Wilfred Owen essay
In what ways do the closing lines from Dulce Et Decorum Est draw together the central concerns of Owen’s poetry?
Support your evaluation with a close analysis of two poems by Owen. It is expected that you use language appropriate to a speech addressing your peers.
Wilfred Owen draws together the central concerns of the horror and pity of war by giving us a contrast of the glorification of war. This is represented in the ‘old lie’ that war is sweet and glorious in the closing lines of Dulce et decorum est. This speech is going to prove that war is not glorious and the horrific impact war had on young men was a unique testament that reflects in Owen’s poetry. Owen wrote poetry out of his intense personal experience as a soldier and wrote with exceptional power of the physical, moral and psychological trauma of the First World War. Through the close analysis of ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Futility’, the concerns of war are shown through the emotional response that Owen creates in his ideas, language techniques and tone.
The title of the poem, ‘Dulce et decorum est’, suggests that Owen was writing about something positive or good as suggested with ‘dulce’ and ‘decorum’, however, we further understand to discover that the title led to a bitter ending. The word “Lie” is written with a capital L as if to enhance the power of the word to convey that the patriotic lie that prompts wars is the major falsehood of human history. In the poems ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Futility’, there is a sense of destruction shown during the time of the war on the battlefield and the effects that war had on all perspectives. Owen quotes, ‘This poem is not about the heroes..nor is it about…glory, honour, might, majesty, domination or power…my subject is war, and the pity of war.’ This quote tells us that Owen did not believe in the ‘old lie’ and he wanted to show society through his poems that war is devastating and certainly not heroic and glorious. Therefore, the old lie
Support your evaluation with a close analysis of two poems by Owen. It is expected that you use language appropriate to a speech addressing your peers.
Wilfred Owen draws together the central concerns of the horror and pity of war by giving us a contrast of the glorification of war. This is represented in the ‘old lie’ that war is sweet and glorious in the closing lines of Dulce et decorum est. This speech is going to prove that war is not glorious and the horrific impact war had on young men was a unique testament that reflects in Owen’s poetry. Owen wrote poetry out of his intense personal experience as a soldier and wrote with exceptional power of the physical, moral and psychological trauma of the First World War. Through the close analysis of ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Futility’, the concerns of war are shown through the emotional response that Owen creates in his ideas, language techniques and tone.
The title of the poem, ‘Dulce et decorum est’, suggests that Owen was writing about something positive or good as suggested with ‘dulce’ and ‘decorum’, however, we further understand to discover that the title led to a bitter ending. The word “Lie” is written with a capital L as if to enhance the power of the word to convey that the patriotic lie that prompts wars is the major falsehood of human history. In the poems ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ and ‘Futility’, there is a sense of destruction shown during the time of the war on the battlefield and the effects that war had on all perspectives. Owen quotes, ‘This poem is not about the heroes..nor is it about…glory, honour, might, majesty, domination or power…my subject is war, and the pity of war.’ This quote tells us that Owen did not believe in the ‘old lie’ and he wanted to show society through his poems that war is devastating and certainly not heroic and glorious. Therefore, the old lie