Anthem For Doomed Youth Etc
Douglas Armbrister 11c1 Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth
The two poems, “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for a Doomed Youth”, were written by Wilfred Owen, who was a private tutor and a war-time poet. He wrote these two poems while he was serving in the First World War. “Dulce et Decorum Est” mocks the old words of an old ode by Horace, which states: Dulce et Decorum Est pro patria Mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. This poem demonstrates through gruelling imagery, just how gruesome war really is, and that it is NOT sweet and right to die for one’s country. This poem tries to stop young men from volunteering to go and fight in a war, and to let them see that war is not as what is was often imagined to be – glorious and sweet. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is also an anti-war poem, but it does not include the horrific imagery of Dulce et Decorum Est. In this poem, Owen explains that many young people die in war, and that the family also suffers from their relative’s death. This poem discourages the families from sending their boys to war. It is aimed at the parents, and through the poem, the parents can realize the pain of losing a son. Both anti-war poems want to explain to people although aimed at different groups that war is not glorious and sweet, as it was believed to be. In this, the poems are very similar, but the methods used to achieve this differs greatly. “Dulce et Decorum Est” gives a personal experience of a soldier, probably Owen himself, in battle. The first stanza explains just how tired and exhausting you can be after war.The atmosphere is depressive. Owen uses words and phrases like “hags”, “sludge” and “drunk with fatigue”. The entire mood is depressive and exhausting, and makes the reader feel the draining effect of war. In the second stanza, the mood changes drastically from being exhausted to energetic. This is what Owen describes to be “an ecstasy of fumbling”, which is an oxymoron, as ecstasy in usually
The two poems, “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for a Doomed Youth”, were written by Wilfred Owen, who was a private tutor and a war-time poet. He wrote these two poems while he was serving in the First World War. “Dulce et Decorum Est” mocks the old words of an old ode by Horace, which states: Dulce et Decorum Est pro patria Mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. This poem demonstrates through gruelling imagery, just how gruesome war really is, and that it is NOT sweet and right to die for one’s country. This poem tries to stop young men from volunteering to go and fight in a war, and to let them see that war is not as what is was often imagined to be – glorious and sweet. “Anthem for Doomed Youth” is also an anti-war poem, but it does not include the horrific imagery of Dulce et Decorum Est. In this poem, Owen explains that many young people die in war, and that the family also suffers from their relative’s death. This poem discourages the families from sending their boys to war. It is aimed at the parents, and through the poem, the parents can realize the pain of losing a son. Both anti-war poems want to explain to people although aimed at different groups that war is not glorious and sweet, as it was believed to be. In this, the poems are very similar, but the methods used to achieve this differs greatly. “Dulce et Decorum Est” gives a personal experience of a soldier, probably Owen himself, in battle. The first stanza explains just how tired and exhausting you can be after war.The atmosphere is depressive. Owen uses words and phrases like “hags”, “sludge” and “drunk with fatigue”. The entire mood is depressive and exhausting, and makes the reader feel the draining effect of war. In the second stanza, the mood changes drastically from being exhausted to energetic. This is what Owen describes to be “an ecstasy of fumbling”, which is an oxymoron, as ecstasy in usually