Through his poems, Owen highlights the unjust experiences of soldiers to create a protest against the bureaucracy because of how they justified the harming and killing of many for their own political gain. He does this by highlighting the actions and inactions of the bureaucracy that contribute to benefit of the administration. This can be explored in his poems ‘Parable of the Old Man and the Young’ (Parable) and the epic war poem ‘Disabled’. These two poems employ Owens message of anti-war sentiment to establish a connection with the audience through his manipulation of poetic techniques. Owen highlights such unjust experiences of the soldiers to augment his argument against the bureaucracy.
Wilfred Owen was an active soldier during WWI, who used his horrific experiences during the war to write his poems. His poems stemmed from his views on war, as he believed that although war was sometimes necessary, it was futile and evil. Two of his poems, ‘Exposure’ and ‘Disabled’ both reveal the price paid by soldiers during WWI. ‘Exposure’ examines the more psychological effects on the soldiers and is written from the view of the soldiers on the front line, ‘Disabled’ shows the aftermath and repercussion of fighting in WWI and the physical damage it caused. The first word in ‘Exposure’ is ‘our’ and is written in first person plural, showing the reader that Owen wanted to convey the plight of the universal soldier and how they all suffered the same fate, no matter their side.
This is how Duffy, conveys the issue of how cruel and gruesome war is in stanza one. In stanza two Duffy writes about his job and how he, the persona struggles to accept it. ”he has a job to do.” Duffy uses the word job to show a sense of duty and obligation, therefore it makes it seem that this is something that he has to do and accept. ”Beneath his hands which did not tremble then though seem to now” this shows us how the persona feels and how he is devastated but at the scene of the war, he cannot afford to shake and take a bad photo. ”home again to ordinary pain” This line shows us that the persona has seen what real suffering is like.
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.
Anthem For Doomed Youth is a sonnet written by Wilfred Owen about the realities of war. Wilfred Owen was a soldier during WW1 and therefore understands fully the true experiences of war. He was against war and was appalled by the effects of war on people and their families. The purpose of the poem is to inform the public of the true realities of war and how young men where dying needlessly. This was because during war times the media would tell the public that the war going great and that the men where doing just fine, but this obviously just wasn’t true.
Wilfred Owen uses contrast in this poem to help show the major changes for example “ There was an artist silly for his face, For it was younger than his youth, last year. Now, he is old; his back will never brace” This talks about before the war he would have people wanting his picture. But now no-one wants to see him, he looks old even though he is still young and his back will not support him. Many soldiers lost their limbs in battle and this poem helps people realise the pain the soldiers went through both physical and mental. “Mental Cases” is about the men who went crazy due to the events of World War I. it helps explain how these men looked with the use of half-rhymes, metaphors and similes “ drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish, Baring teeth that leer like skullls teeth wicked?” This talks about what the men looked like after going crazy.
One reason could have been the way the negative effects of war show through the use of Irony, Symbolism, and Metaphors. To introduce, Remarque uses irony to show the theme of the negative effects of war. To illustrate, Paul and his friends get extra rations. This is ironic because the only reason they get these extra rations of food and cigarettes because a lot of others soldiers just died up at the front. Instead of mourning for their fellow soldiers, they just try to get more food.
This can be seen in his two poems ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Parable of the Old man and the Young’. Through these poems, Owen is motivated by a powerful examination of people during a highly negative state. Focusing on the exhaustion of soldiers and their movement throughout the battlefield is one of Owens key techniques throughout his poetry. When it comes to Owens poetry, the impact war has on the soldiers is clear, this is evident in his poem, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’. Soldiers who go off to war are meant to be healthy and strong, however, this poem portrays the soldiers as old and unhealthy people.
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. The first part of these papers is concerned with war poetry in genera, it begins with a historical background of war poetry traced back to the time of Homer. Followed by the major characteristics of this school of poetry which has no standard criteria. After that, we shed light on the major poets of this school: Siegfried Sassoon , Rupert Chawner Brooke, and Isaac Rosenberg. The Second part is concerned with the great war poet, Wilfred Owen.
Owen also seeks to expose the betrayal of the authorities throughout poems such as ‘Disabled’ and ‘The parable of the old man and the young.’ He expresses how they acted with a disregard for the lives of their countries young men. Religion and its betrayal during the war is also emphasized by Wilfred Owen in ‘Anthem for doomed youth.’ He shows how the belief in religion did nothing to dampen the grim realities of war and he even begins to question his own beliefs. Another way Owen feels he has been betrayed is through the way society treated those soldiers who had suffered both mental and physical injuries. They were labelled as cowards and looked down upon. This is best shown in the poem ‘Disabled.’ Owen was ultimately driven by the betrayal of the authorities, religion and society and he used his horrifying experiences of the war to exemplify this betrayal.