Wilfred Owen's Poetry and Pity of War

Wilfred Owen's Poetry and Pity of War

Through his poetry Wilfred Owen wished to convey, to the general

public, the PITY of war. In a detailed examination of three poems,

with references to others, show the different ways in which he

achieved this

Wilfred Owen was born in Oswestry, 18th March 1893. He was working in

France when the war began, tutoring a prominent French family. When

the war started he began serving in the Manchester Regiment at Milford

Camp as a Lieutenant.

He fought on the Western Front for six months in 1917, and was then

diagnosed with War Neurosis (shell shock). Because of this he was sent

to Craiglockhart Hospital for treatment. In his stay at Craiglockhart

Hospital Wilfred Owen met Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon was also a poet,

and the two became good friends. The two friends compared and edited

their poems, and Sassoon introduced Wilfred Owen to some publishers.

Whilst he was in Craiglockhart he wrote such poems as "Dulce et

Decorem Est" and "Anthem for Doomed Youth." He used his poems as a

cathartic experience to help him forget and overcome his experiences

on the battlefield.

Through a detailed examination of the poems Dulce et Decorem Est,Disabled

and Anthem for Doomed Youth with reference to other poems by Wilfred

Owen, it can be seen that, although he uses different political forms,

styles, and devices, and he addresses his readers from different

authorial stances, evoking feelings from great anger and bitterness to

terrible sadness; the end result is always the same: he shows the pity

of war.

Dulce et Decorem Est was written by Wilfred Owen whilst he was having

treatment at Craiglockhart, it is one of his most famous poems. Stanza

one sets the scene. Owen takes his ti...

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...there is no glory involved. This

poem gets across the madness of war, and that it must not be

continued.

Owen expresses feelings of bitter hatred for the war, and he lets

those feelings out in Dulce et Decorem est. He is angry that war is

allowed to be continued, that the public are lied to, and the

conditions the soldiers have to cope with. He was in the war himself,

he knew what he was talking about. Owen has a very strong use of

imagery, which I think helps get across his message. Although

sometimes I feel he can be a bit too bitter, and lose the plot

slightly, his poetry is extremely effective. He is asking his reader

just to take some time to think about the war, ignore the propaganda

and see what is really happening. All of this put together conveys the

pity of war, by using graphic imagery, metaphors and similes, and

often use of onomatopoeia.