Wilfred Owen Poetry Analysis

Wilfred Owen, a World War One poet, revealed the unsettling subject matter of war by using his own personal perspective to explore the harsh brutal reality of war.

As an anti-war poet, Wilfred Owen uses his literary skills to express his perspective on human conflict and the wastage involved with war, the horrors of war, and its negative effects and outcomes. As a young man involved in the war himself, Owen obtained personal objectivity of the dehumanisation of young people during the war, as well as the false glorification that the world has been influenced to deliver to them. These very ideas can be seen in poems such as 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and 'Dulce ET Decorum EST Pro Patria Mori'. Owen uses a variety of literary techniques to convey his ideas.

Wilfred Owen, through his poems, challenges our thoughts and perspectives on war in order to show the true effects and to stop the glorification it receives in society. Owen does this in both poems Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Decorum Est as he contrasts societies views and depictions of war from societies views as a result propaganda and the harsh reality as a result of Owens personal experiences. Owen also demonstrates the true effects of war by showing the treatment of the dead soldiers and the lack of respect which they receive by contrasting the funerals the soldiers received to civilian ones. From both poems we gather the understanding of Owens negative perspective towards human conflict and his purpose which is to show us the true and unglorified reality of

One is to think of war as one of the most honorable and noble services that a man can attend to for his country, it is seen as one of the most heroic ways to die for the best cause. The idea of this is stripped down and made a complete mockery of throughout both of Wilfred Owen’s poems “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. Through his use of quickly shifting tones, horrific descriptive and emotive language and paradoxical metaphors, Owen contradicts the use of war and amount of glamour given towards the idea of it.

“In his poetry, Wilfred Owen depicts the horror and futility of war and the impact war has on individuals.”

Wilfred Owen's war poems central features include the wastage involved with war, horrors of war and the physical effects of war. These features are seen in the poems "Dulce Et Decorum Est" and "Anthem for Doomed Youth" here Owen engages with the reader appealing to the readers empathy that is felt towards the soldier. These poems interact to explore the experiences of the soldiers on the battlefields including the realities of using gas as a weapon in war and help to highlight the incorrect glorification of war. This continuous interaction invites the reader to connect with the poems to develop a more thorough

War is deadly, the marks left for the time spent there will stay with you forever; either in the sense of mortality seen or mental and physical attributes given. The experience kills a little part of you each time, even if it is for a patriotic cause, which reflects the thoughts of the nation. Wilfred Owen, which at the time was, set in the mentality that he should fight for his country because of honor and the glory it would bring. Therefore, we can infer, he felt regret and sorrow for the missed opportunities compared to if he had known the truth about the war. Owen, a war hero and poet, put forth his own experiences in war, of which he didn’t have much understanding of, in hopes to allow others to not make that same mistake. Furthermore,

Thornhill, Rodger. "World War I and Wilfred Owen's Poetry." Yahoo! Contributor Network. Yahoo Voices, 30 July 2009. Web. 04 May 2013.

Throughout his body of work, Wilfred Owen’s poetry’s interesting ideas about loss. Owen presents a scathing critique of the Government’s propagandist representation of war as an honorable means through which glory and accolades are achieved, in tum critizing the way in which it entices young men directly into the battlefield and their inevitable deaths. His poetry also rejects the heroic and noble representation of war, exploring the traumatic physical, emotional and psychological impacts on the soldiers who had committed the most atrocious acts in order to survive. Owen’s ‘Dulce Et Decorum Youth’, subverts the traditional perceptions of war and attacks those who reinforce it, revealing the debilitating and degrading experiences of innocent soldiers in war. Similarly, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, is an outrage at the loss of life of the soldiers. These poems, through powerful vivid imagery, maintain textual integrity and resonate with World War 1 and contemporary readers, both of whom have been embroiled in violent global conflict.

Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively conveys his perspectives on human conflict through his experiences during The Great War. Poems such as ‘Futility’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ portray these perceptions through the use of poetic techniques, emphasising such conflicts involving himself, other people and nature. These themes are examined in extreme detail, attempting to shape meaning in relation to Owen’s first-hand encounters whilst fighting on the battlefield.

Wilfred Owen can be considered as one of the finest war poets of all times. His war poems, a collection of works composed between January 1917, when he was first sent to the Western Front, and November 1918, when he was killed in action, use a variety of poetic techniques to allow the reader to empathise with his world, situation, emotions and thoughts. The sonnet form, para-rhymes, ironic titles, voice, and various imagery used by Owen grasp the prominent central idea of the complete futility of war as well as explore underlying themes such as the massive waste of young lives, the horrors of war, the hopelessness of war and the loss of religion. These can be seen in the three poems, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ 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.

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) is recognised as one of the greatest voices of the First World War. Owen is one of the greatest writers of war poetry in the history of the English language. Having experienced war as a former soldier he used his personal experiences to help write the famous poems we still read today. Owen’s fine poetry includes Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Decorum Est (1917) and Storm (1916), ‘1914’ (1914). In these four poems it illustrates how Owen has become so recognised for his work in the world war era. His most famous poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ shows ideas relating to the motives of men as well as the lack of morals within recruitment for the wars. Parallel to this Owen defaces the ‘glory war’ and describes the truth

Throughout Wilfred Owen’s collection of poems, he unmasks the harsh tragedy of war through the events he experienced. His poems indulge and grasp readers to feel the pain of his words and develop some idea on the tragedy during the war. Tragedy was a common feature during the war, as innocent boys and men had their lives taken away from them in a gunshot. The sad truth of the war that most of the people who experienced and lived during the tragic time, still bare the horrifying images that still live with them now. Owen’s poems give the reader insight to this pain, and help unmask the tragedy of war.

army when he was 22 years old. He was injured in a shell explosion in