How Did Wilfred Owens Influence His Writing

Nineteenth century poet Walt Whitman lived and wrote in a fascinating time period and changed the literary world, all while experiencing a unique American war first hand. A humanitarian as well as a writer, Whitman volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War where he experienced the horrors of mortality, yet felt spiritually content afterwards as well. His frequent interactions with the wounded and sick would further alter his poetry and life, in a way where he would be able to cope with his time spent among the battle. Traumatized by the aftermath of the brutal war, Whitman used his writing as a reflection of his mind and life as his involvement in both the depravity and nobility of human existence absorbed into every aspect of his spirit.

According to the author Margaret B. McDowell, Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born on the 18th of March, 1893. He was the oldest of four other siblings, and both his mother and father had talent in the way of art and music. Although they had little in the way of money, his parents tried to make life enjoyable for Owen and his brothers and sisters. As he became older, he attended the Birkenhead Institute, a technical school that he attended for over a decade. After graduating, Owen began a pursuit of a more religious lifestyle, in which he served under Reverend Herbert Wigan and had little to no salary. With a small allowance and an open mind, he began to see the world in a different light, opening his eyes to the truth and gaining a deeper meaning from his studies. Although he had little religion himself, Owen did appreciate the passion of those who were connected to a God. In return for his apprenticeship, Owen would take care of the ill at Dunsden, where he would learn about life and the social issues at the time. During this period he also began to write and learn of his aptitude for creating

Both Ted Hughes and Wilfred Owen present war in their poems “Bayonet Charge” and “Exposure”, respectively, as terrifying experiences, repeatedly mentioning the honest pointlessness of the entire ordeal to enhance the futility of the soldiers' deaths. Hughes’ “Bayonet Charge” focuses on one person's emotional struggle with their actions, displaying the disorientating and dehumanising qualities of war. Owen’s “Exposure”, on the other hand, depicts the impacts of war on the protagonists' nation, displaying the monotonous and unending futility of the situation by depicting the fate of soldiers who perished from hypothermia, exposed to the horrific conditions of open trench warfare before dawn.

How can different perceptions about one topic be expressed in poetry? The main theme that the two sets of poems convey is war, but it’s expressed in different point of views through the use of diction that builds tone. The tones of these poems play a big role in conveying the differences between the different eras that these poems are written in, and shows how societies have changed from the Victorian era till the time of World War I.

When Owen 's poem and Vonnegut 's insights it shows that war brings anguish to those who fight it. In Billy 's event on the train, the other passengers only allowed him to sleep standing up because he would, "yell... kick... and whimper," from his anguish of war. Combined with Owen 's poem that is full of pain and struggle, there is no doubt about the clear theme, war is misery.

In this poem “Dulce et decorum Est”, Owen portrays the deadly effects of conflict through the use of metaphor: “as under a green sea, I saw him drowning”. Here, he describes the pain of the gas attack. The word “drowning” has connotation of death as it implies that Owen was “helpless” when he “saw” his friend ‘drowning’ in the “green sea”. Perhaps, it suggests that how dangerous and deadly the “green sea” could cause and the horrific nature of war. The word “sea” has connotation of vast as it states the range of the gas attack is broad. Also, it might suggest that the gas attack is perilous and unpredictable. Owen uses this gruesome and grisly image to emphasize it is not sweet and honorable to die for one’s country.

This essay will compare and contrast the way the poets Jessie Pope and Wilfred Owen present war in their poems. Who’s for the game? Was written by Jessie Pope in 1916 during the heart of the First World War. The poem is pro war and is a piece of propaganda that was used to recruit men into the British army. In contrast Dulce et decorum est is an anti war poem and shows the true aspects of war. The dates of the two poem do not differ a lot, this emphasises the time period does not influence they way that the two poets wrote their poems.

As a society we look at our soldiers as brave and strong people, who go and fight while living in awful situations, however that wasn’t always the perception of a soldier. During the First World War people thought that going off to war and dying at war were very romantic things. Mothers and girlfriends loves if their young boy signed up to go to war, some even wished that their son or boyfriend would go fight. During this time the war was such a great thing to everyone at home that many poets would write sonnets and poems encouraging the young men to go off to war. These poets however had no idea what the reality of the war was. In the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, by using figurative language, vivid imagery, and a certain diction, he describes the horrific despair that went along with war.

Good Morning/Afternoon Mr Bain and fellow classmates, today I will be speaking about a man who wrote some of the most powerful British poetry during World War 1, Wilfred Owen. Significantly only five of Owens poems were published in his lifespan, from August 1917 to September 1918. In November 1918 he was killed in action at the age of twenty-five, one week before the Armistice. Through his poetry, he depicted the reality and horrors of the First World War. This era was the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars.

The poems, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace, “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Tennyson, “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, and “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden, are all concerned with war. However, each poem has a distinct representation of it. While the two authors, Tennyson and Lovelace, glorify war by portraying it as honorable and worthwhile, Borden and Owen view war as a destruction of mankind and show their indignation and censure of war by depicting it as vile and gruesome in their poems. This essay will examine and compare the diction and tone of each poem to understand how they influence each poem’s underlying theme on war.

When the soldiers experienced the true realities of the war, they were left haunted, as depicted in the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen. This poem explains the true realities of the war and how he was left with a damaged mental state. Owen says:

Wilfred Owen was one of the main English poets of World War 1, whose work was gigantically affected by Siegfried Sassoon and the occasions that he witnesses whilst battling as a fighter. 'The Sentry ' and 'Dulce et Decorum Est ' are both stunning and reasonable war lyrics that were utilized to uncover the detestations of war from the officers on the hatreds of trenches and gas fighting, they tested and unmistakable difference a distinct difference to general society impression of war, passed on by disseminator writers, for example, Rupert Brooke.

Owen uses creative yet powerful diction to portray war and its gruesome brutality. He talks about “the incurable sores on innocent tongues” and the “blood-shod” boots from the awful conditions in the war. Owen’s use of “incurable” explains to the reader that the effects of war

The poem features a soldier, presumably Owen, speaking to fellow soldiers and the public regarding those atrocities. Correspondingly, drawing on the themes of innocent death and the barbaric practices of warfare, Owen expresses his remorse towards his fallen comrades and an antagonistic attitude towards the war effort through a solemn tone and specific stylistic devices. The poem is structured as free verse, contributing towards the disorganized and chaotic impression Owen experienced while witnessing these deaths firsthand, enabling the audience to understand the emotional circumstances of demise in the trenches as well. Throughout the poem, Owen routinely personifies the destructive weapons of war, characterizing them as the true instruments of death rather than the soldiers who stand behind them. Owen describes how, “Bullets chirped…Machine-guns chuckled…Gas hissed…” (Owen 3,4,15). Personifying the weapons demonstrates how pure soldiers have their innocence stolen from them through forced and blind usage of such deadly instruments. Accordingly, it is the weapons who truly receive the last laugh in the war as they kill both physically and spiritually, while soldiers are forever wounded in ways that can and cannot be seen.

Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ structure hints to the uncertainty of war. In the first eight lined stanza, Owen describes the soldiers from a third person point of view. The second stanza is shorter and consists of six lines. This stanza is more personal and is written from a first person 's point of view. This stanza reflects the pace of the soldiers as everything is fast and uncoordinated because of the gas, anxiety and the clumsiness of the soldiers. The last stanza consists of 12 lines. This is a funeral march and therefore a slower moving stanza which is achieved by the many commas used. The poem is written in chronological