughout the poem is the concept of war used to glorify violence. The title of the poem which was widely used propaganda at that time exalts the concept of war, saying it’s a good and honourable thing to die for your country, but in reality, as evidenced by the soldier in the poem could not be more different. The idea of suffering is explored with the use of depressing and dismal language. The use of simile such as “bent double like old beggars” gives the impression that the soldiers have been prematurely aged, and seemingly deformed by the harsh conditions of war. This simile is an important contrast of the information people were fed at the time of soldiers being strong and proud.
Attack by Siegfried Sassoon Essay by Qurratulain Shahood Literature in English (AS) Siegfried Sassoon’s revealing poem ‘Attack’ is an expression of the apathy and futility of war. Laced with graphic images of combat and a lurking sense of doom, ‘Attack’ crumbles the glorified image of war into nothingness. Sassoon’s hostility to war can be seen in the way he disregards any element of fantasy in war- for him, war is a brutal reality of bloodshed, heartbreak and utter loss of hope. The structure of the poem is somewhat crowded- a stretch of thirteen lines with abrupt stops and endings in the middle of lines. These portray a sense of foreboding and uncertainty in cramped conditions.
Wilfred Owen said “my subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity’”. The three poems I wish to explore portray Owen’s pity towards men going through the First World War. ‘The Send-off’ shows anonymous men who are about to depart to the battlefront, ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ explores trench life and, ‘Disabled’ charts the legacy of war on the wounded. ‘The send -off’, shows Owen’s cynical attitude towards war.
In his poem “War”, Ledwidge appears to apply a representation of war itself. In the first line, the reader can understand that the “Darkness and I are one” not only implies that he is narrating as the war itself but also the fear he felt during the war. By narrating as The War and his use of “wind” and “nagging thunder” it can be interpreted that Ledwidge, by arranging nature with war potentially sees war as a natural occurrence and something that is innate in all human nature. The sentence “my mother was a storm” is a strange line. The reader sees the “storm as potential destruction, the destruction that the war will bring about on the world perhaps however this is juxtaposed by the warm “mother” imagery that the reader receives.