“No one hates war like a soldier hates war” Tommy Franks, an american general had once said . Personal experiences can greatly effect us in various ways. One aspect is writing. During the times of conflict, different poets were influenced by war, which influenced their poems. Wilfred Owen was one of them. Wilfred Owens’ personal experiences greatly influenced his writing in the poem. Of fighting in World War 1, his anti-war sprit would have been provoked, and would have greatly influenced his voice and language in “Dulce Et Decorum Est”. In this essay, I will talk about how did Wilfred Owens’ personal experiences with conflict influence his writing in the poem.
Wilfred Owens’ experiences with war greatly influenced the mood of the poem. As I have mentioned earlier, he was a solider in World War I, and while he was fighting at the front, he would have seen the horrific scenes of the battlefields himself. Additionally, while war poets whom did not participate in battle would usually have to suffer to try to imagine/in squeeze out from their imaginations,he would have been suffering because of the horrific scenes of war that he had seen and was haunting him in his sleep which other war poets would try to imagine it in their minds. This would have allowed him to “open his eyes” to the reality of war, of how ruthless, cold-hearted and pointless war is. As a result, his experiences as a soldier himself, not as an observer, significantly influenced the poems’ mood, making it
This description paints the scenes of the poem as they happen, the powerful connotations of the words battling against each other, and to the grievance of the reader, the negative feelings prevail. This battle illuminates the brutality and fear experienced by soldiers, in WWII, during their final moments on Earth - their fear, sadness, and horrified disgust all hidden between the lines of these two sentences. Foreshadowed by the soldier's machine like tone, the speaker alludes to the fact that he will fight for his life, and
War is a transformative event because it alters people's perspectives of war, and leaves them suffering, mentally and physically. 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:
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. The use of third-person singular pronouns in “Bayonet
“The War Works Hard” by Dunya Mikhail and “Exposure” by Wilfred Owen are two antiwar poems. The poems were written in different styles, and yet they have the same approach to the polemic topic of “War”, in which both poets seeks to expose the realities of relentless wars and condemn the futility of armed conflicts. Meanwhile they all strive to enlighten the public the horrible outcomes that the wars bring casualties from both sides with brutal honesty. Although Mikhail was a civilian from a war-torn country and Owen was a British soldier in World War One, both poets have experienced war firsthand and faced similar emotional trauma. The literary devices like sound, imagery, and typography all used to shape their ideas and correspond to the
One of the things that happened in World War I that changed poets opinion on war was the mass death that occurred in the war. In total the casualties add up to about 37 million. That is more than half of the soldiers that were mobilized. The total number of deaths shows how much pain there was for so many people when they found their loved ones to be dead. That had to impact a lot of people all over and poets must've seen how badly War had hurt not only soldiers but everyone.
Both Dulce et Decorum Est and Mametz Wood present the incompetent results of war. Dulce et Decorum Est indicates the horrible facts and deaths in war. Moreover, Mametz Wood highlights how precious life is and how easily it can be lost as a result of battle. 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.
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.
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.
War poetry. War poetry for many soldiers is the only release of the extreme emotions felt at the traumatic experiences they endured. It has not only helped many communicate their thoughts and expressions, but for us as a society it has helped us gain an understanding to the true horrors of war. One such poet is David Campbell. Campbell served in the RAAF as a boat pilot in World War 2, and helped transport the soldiers from destination to destination; seeing the new recruits and the war-stricken recruits.
Comparative Essay 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. The diction and tone in Borden and Owen’s poems is so much different than the diction and tone in Lovelace and Tennyson’s poems due to different perspectives and point of views. In all four poems the main idea is war, but each set conveys a perspective of war, a positive perspective
"Disabled" by Wilfred Owen is a poetic analysis of war that exposes the struggles of adjusting to civilian life. A deeper analysis of "Disabled" reveals the irony of war; a soldier's fight for his country's freedom which results in the sacrifice of his mental and physical freedom. The soldiers and their families suffer from the scars and traumatic events of the war daily, while those that benefit can remain in oblivion of their suffering. Owen’s "Disabled" gives the readers an intimate poem detailing the tragic loss of humanity that a soldier suffers. Because of the war, the soldier has been reduced in mind and body.
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.
Through both of his poems, Dulce Et Decorum Est and Disabled, Owen clearly illustrates his feeling about war. Both of them convey the same meaning that war destroyed people’s lives. For Dulce Et, Decorum Est, it mainly illustrates soldier’s life during war, the dreadfulness of war, whereas, Disabled illustrates how war have damaged soldier’s life. Also, the saying that said that war it is lovely and honorable to die for your country is completely against his point of view. Owen conveys his idea through graphically describing his horrible experiences in war.
“Dulce Et Decorum Est” is the title of a poem by, Wilfred Owen, in which he recounts his first hand experience as a soldier in gas warfare era World War I. The poem goes on to mention the bleak condition of other men involved in the war as well as display the shock of a gas attack. At first sight, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” may seem like a first hand account of the experiences of World War I, however the text articulates a horrifying mood, war imagery, and situational irony to overthrow the noble statement of patriotism, “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori1,” by showing the disgrace of war. Substantially, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” has a hidden objective meant to subconsciously alert common people.
The poems written by soldiers from World War I and later conflicts were not epics; these verses did not praise heroes or epic battles. Rather, they often questioned the purpose of war, why people fight, and overall an unflinchingly realistic portrayal of the nature of battle. War poetry is exclusively realistic, showing warfare in an unglamorous and unromantic light. War poetry as we know it effectively began during World War I.