Similarities Between Wilfred Owen And Bruce Dawe

Wilfred Owen and Bruce Dawe both experienced war, however they were involved in two different conflicts. Owen was an English soldier and anti-war poet who died a hero in conflict one week before World War I ended. This demonstrates success for the country itself and the veterans being seen as heroes. Contrastingly, Dawe was a university educated anti-war poet from Australia who joined the air force during the Vietnam War. This was controversial for both soldiers and people from the country being conflicted about their involvement in the war.

Both poems express an anti-war sentiment and what it’s like to die at war, however, while Owen used his poetry to highlight the horror and devastation, Dawe emphasised the senselessness and futility of death in war. This is evident in the titles where Owen’s is sarcastic and Dawe’s is essentially an ironic play on the traditionally happy celebration. Owen brings awareness to the terrifying nature of war on individual soldiers and depicts the hopelessness of men caught in gas attacks throughout World War I. This is evident in the line, “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”. Likewise, Dawe conveys the futility of war and Australia’s involvement in the dehumanising conflict, during The Vietnam War. This is demonstrated through

This is demonstrated with his claim of “If you could hear…the blood Come gargling” which shocks and confronts the reader. Similarly, the intended audience for Dawe’s Homecoming was the government, media, Australia and people going to war, who by analysing the overall tone of the poem, encapsulate the despairing sorrow that is felt for the young people who were killed in war. This is described in the line, “they’re rolling them out of deep-freezed