Wilfred Owen's Ability to Draw in the Audience in His Poems, Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori and Anthem for Doomed Youth

“In what ways does the poet draw you into the world of poetry? Detailed reference to 2 poems”

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.

In the poem Dulce et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori, he shows his feelings of betrayal, pity and the sense of sacrifice of human life due to the war, as the consequences do not result in any good for anyone, especially the family and friends of the victims. The title, when translated to English from Latin, means ‘It is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country’, being very ironic, compared to what he is writing throughout the poem, by his sense of hatred and pity towards war. He starts off with a simile, “like old beggars under sacks”, which does not depict a masculine image, already, ironic to the title, as it is not honourable to die “like old beggars”. Throughout the poem, a very graphical and comfronting image can be pictured in the reader’s head, recounting all of the shocking details of the war, such as the gas, “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!” which is also a reminder of their youth and innocence, being put into a war where they thought it might be fun. I...

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...ths, but it lasted years. Owen betrays the men of the young generation being brutally slaughtered, like cattle, and were fated to death. Owen recognizes the feelings of the family and friends of the victims of war, the people mourning over the loss of their loved ones. Owen also uses personification in the poem, “monstrous anger of the guns” which reinforces the concept of the senseless slaughter of the soldiers. This makes the audience think about the war, and the image of heavy machine guns can be pictured in their minds, bringing them into the poet’s world of poetry.

As seen in both poems, ‘Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ Owen brings the audience into the his world, making them feel and think like him, knowing what he has experienced and what he dreads, and therefore successfully involves the reader into the world of poetry.