In Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, he uses many important techniques that create an impact. Owen wrote the poem in order to describe the horrors of war, and with that would be able to attack the jingoistic beliefs that many people (such as Jessie Pope) possessed. His description of the horrific nature of war creates a lasting impact on the readers. To achieve this, Owen used techniques such as similes, metaphors, alliteration and finished off with an imperative statement.
‘Dulce et Decorum est’ addresses the horror of war by vividly describing a gas attack. While describing the attack, it becomes prominent what effect the gas had on the soldiers.
To create an impact through the poem, Wilfred Owen used many techniques, one of which was similes. For example, in the second stanza, Owen described the man who was caught in the gas as “flound’ring like a man in fire or lime,” which creates an image in the reader's mind. An image of someone writhing around covered in fire, with their skin being burnt off. This has an impact because it
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In order to make more of an impact, he uses alliteration. For example, Owen wrote “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”( the emphasis of consonant sounds being on ‘guttering’ and ‘choking’), this use of alliteration puts a harsh sound into the poem. It also means that despite the punctuation it is difficult for the performer to rest between the words. This gives an indication of how quickly the gas took effect on the soldier. This example also shows the effective way Wilfred Owen used emotive language to create impact in his poem. Both ‘guttering’ and ‘choking’ have negative associations, with guttering being the way a candle flickers before it goes out, and choking emphasising the fact that the soldier could no longer breathe. This technique also shows the horror of war and the way it affected the soldiers. A key message readers learn from the
All exceptional poetry displays a good use of figurative language, imagery, and diction. Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" is a powerful antiwar poem which takes place on a battlefield during World War I. Through dramatic use of imagery, metaphors, and diction, he clearly states his theme that war is terrible and horrific.
Comparing two war poems written by Wilfred Owen: Dulce et decorum Est. and Anthem for Doomed Youth. In this essay I will be comparing two war poems written by Wilfred Owen: ‘Dulce et decorum Est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’. By Comparing the two I will be able to distinguish the fact that Wilfred Owen is very anti-propaganda and that's why he feels so strongly about this. The two poems have many similarities but also a fair amount of differences, which I will be discussing in this essay.
Wilfred Owen is a tired soldier on the front line during World War I. In the first stanza of Dulce Et Decorum Est he describes the men and the condition they are in and through his language shows that the soldiers deplore the conditions. Owen then moves on to tell us how even in their weak human state the soldiers march on, until the enemy fire gas shells at them. This sudden situation causes the soldiers to hurriedly put their gas masks on, but one soldier did not put it on in time. Owen tells us the condition the soldier is in, and how, even in the time to come he could not forget the images that it left him with. In the last stanza he tells the readers that if we had seen what he had seen then we would never encourage the next generation to fight in a war.
Owen as a young soldier held the same romantic view on war as majority of the other naive soldiers who thought that war would be an exciting adventure. The documentary extract illustrates how markedly Owen’s perspective of the war changed, as noted in a letter to his mother while he was still in the front lines: “But extra for me, there is the universal perversion of ugliness, the distortion of the dead ... that is what saps the soldierly spirit.” In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, Owen’s change of heart is evident through the irony of the poem title and the ending line “The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est, Pro patria mori.”, an allusion to the Roman axiom made famous by Horace, which translates to “The old Lie; It is sweet and right to die for your country.”. The line depicts Owen’s realisation that the horrific nature of war through human conflict is not sweet and right at all, rather, it is appalling and “bitter as the cud” as death is always present on the battlefield. Additionally, Owen indirectly responds to Jessie Pope’s poetry, a pro-war poetess, through the reference “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest… The old lie…”, further highlighting his changed perspective towards the war which has been influenced
Through the use of dramatic imagery in Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” Owen is able to recreate a dramatic war scene and put the reader right on the front lines. The use of language is very effective in garnering the readers’ attention and putting the dire images of war into the mind. He emphasizes that war is upsetting and appalling at times. There is nothing sweet about it. He only strengthens his argument by the use of strong descriptive words and vivid figurative language. The utilization of these techniques gives the poem a strong meaning and provides the reader with a vivid portrayal of the events that took place during this grisly occurrence.
Similarly, Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” describes a soldier who witnesses the death of his comrade from poisonous gas. Using imagery and irony, Owen presents a blunt contrast between the propaganda practiced for recruitment and the truth behind the suffering endured by the soldiers. While presented in different formats, both literary works criticize the romanticism of war, arguing that there is no glory in the suffering and killing caused by conflict.
In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” the speaker’s argument against whether there is true honor in dieing for ones country in World War I contradicts the old Latin saying, Dulce et Decorum Est, which translated means, “it is sweet and honorable to die for the fatherland”; which is exemplified through Owen’s use of title, diction, metaphor and simile, imagery, and structure throughout the entirety of the poem.
Wilfred Owen's, ‘dulce et decorum est’ allows readers to see what actually happened during warfare, challenging the government's way of recruiting young soldiers (like Owen's at the time) via propaganda and the ideas of war. Owen's challenges these ideas through his poetry by creating sensory imagery through the dehumanization of the soldiers, and by creating irony through juxtaposition and the title. The dehumanization of the soldier is framed by depicting the reality of warfare to the audience by projecting sensory imagery throughout the poem. The government represented war to be for handsome, young, honourable men but Owen's is giving the readers imagery that contradicts those ideas.
Throughout history, poets had experimented with different forms of figurative language. Figurative language allows a poet to express his or her meaning within a poem. The beauty of using the various forms of figurative language is the ability to convey deep meaning in a condensed fashion. There are many different figures of speech that a poet can use such as: simile, paradox, metaphor, alliteration, and anaphora. These examples only represent a fraction of the different forms, but are amongst the most well-known. The use of anaphora in a poem, by a poet, is one of the best ways to apply weight or emphasis on a particular segment. Not only does an anaphora place emphasis, but it can also aid in setting the tone, or over all “feel” a reader receives from a poem. Poets such as Walt Whitman, Conrad Aiken, and Frances Osgood provide poems that show how the use of anaphora can effect unity, feeling, and structure of a poem.
... First, poetry is inherently an act of language mechanics, involving attention to rhythm and aesthetics. Secondly, the connotative choices involved in diction are significant, and can greatly affect the overall impact of a poem in powerful ways. Finally, Owen seems to have specifically attempted to broaden the potential audience of "Strange Meeting" by substituting words and phrases with less specific references.
In the poem Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori, he shows his feelings of betrayal, pity and the sense of sacrifice of human life due to the war, as the consequences do not result in any good for anyone, especially the family and friends of the victims. The title, when translated to English from Latin, means ‘It is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country’, being very ironic, compared to what he is writing throughout the poem, by his sense of hatred and pity towards war. He starts off with a simile, “like old beggars under sacks”, which does not depict a masculine image, already, ironic to the title, as it is not honourable to die “like old beggars”. Throughout the poem, a very graphical and comfronting image can be pictured in the reader’s head, recounting all of the shocking details of the war, such as the gas, “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” which is also a reminder of their youth and innocence, being put into a war where they thought it might be fun. I...
Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” makes the reader acutely aware of the impact of war. The speaker’s experiences with war are vivid and terrible. Through the themes of the poem, his language choices, and contrasting the pleasant title preceding the disturbing content of the poem, he brings attention to his views on war while during the midst of one himself. Owen uses symbolism in form and language to illustrate the horrors the speaker and his comrades go through; and the way he describes the soldiers, as though they are distorted and damaged, parallels how the speaker’s mind is violated and haunted by war.
“Dulce et Decorum Est” showing an anti-war side, the poem was originally entitled to Jessie Pope. It shows a tone through out the poem of depression, sadness Owen gets his message across very rapidly and makes the reader feel like they had just experienced the war in the few minutes of reading ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ this is done from the metaphors and magnificent imagery used to show a terrible side of war.
The poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen portrays the horrors of World War I with the horrific imagery and the startling use of words he uses. He describes his experience of a gas attack where he lost a member of his squadron and the lasting impact it had on him. He describes how terrible the conditions were for the soldiers and just how bad it was. By doing this he is trying to help stop other soldiers from experiencing what happened in a shortage of time.
Owen emphasises that the massacres caused by war do lead to crippling physical damage. In ‘DEDE’, he conveys this by the use of simile paired with alliteration “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”. These two lines, to begin ‘DEDE’ sets the mood of the poem, giving the audience a bitter greeting and asserts their fatigue. The comparison the men to beggars emphasises their ageing prematurely and that they have a lack of control over their life. Owen forcefully highlights how these men are going to war young but dying old due to the ageing of this war