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In the poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen and “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” written by Randall Jarrell, which both touch on the issues of war. In these two poems the Speaker uses imagery, diction, and sorrow to show how brutal the war was. They both convey the horror and futility of dying for a state. “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” (Randall Jarrell 1945) and “Dulce et Decorum Est” (Wilfred Owen 1920) examine the impact war has on the soldiers who fight them.
In “Dulce et Decorum Est” it focused more on the actual deaths of the infantry, using vivid imagery to show just how disgusting death was with poisonous gas. In the beginning of the poem it portrays the price that men paid, of trench warfare, the exhaustion
of soldiers who become like old women, “hags,” coughing, lame, blind, and deaf. (Owen 5) The speaker for these individuals who, though they no longer function in tidy military unison, are joined by their experiences of a nightmare that seemed just at the point of being over when they were attacked again. When attacked by the new weapon of choice, poisonous gas the soldiers only had seconds to react to protecting themselves. Many were fatally injured, it would burn their skin and lungs. “Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs”. (Owen 20-25) Many men would drown in the trenches due to the heavy rainfall, and from the flooding of the war field. The speaker tells how horrible war was and how badly men had suffered. The speaker also did not want children to hear about how horrible things were “The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori”. (Owen line 27-28) Means “It is sweet and proper to die for your country.” In “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” is told from a dead gunner’s point of view. This poem also talks about how quick death can happen, with a turret gunner, “woke to black flak and the nightmare fighter. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose.” (Jarrell line4-5) Air combat men did not stand a change when there aircraft was going down. He talks how while flying and explains how a soldier’s death is like being a child. “From my mother’s sleep I fell into the State, and I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.” (Jarrell line1-2) He speaks how cruel an airman’s death can be. Both of these poems talk about how brutal war and the effects it had on them. Watching friends and other soldiers die a horrible death. Even though these to war poems are from different times they handle the message differently, but basically tell the same detail: that war was hell and do not join into it. Both of these writers tell a story that actually had happened to them, and as a reader you get the real detail on what happened, and what they really went through.
Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen and Seaman, 1941 by Molly Holden both present different interpretations or views on war. These different views will have a variety of impact on the reader. The two poems also have several recognizable similarities, which connects them both together. There are many factors to be considered when comparing the similarities and differences between these poems, such as perspective, imagery, time period, etc. These, and many more, will be looked at and analysed in this essay.
“Dulce et Decorum Est” shows how one soldiers need to survive indirectly causes another soldiers death. From the very beginning of the poem the reader sees how the war affects the soldiers. Fighting in the war has aged the soldiers, the once young men now “bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags” trudge through the warzone (Owen 1-2). The men, completely drained f...
Dulce et Decorum Est is about the horrific situation that men went through in trench war fare, ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge’. The poem depicts the struggle to survive and the traumatic experiences of the first world war from the horrible conditions that the men had to face, to the gassing of all those around them. This is evident throughout the poem. ‘Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots, of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling’. This use of oxymoron’s allows the reader to create an image in their minds thus bring them closer to the horrific setting of the poem and allowing them to really feel as if they were there themselves.
Written by Spanish-American war veteran, Carl Sandburg, “Buttons” illustrates that the actions of those not in the war first hand but, then exposes those who pay for their decisions in a vivid and ghastly approach (“Carl Sandburg”). “Dulce et Decorum Est” was written in 1917 by an injured Wilfred Owen due to World War 1(“Wilfred Owen”). Owen describes to the reader the graphic and gruesome side of war rather than the typical romanticized description. Similarities in imagery and theme can be found in both of these poems, but the differences in structure and point of view remain prevalent and apparent.
Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem about World War I. Owen describes the horrors of war he has witnessed first-hand after enlisting in the war. Prior to his encounter with war he was a devote Christian with an affinity towards poetry, and after being swayed by war agitprop he returned home to enlist in the army; Owen was a pacifist and was at his moral threshold once he had to kill a man during the war. The poem goes into detail about what the soldiers had to endure according to Owen, “many had lost their boots / but limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; / drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots” (5-7). Owen’s conclusion to the poem is that “the old Lie; dulce et decorum est / pro patria mori” (27-28), Latin for “it is sweet and right to die for your country,” is not easily told when one has experienced war. In his detailed poem Owen writes about the true terrors of war and that through experience you would probably change your conceived notion about dying for your country.
The meaning of "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is "it is sweet and right", yet there is nothing sweet and right about going through what these soldiers went through on a daily basis in WWI. The first few lines use sad and depressing language to express an image of roughy soldiers pushing through an ever threatening battlefield. "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock- kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge" (lines 1- 2) is the way Owen describes the soldiers. This dismisses the belief that the soldiers were happy, proud, and patriotic. This shows them as physically and mentally exhausted, still pushing forward towards the one and only goal of surviving. Their disintegrating body reflects their inner turmoil and tiredness. The horrendous quality of war is shown by the description of the soldiers "men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood shod" (lines 5-6) this enhances the fact that war is not normal. It seems unreal, much like that of a nig...
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.
The two poems have a strongly anti war message in both the victims. of war are the young men who’s lives are wasted. ‘Dulce et decorum Est’ uses the description of a gas attack to show how horrific the attack was. reality of war is. Owen describes the victim as "a sham."
Owen as a young soldier held the same romantic view on war as majority of the other naive soldiers who thought that war would be an exciting adventure. The documentary extract illustrates how markedly Owen’s perspective of the war changed, as noted in a letter to his mother while he was still in the front lines: “But extra for me, there is the universal perversion of ugliness, the distortion of the dead ... that is what saps the soldierly spirit.” In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, Owen’s change of heart is evident through the irony of the poem title and the ending line “The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est, Pro patria mori.”, an allusion to the Roman axiom made famous by Horace, which translates to “The old Lie; It is sweet and right to die for your country.”. The line depicts Owen’s realisation that the horrific nature of war through human conflict is not sweet and right at all, rather, it is appalling and “bitter as the cud” as death is always present on the battlefield. Additionally, Owen indirectly responds to Jessie Pope’s poetry, a pro-war poetess, through the reference “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest… The old lie…”, further highlighting his changed perspective towards the war which has been influenced
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.
As a poet, Wilfred Owens wants to show the effects of warfare from the viewpoint of a soldier during a War. Owens uses his own experience as a fighter to capture the reader’s attention and get across his point. He often uses graphic imagery and words to depict his thoughts about war. Wilfred Owens, poems, “Dulce et Decorum est” and “Anthem for doomed youth” talk blatantly about the effects of warfare on the soldiers, their loved ones, and those who make an ultimate sacrifice by making a statement about the efficacy of war.
Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen and The Hurt Locker by Brian Turner are captivating and heartbreaking examples of great antiwar poems. Wilfred Owens and Brian Turners first hand experiences of the traumatic horrors of war make their writings overwhelmingly effective. Their poems both express how war is physically and mentally damaging and their words paint vivid pictures of the unspeakable realities of war such as suicide bombers, and the use of mustard gas among other weapons. These poems force the reader to see war for what it really is and not for what it was said to be. Even though Owens and Turners writings are both anti war themed each writer takes a different approach to it. Owens approach to the theme is centered on details and reliving the trauma he has gone through. He pinpoints something that has tortured him and gruesomely describes it. He captures the suffering of a soldier and those who witnessed it as well as addressing those who idolize war. Turner on the other hand takes a direct and bold approach to force the people who haven’t actually lived through war to face the reality of it. Both poems convey the antiwar message, however Owens poem Dulce et Decorum Est approaches the theme more effectively because transitions in the tone throughout the poem, the technical strategies in the writing, and the powerful and detailed use of imagery.
Some situations in life cause you to grow up quicker, while others don’t. It is believed that the measure of your life is determined by how many lives you touch. It is not by how much money you make or how many records you collect. Although, can it be measured by how many people you kill? For Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon they think it is. They were both outraged by young soldiers lives lost from the horrors of war. In “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, it was a magnificent but terrible account of War World I soldiers experiencing a gas attack. Unfortunately, in the poem one of the soldiers isn’t able to get the mask on and suffers horribly. Wilfred Owen uses brilliant word choice and rich and raw imagery to reveal his ethics on war. For these reasons I chose “Dulce Es Decorum Est” as my favorite out of the two. I also selected “Dreamers” by Siegfried Sassoon because it explains the minds of soldiers on the battlefield. These soldiers daydream about their homes and family but lack realism of the situation. They reverie that they will remain alive while dead bodies surrounds them. In "Dulce Et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen and "Dreamers" by Siegfried Sassoon both poets use a first-person point of view to portray the harsh reality of war in vivid imagery, but with very different tones.
Fighting and dying in war can sometimes be seen as an honor, but during actual battles, there is a horrific, scary side of war. Both “The Charge of the Light Brigade” written by Alfred Lord Tennyson and “Dulce et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen reflect on warfare, yet the authors’ conclusions about death during war are different. Tone, imagery, and point of view in the poems are dissimilar to display the contrasting conclusions. In the first poem, Tennyson develops a tone of reverence from a third person point of view in order to convey the idea that one should honor the heroism of soldiers, while in the second poem, Owen employs graphic imagery from first person point of view in order to covey the idea that dying in battle is not honorable or heroic.
Wilfred Owen’s war poetry examines the intense and extraordinary human experience of war. His body of work is clearly concerned with unveiling the real atrocities and devastation wreaked by war, as well as elucidating the falsity manifested by war propaganda. Owen’s poem illuminates the severe and debilitating effect war has upon the young, examining the painful way in which these young soldiers were left to die. ’Dulce Et Decorum Est’, subverts traditional perceptions of war as being honourable, by graphically portraying the debilitating and traumatic consequences of war on the young innocent soldiers. This poem is an attack on the government who use propaganda to encourage generations of ‘boys’ to sacrifice their lives for some ‘desperate