Analysis Of Dulce Et Decorum Est, By Wilfred Owen

“Poetry is a form of art that consists of oral or literacy works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by the user and the audience” (Poetry). In which case, they are used to convey emotion or ideas to the reader or listener in a summarized form. Poetry uses devices such as repetition, imagery, and diction to generate the meaning of the poem (Poetry). Because of its nature of using language specifically for the content, poetry is known for being difficult to translate (Poetry). Poetry is frequently used as a means of oral history and storytelling and the two following poems, “Dulce et Decorum Est” written by a middle-class war veteran, and “We Real Cool” written by well-known African American, postwar poet, does exactly this. Both poems hit home on the original meaning behind poetry, enhancing on the seven poetic elements: speaker, time period, word choice, images, figures of speech and sound elements.

To give a little insight on the poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” one needs to get the feel of the speaker and the time frame in which this poem was brought up; this helps the reader get a better grasp on the meaning of the poem itself. As for the author and speaker of the poem, Wilfred Owen was born to a middle-class family in 1893, and was raised in Oswestry in North England (Smith). After re-routing his occupation - working as a private teacher in France, he enlisted into the Artist’s Rifles. After going through officers’ training camp, the 2nd Manchester Regiment commissioned him (Smith). However, on May 2nd, Owen was diagnosed with shell shock and was sent home (Smith). Placed in Craig Lockhart Hospital, Owen began to publish his poetry work in the hospital journal. As one of Owen’s strongest influences, Sassoon encourag...

... middle of paper ...

...thers, whom you don’t know, only shows that stereotypes are not only placed on those of different ethnicities or race, but they’re placed on others, simply because of their actions.

Both forms of these poems, history and storytelling have a certain degree of fluidity to help determine the meaning from the speaker to the reader. The compositions of these poems show that the poets, Owen and Brooks, did not write for an audience, but rather for an absent reader, by using more imagery and sound elements. But, thanks to the introduction of electronic media, the seven poetic elements are now easier to be “seen” and heard. This allows for the reader or listener to reach the full potential of the poem. Through listening the speaker’s tone, witnessing the time period, hearing the diction, speech and sound elements, the true meaning of the poem is painted for the audience.