Through his rhythms, dramatic description, and raw images, Owen seeks to convince that the horror of war far outweighs the patriotic clichés of those who glamorize war and increases my understanding of war and the horrors that come with it. A technique used to enhance the horrors of war is imagery. Such as, describing the soldiers as “bent double, like old beggars under sacks”. By using this simile, it provides the reader with an unexpected view and appearance of the soldiers, as you normally have an image of a soldier to be strong healthy looking men. The poet quickly erases this false image of a soldier replacing it with a description of a ‘beggar’.
I am going to do this by indicating what methods and techniques they use to affect the reader and make them feel emotion towards the soldiers. Owen uses irony with the title Dulce et decorum est because it translates to it is a “Sweet and right thing”. This is irony because the poem is trying to say that war is bad and not a sweet and right thing. Owen also uses these words to hit out to Jessie Pope, who was a propaganda poet and Owen disliked her. Pope thinks that war was good and it was Ok to die during it but Owen strongly disagreed with that.
Comparison of ‘Vergissmeinnicht’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ Thomas Roddy Poetry often comes from feelings of strong emotions which can be seen over centuries of time with Shakespeare’s frustration of love in his sonnets, to John Donne expressing his relationship with religion. The First World War understandably brought a period of strong emotion, due to the futility, and produced some of the great poets, such as Wilfred Owen. On the other hand, World War Two was underway and the newspapers were asking “Where are the war poets?” and so the likes of Keith Douglas were titled as soldier poets. Therefore, Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’[1] and Douglas’ ‘Vergissmeinnicht’[2] seems like an appropriate comparison of these two periods. Poetry did develop and change after World War One as the 1930s brought a stress-free period where there was almost a silliness about poetry, with a lack of concern with social decay and more of an embrace in popular culture.
What mattered was the truth of war and what he felt he must share and let people know. The pararhyme here links key words and ideas, without detracting from the meaning and solemnity of the poem, as a full rhyme sometimes does. However, the failure of two similar words to rhyme and the obvious omission of a full rhyme creates a sense of discomfort and incompleteness. It is a discordant note that matches well to the disturbing mood of the poem. Therefore, Theme 1: Brutality and horrors of war (and their effect on the individual) Poem 1: topic sentence, quotes, techniques, analysis/ significance/ effect, link to question Poem 2: topic sentence, quotes, techniques, analysis/ significance/ effect, link to question Paragraph 2 To Owen, war is not sweet, nor is it honourable and these ideas are explored throughout the poem, Dulce et Decorum est.
After reading war poems we are able to get a true idea of how horrific war was and learn of its negative consequences. The main idea in war poems becomes apparent when reading Wilfred Owen’s poem, Dolce et Decorum Est. In the last stanza, the lines: “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie: Dolce et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori” demonstrates the main idea. ‘Dolce et Decorum est’ is a Latin saying, which means ‘it is sweet and right’. The poet is saying that people should not talk about war as enthusiastically as it gives the impression that war is glorious.
Compare and Contrast the four poems ‘For the Fallen’, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, ‘The Soldier’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ All of these four poems are war poems but are written from different perspectives. ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ are both written by Wilfred Owen, a soldier on the front line. ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ portrays, using metaphors, how the soldiers’ deaths go without a funeral fit for such heroes. ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ is literally about a gas attack on some English soldiers , but metaphorically it is an ironic poem which pokes fun at the phrase ‘It is right and proper to die for one’s country.’ ‘For the Fallen’ is written by Laurence Binyon, a man too old to fight for his country. The subject of ‘For the Fallen’ is an elegy reminding us how many men died so that we may live.
Owen seems to suggest that the artificialities of love pale in comparison to the true honour and love of men on the battlefield – men who cough, struggle, and die. Owen is calling attention to the authenticity of these soldiers' actions and finding within them meaning Alternatively this can interpreted as the soldier has a somewhat erotic feeling towards war and aspects of war e.g patriotism and his doubts for example Red lips are not so red” . shows that Owen is losing interest in fighting the war as he comes to realize its true form. This is then emphasized in line 5 with “your eyes lose lure”. Which show a versions of reality theme which is also found in another Owen poem; Dulce Et Decorum est where Owen shows the horrors of war and uses it to send a message to people at home who are as he refers to a common patriotic quote as “ The old lie”.
This extract from the short story 'The Truth about War' deals with the ambiguity and contradictions of war; particularly focussing on the comparison between the beauty and brutality of it. O'Brien tries to convey to us through the use of compare and contrast that there is hope of peace in war. War will make you grow up due to what you have experienced. War will make you value life. O'Brien's extract conveys to the readers the contradictory feelings that war evokes in a person.
Dulce et Decorum Est The poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est”, by Wilfred Owen, is a poem about the First World War. Owen uses most predominately diction and sensuous imagery to describe the horrifying atrocities that occurred during the First World War. He says that war is not as glorious as it’s made out to be, but it is actually painful and terrifying. Diction is the most predominant literary device throughout the poem that develops a negative tone throughout and emphasizes the author’s central purpose in describing the horrifying nature of war. Such examples of powerful diction in the first stanza include, “hags” (2) which depict the soldiers as ugly, miserable creatures, “trudge” (4), which describes their marching as long, difficult and strenuous, and “blood-shod” (6), which gives the reader a visual image of the soldiers covered in blood.
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. In this essay I will analyze this poem and reveal the realities of war through a variety of writing techniques. I will also give my personal opinion on the poem and how it is written. The poem is split into two parts, one part contains eight lines and the second part contains six lines. In the first eight lines (octet) a question is asked in the first line and answered in the remaining seven lines.