Comparison Of War And Dulce Et Decorum Est

Throughout the ages, poetry has played--and continues to play--a significant part in the shaping of a generation. It ranges from passionate sonnets of love to the gruesome realities of life. One such example of harsh realism is Wilfred Owen 's "Dulce et Decorum Est." Owen 's piece breaks the conventions of early 20th Century modernism and idealistic war poetry, vividly depicts the traumatizing experiences of World War I, and employs various poetic devices to further his haunted tone and overall message of war 's cruel truths.

First, Owen uses logos to explain the horrible experience in WWI. The tile of this poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” means, it is honorable and sweet to die for own country, (Poetry Foundation), but the experience was too depressing. Owen uses the stanza like "But someone still was yelling…… man in fire or lime”, the ones who weren’t able to rich out their mask were choking and stumbling from toxic gas. Plus, a gas was all they needed to wipe out the field. (line 11,12) In line 5 and 6 he says, “Men marched asleep”, right before the gas blew off, some solders were men were sleep, as other limped their bloody feet as they lost their boots in battle

As a method to introduce the truth behind the war, Wilfred Owen uses imagery to create vivid pictures during the times of battle. “Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of gas-shells dropping softly behind us. ”(Owen) The depth of the description and word choice appeals to the reader to better convey the depravity of the situation. To further translate, the reader is put into the writer’s place.

Nothing will end war unless the people refuse to go to war”, Albert Einstein. Stephen Crane, the author of “War is Kind”, had no experience with war; that was until the Spanish-American War, where he became a foreign war correspondent. “Dulce et Decorum Est”, was written by Wilfred Owen; Owen survived as a foot soldier during World War I and lost his life fighting for his country. The author of The Things They Carried, was Tim O’Brien who served in the Vietnam War. The final writing was The Yellow Birds, it was written by Kevin Powers after he served terms in the Iraq war. All of these authors use imagery, irony, and structure to protest war.

As for the form, there are a number of poetic devices which serve to fill the poems with the necessary diction. As Lovelace’s poem is easier and lighter by tone, there are not so many devices, but still the figurative language is romantic and eloquent. The imagery is delicate and beautiful. The innocence and pureness of the protagonist’s beloved woman is described by the words “the nunnery of thy chaste breast and quiet mind”; the lover’s attitude is shown by the words “Sweet” and “Dear”; the rush and aspiration of the hero is underlined by the metaphors of “flying” and “chasing”. There is no place for regret or fear; on the contrary, it seems that the hero relishes his fortune, his obligation and the

Wilfred Owen’s poetry is shaped by an intense focus on extraordinary human experiences. In at least 2 poems set for study, explore Owen’s portrayal of suffering and pity.

Jacque Fresco states, “war, poverty, corruption, hunger, human suffering will not change. It's going to take the redesign of our culture and values”. Jacque Fresco’s statements connect to the two poems, “The Wars” and “Dulce et Decorum Est”, these poems are about the experience of the soldiers. Both the poems are about circumstances that people have to face in the war like bloodshed, poverty, and hunger. In the first poem “The Wars” by Timothy Findley, the narrator talks about the destruction of the beauty.

Wilfred Owen writes his poem due to his experience at war. He writes about the sights and images of what he witnessed during the war. He includes personal examples of a couple of experiences involving him. An example of this was taken place, when he saw a guy plunging at him, “guttering, choking, drowning.” He witnessed someone dying and uses this experience in his poem.

Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem made of four stanzas in an a, b, a, b rhyme scheme. There is hardly any rhythm to the entire poem, although Owen makes it sound like it is in iambic pentameter in some lines. Every stanza has a different amount of lines, ranging from two to twelve. To convey the poem’s purpose, Owen uses an unconventional poem style and horrid, graphic images of the frontlines to convey the unbearable circumstances that many young soldiers went through in World War I. Not only did these men have to partake in such painful duties, but these duties contrasted with the view of the war made by the populace of the mainland country. Many of these people are pro-war and would never see the battlefield themselves. Owen’s use of word choice, imagery, metaphors, exaggeration, and the contrast between the young, war-deteriorated soldiers and populace’s favorable view of war creates Owen’s own unfavorable view of the war to readers.

War is a scandalous topic where peoples’ views differ as to what war is. Some people see it as pure evil and wicked while others think that it is brave and noble of what soldiers do. Looking at poems which had been written by people affected by war help show the messages which are portrayed. The two sets of poems which show different views of war as well as some similarities are “the Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden. Both these poets use linguistic devices to convince the reader of their view of what the war is. Tennyson and Lovelace show how war is worthy

The use of repetitant capitalisation of the first "GAS" and the use of exclamation marks creates this mood. The next line "An ecstasy of fumbling" adds to the current poem atmosphere with everyone fumbling to have the masks on before being affected by gas. An anti-climax of helmets being fitted "just in time" misleads the reader into thinking that the helmets all were put on successfully but in the following plosive conjunction "but" the reader now understands this is not the case. Again in the last line Owen requests for the attention of the reader with the personal pronoun and simile "As under a green sea, I saw him drowning" an image of the fog of green air in which the soldiers disappear in is generated in the mind of the reader.

The purpose of war is again in question through the ironic titles evidenced in most of Owen’s poems. In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, the sweet and fitting death is contrasted against the bitter and

Wilfred Owen uses language and poetic devices to evoke sympathy for the soldier in the poem by using in-depth descriptions. An example of this is in the first stanza where the soldier in the poem ‘shivered in his ghastly suit of grey’. The ‘g’ sound in the words ‘ghastly’ and ‘grey’ emphasises the horror of ‘ghastly’ combined with the dreariness of ‘grey’, which are now the two main features of his life. The word ‘ghastly’ shows something that is strange and unnatural. The adjective ‘grey’, which has connotations of bleakness, portrays an image of darkness and monotony. Furthermore, the verb ‘shivered’ shows that he is vulnerable and exposed. In the phrase, ‘Legless, sewn short at elbow’, the sibilance at the end of ‘Legless’, and in ‘sewn short’ tell us that the short-syllable words are ruthlessly to the point, so it emphasises the fact that the soldier has no arms and legs because of his wounds.

How Wilfred Owen Uses Language and Imagery in His Poetry to Communicate his Attitudes of War

Owen also uses language of terror and powerlessness for the speaker as the poem progresses. Describing the soldier the speaker has seen fail to attach his gas mask, he says, “I saw him drowning” (14). He dreams of this encounter repeatedly, “[in] all my dreams, before my helpless sight/ He plunges at me” (15-16). In his dreams, he is not only powerless to aid this man, but