Futility of War

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In the selection of Owen’s poems, compare the ways in which he suggests that war is futile: Wilfred Owen was born in 1893 and died in 1918; he was a famous poet during the First World War. He was born on the borders of England and Wales, and was interested in becoming a poet from an early age. War broke out in 1914 and he joined the army the following year, aged fourteen, he had to return to England to get a treatment for shell-shock. Most of the poems Wilfred Owen wrote portray the pointlessness of war and expose the reality of war. In this essay, I will compare the ways in which Wilfred Owen suggests that war is futile, by analysing two of his poems: ‘Futility’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’. The poem ‘Futility’ expresses the uselessness of creation of life on Earth. The death of a young soldier portrayed in the poem comes to stand for the pointlessness of war itself and the loss of lives caused by it. ‘Futility’ is a poem that was published in Owen’s lifetime. This poem reflects a sudden change; from a loyal hope to despair. ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ discusses death in war and shows how those who die in war do not receive the normal ceremonies that are used to honour the dead. So Owen expressed the way he felt about those who died while fighting in the war through this poem. ‘Futility’ is written in fourteen lines like a sonnet but it is not structured like one. This poem has two seven-line stanzas. The two-stanza structure reflects the poem’s change in tone, from hope and confidence to despair. The poem begins with a statement that suggests that an action is happening and the sun is seen as something positive. However, the second stanza begins with a different statement; Wilfred Owen is no longer thinking of the soldiers who are dying but life and death generally. Therefore it means that the soldier has died and the sun has not made any difference. This
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