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Essay on war in wilfred owens poetry
Essay on war in wilfred owens poetry
Essay on war in wilfred owens poetry
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A word that can be heard in every day conversation is the word “modern”. Everything has to be modern in the 21st century: modern technology and books and clothes, nobody wants the old stuff anymore because it is not worth as much as what is around now. Modern poetry is: “For artists and writers, the Modernist project was a re-evaluation of the assumptions and aesthetic values of their predecessors” (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/glossary-term/Modernism). Even poetry that has been around for centuries has a new twist and can be considered modern now. Everyone seems to want to move on and up in the world and to have the best, most influential things in their life for their future.
Modern poetry really puts a spin on what has been out there and redone in the past. Three things that make modern poetry modern are: the use of symbols, the use of imagism and the use of disillusionment. In Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, he uses those characteristics of poetry together to create a modern poem that speaks to the heart of its readers, whether they have experienced what the poem is about, or not.
The poem is about a man’s son who has died in the war, so the only way the son will ever come home again is when his body is shipped to his family for a memorial service. Owen himself fought in World War I so what he expresses through his path of his modern poem hits home and is a very personal battle for him. He discusses how solemn the subject of war is and to those around him who have had the experiences of war under their belts. He was able to successfully get his message of how unfair war is across to his readers through the anger and sadness he uses from beginning to the end of the poem.
One important thing to no...
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... and what goes on behind the scenes after the death or deaths of loved ones. His use of imagism is so vivid that anybody can picture exactly what is being said in the poem instead of having to guess what is going on. His use of disillusionment is amazing as well when he relates religion into war and the young men and women who go fight in the war to protect their country. In “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, Owen really outdoes himself with his take on modern poetry.
Works Cited
"disillusionment." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 10 Feb. 2014. .
"Glossary Terms." Glossary of Poetic Terms : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
"Glossary Terms." Modernism : Glossary Term : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation. Poetry Magazine, 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
In Owen’s poem, he contradicts the lie that the government has told to convince people to enlist. In Holden’s poem, the audience are shown a more personal side of war. Wilfred Owen was able to go against politics and reveal to people, through his poem, what enlisting in the war was really like. Poems were Owen’s way of expressing the feelings that came with war. He discusses the fear amongst the soldiers and the pain that they all felt. This was something that the government would not have wanted the public to know, as it would decrease the amount of people who
Barton, Edwin J. and Glenda A. Hudson. A Contemporary Guide to Literary Terms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
Baldick, Chris. The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of Literary Terms , New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 6th Ed. Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Fort Worth, 1993.
To draw into the poet’s world, the poet must draw relations between them, including the reader, making them feel what the poet feels, thinking what the poet thinks. Wilfred Owen does this very creatively and very effectively, in both of his poems, Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori and Anthem of Doomed Youth, who is seen as an idol to many people today, as a great war poet, who expresses his ideas that makes the reader feel involved in the moment, feeling everything that he does. His poems describe the horror of war, and the consequences of it, which is not beneficial for either side. He feels sorrow and anger towards the war and its victims, making the reader also feel the same.
Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.
Another tool in developing the effectiveness of the poem is the excellent use of diction. The word "blood-shod" explains how the troops have been on their feet for days without rest. Also, words like "guttering", "choking", and "drowning" shows us that the troops are suffering in extreme pain and misery. If you haven't noticed, most of these words are examples of cacophony, which are words with harsh and discordant sounds. As this poem is about how harsh and terrible war is, Owen's use of cacophony is very effective in generating the tone of the poem.
Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.
Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, 7th ed. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.
Through reading this poem several times I decided that the message from the poem is that war is full of horror and there is little or no glory. Methods which I found most effective were Full rhyme and metaphor.
Wheeler, Kip. "Literary Terms and Definitions M." Literary Terms and Definitions "M" Carson-Newman University, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
The world is changing and evolving at an astounding rate. Within the last one hundred years, the Western community has seen advances in technology and medicine that has improved the lifestyles and longevity of almost every individual. Within the last two hundred years, we have seen two World Wars, and countless disputes over false borders created by colonialists, slavery, and every horrid form of human suffering imaginable! Human lifestyles and cultures are changing every minute. While our grandparents and ancestors were growing-up, do you think that they ever imagined the world we live in today? What is to come is almost inconceivable to us now. In this world, the only thing we can be sure of is that everything will change. With all of these transformations happening, it is a wonder that a great poet may write words over one hundred years ago, that are still relevant in today’s modern world. It is also remarkable that their written words can tell us more about our present, than they did about our past. Is it just an illusion that our world is evolving, or do these great poets have the power to see into the future? In this brief essay, I will investigate the immortal characteristics of poetry written between 1794 and 1919. And, I will show that these classical poems can actually hold more relevance today, than they did in the year they were written. Along the way, we will pay close attention to the style of the poetry, and the strength of words and symbols used to intensify the poets’ revelations.
f rounding up the sonnet as well as emphasising complete grief over the loss of Youth. The contrast with the first stanza's violence makes the reader see the different aspects of war - what happens on the battlefield, and what happens at home. Owen's poem, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' is more appealing to me because it deals with two contrasting realities of war. His first stanza highlights the wastefulness of war (deaths of young soldiers) while the second stanza, the mourning for the dead. His sarcastic and later quiet tone reinforce the stark contrast between the different aspects of war.
Ultimately, we have two poems which can be compared on the grounds of their subject, but are poles apart regarding their message. The structure of these poems is not what would be typically expected from a war poem, but are structured on the basis of these typical structures in order to create some sense of familiarity. Brooke’s poem expands on this familiarity while Owen attempts to deliberately sabotage it. In regards to content, Brooke shows throughout his perception of the nobility of dying for one’s country, whilst Owen uses all of his poetic techniques to show the opposite.
... Instead of idealizing war in a romantic way, war poets such as Wilfred Owen aimed to expose gruesome truths about these wars and how they impacted lives. It points a finger and criticizes the governments and authorities that wage these wars but don’t fight in them themselves but rather watch as lives are lost. It exposes propaganda for what it is, a tool for brainwashing. It puts into question the notion of dying for ones country to be noble, honourable and admirable.