Compare Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, and Before Agincourt
by William Shakespeare.
Before Agincour and Dulce et decorum est
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I have chosen to compare two poems for this piece of work, and they
are Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, and Before Agincourt by
William Shakespeare. Both look at War as the main subject, but express
very different views on it. Wilfred Owen has written a very powerful
poem about a man dying from a gas attack during the First World War,
whereas Shakespeare writes a rhetoric poem about the honour and pride
found in battle.
¡Dulce et decorum est¡, and ¡Before Agincourt¡ are two poems so
incredibly far away, in meaning, from each other, that it is very
difficult to compare them. The one big difference is their attitude
towards war. Wilfred Owen has actually been in a war. He saw what he
wrote about. He was there, as the writing is his thoughts and
feelings. Shakespeare wasn´t in the war he wrote about. He wrote
about it after it happened, either as a way to boost morale in England
at the time of the Spanish Armada for Queen Elizabeth, or because they
were his own views on War. This battle did actually happen, but Henry
didn´t say these words, Shakespeare just put them in his mouth.
Owen´s poem is concrete. It happened and was real. He knows what
he´s talking about because he was there and went through it all.
Shakespeare´s poem is airy. It´s abstract and doesn´t appear to
mean anything. At a first glance its just men talking, but when you
read it properly you see that it is far more than that. Henry believes
so much in what he´s saying that he´s prepared to die for it. It´s
a very spiritual poem, in that it is not earthed, o...
... middle of paper ...
...y using words
such as guttering, hoots and gargling.
Shakespeare used no similes either, but Owen did, writing
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks.
In conclusion, I enjoyed Owen´s poem much more than I did
Shakespeare´s. I felt that Before Agincourt was boring. I didn´t
like the lack of tension, action and drama. I thought that it just
went on and on around the same idea, that the language was flowery and
too old fashioned for me. Although both poems were repetitive, when
Dulce et decorum est repeated words, it really hammered the
message home, but when Before Agincourt repeated the same idea, it
just bored me. I felt that Owen´s poem less boring because it was
fast paced. It really happened and the images it described were vivid
and in your face. So, I would definitely recommend Owen´s poem to
anyone, and I did really enjoy writing about it.
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.
The poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen captures the reader and transports them back to a time or war and hardship, reminding them of our history and how society made the wrong decision all those years ago.
“In what ways does the poet draw you into the world of poetry? Detailed reference to 2 poems”
Both Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” as well as “next to of course god america i” written by E.E. Cummings preform critic on war propaganda used during the first world war. Besides this the influence war propaganda has on the soldiers as individuals as well as on war in more general terms, is being portrayed in a sophisticated and progressive manner. By depicting war with the use of strong literary features such as imagery or sarcasm both texts demonstrate the harshness of war as well as attempt to convey that war propaganda is, as Owen states “an old lie”, and that it certainly is not honourable to die for one’s country. Therefore, the aim of both writers can be said to be to frontally attack any form of war promotion or support offensively
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.
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.
“Compare and contrast “The Soldier” by Rupert Brooke with “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen with regard to theme, tone, imagery, diction, metre, etc”
Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" was written during his World War I experience. Owen, an officer in the British Army, deeply opposed the intervention of one nation into another. His poem explains how the British press and public comforted themselves with the fact that all the young men dying in the war were dieing noble, heroic deaths. The reality was quite different: They were dieing obscene and terrible deaths. Owen wanted to throw the war in the face of the reader to illustrate how vile and inhumane it really was. He explains in his poem that people will encourage you to fight for your country, but, in reality, fighting for your country is simply sentencing yourself to an unnecessary death. The breaks throughout the poem indicate the clear opposition that Owen strikes up. The title of the poem means "It is good and proper to die for your country," and then Owen continues his poem by ending that the title is, in fact, a lie.
In this essay you will notice the differences and similarities between ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’. ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ was written in nineteenth century by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In contrast, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written in the twentieth century by Wilfred Owen. The main similarity we have observed is that they both capture war time experiences. However, the poets’ present these events using their own style, and the effect is two completely different observations of war.
Wilfred Owen wrote about the distilled pity of war from his first-hand experience. Owen concisely features the carnage and destruction of war in both the poems, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Strange Meeting’ Owen uses these poems document the psychological and physical debilitation of war. In ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, Owen uses a various amount of literary techniques to visually depict the cruel and grotesque death from the mustard gas whereas ‘Strange Meeting’, portrays the speaker in conversation with a dead soldier that he is presumably responsible for killing, symbolically which emphasises the effect of the wartime trauma. Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively highlights the carnage and destruction of war to educate the audience on the disillusionment of war.
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.
The poem "Dulce et Decorum est" was written by Wilfred Owen during World War One, and is probably the most popular war-poem ever written.The title is part of the Latin phrase 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori' which means 'It is sweet and right to die for your country'. Wilfred Owen saw the war first-hand and this poem is about a gas attack that he witnessed. Throughout this poem Owen gives the sense of anger and injustice through the use of many different poetic techniques.
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.
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.
The first poem I am going to write about is "Dulce et Decorum est". It