How Does Wilfred Owen Use Irony To Protest War?

In World War I, 116,516 Americans died and 204,002 Americans wounded (PBS.org). This is a lot of casualties and many people have protested against war for that very reason. Some of these protestors are well-known authors who have fought in these wars and have used their talents in writing to demonstrate their experiences while in battle. These writers use imagery, irony, and structure to protest war.

Throughout Stephen Crane and Wilfred Owen’s poems, imagery is employed in an attempt to protest war. In stanza two of “War is Kind,” lines ten and eleven state, “Great is the battle-god, great, and his kingdom-/A field where a thousand corpses lie”(Crane). These lines express that the battle-god’s kingdom is not actually great, but full of torture

Owen uses imagery in these lines to protest war by developing a picture of what war does to soldiers and the horrors of war. Owen depicts a perfect picture of what the soldiers go through on a

Throughout Stephen Crane’s poem, “War is Kind,” irony is used in an attempt to protest war. In stanzas one, three, and five he states “war is kind”(Crane). This line demonstrates irony because war is not actually kind, but full of horror and torture. War affects not only the soldiers fighting, but also the woman and children back home. Irony is also used in stanza four, lines twenty and twenty-one which states “Point for them the virtue of slaughter/Make plain to them the excellence of killing.” These two lines demonstrate irony because it makes it seem as if murder is something good to do and that you will be honored for killing people, but “slaughter” and “killing” is not actually as glorious and good as it sounds. Throughout Wilfred Owen’s poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” irony is employed to attempt in protesting war. In the third stanza, lines twenty-seven and twenty-eight state, “The old lie: Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori”(Owen). These lines translate as “It is sweet and right to die for your country.” These lines demonstrate irony because it is not actually “sweet and right to die for your country,” but full of agony and pain. Therefore, Crane and Owen use irony to protest