As a semi-autobiographical recount, Owen criticises the suffering and psychological scarring of soldiers in ‘Mental Cases’. He depicts the aftermath and trauma experienced by soldiers through anecdotal experience. He begins the poem with a bombardment of rhetorical questions, ‘Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight?’ to create an interrogative tone which demand an explanation regarding why the soldiers have been so tortured with misery. He further portrays their dehumanised state through religious diction, ‘Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows’ to create a visual of soldiers rocking back and forth, trying to shake off their mental torment.
Dulce et decorum est essay. Q: Describe at least one idea that you thought was important in the text(s). Wilfred Owen’s 1917 war poem Dulce et Decorum est, portrays the poet’s blatant condemnation of war, as seen through the use of shocking and gruesome imagery. It is set against the backdrop of World War 1, and tells the plight of soldiers fighting in the trenches. An important theme throughout the poem is the concept of war used to glorify violence.
Steinbeck wants the reader to understand the harsh and difficult living conditions the soldiers are living in. Also, Steinbeck wants the reader to feel the emotion and physical pain the soldiers are feeling, “Under extended bombardment…the eardrums are tortured by the blast…your skin feels thick and insensitive. There’s a salty taste in your mouth. A hard, painful knot is in your stomach with undigested food…This is how you feel just after a few days of constant firing.” Steinbeck’s writes such a strong description that the reader can fully understand and even feel the pain the soldiers feel. The essay “Why Soldiers Won’t Talk,” is marked by a clear narrative description of what war is truly like and gives the reader a strong sense of perspective.
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’.
One such flashback “the japs’d come round and beat us for the fun of it”. By using visual imagery in an innocent woman’s gives a description of the horrendous environment of the prison camp. The inhumane beating of civilian emphasizes the grotesque nature of camps. The ongoing physical abuse from the Japanese soldiers became a motif throughout the play evokes pathos and the understanding of the barbarity of the war time environment. Another visual imagery use the emphasis the horror of war is “get down on all fours… hack at the earth” which demonstrates the intense work the prisoners had to endure; this evokes a sense of pity and gain sense of sympathy from the
His aim is not poetry, but to describe the full horrors of war. In this essay I have firstly decided to analyze two poems by the war poet Wilfred Owen, taken from his writings on the First World War. Both 'Dulce et Decorum est' and 'Disabled" portray Owen's bitter angst towards the war, but do so in different ways. Then I will analyze a very different poem 'Who's for the Game?' written by Jessie Pope, and finally contrast this with the poems by Owen.
Loneliness, like many other misleading emotions can lead to insanity. The soldiers in The Wars are given time to think, to regret, to feel guilty and ultimately succumbed to the emotions of anguish. Timothy Findley demonstrates that the loneliness of war has the potential to result in depression and eventual insanity. Through careful analysis of Timothy Findley’s The Wars, it will become evident that depression, loneliness and insanity are not just emotions felt on the front line, but also at home. By the thorough
How does Owen use language to convey the horror of War in ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’? ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ both convey the harsh reality of war that Owen personally experienced however, ‘Dulce...’ focuses on the pain of the gased soldier whilst Owen widens the perspective in ‘The Sentry. There are many similarities between both poems, such as the way Owen presents a dramatic image of war by use of language techniques, however there are also many differences. Owen uses language to show the reality of war. The simile “like old beggars under sacks” illustrates the dirty, weak image of the soldiers which contrasts the strong, heroic image which was portrayed of them at the time.
This is highlighted with "shut", "bleached" and "dark-clothed". The cleaver use of "shut shops", "sun blinds", "sovereigns", "kings and queens" compounds a critisasation of authority, Larkin does this through sibilance. Larkin then presents the loss in the next stanza with the repetition of the theme of innocence this is highlighted with the quotation "dresses", "never such innocence", "little" and "never such innocence again". This created a sense of destruction and how the war has taken the innocence of so many young people. Also the use off an oxymoron "restless silence" foreshadows the tragedy that is to come.
He contemplates the physical effects on the soldiers, more specifically the loss of limbs due to a different number of circumstances. In ‘Disabled’, Owen explores how these men are now ‘legless’ and incapable of living normal life, specifically, being able to ’feel again how slim girls' waists are’. He also mentions the severe psychological effects on the soldiers and how even after the war has concluded, these men and woman are still haunted by the atrocities they were forced to commit. In ‘Mental Cases’, Owen shows how these people are left as ‘purgatorial shadows’ of their former selves, and that their ‘minds, the dead have ravished’. These examples show clearly, just how horrific war has been to these soldiers, and how it has completely altered the way in which they see and