Dulce et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘The Soldier’ by Rupert Brooke are both poems commentating on the effects of war, yet both have two drastically different viewpoints. Both poems are examples of the authors’ perceptions of war; Owen’s being about its gruesome and harsh reality during his experience and Brooke’s about the glory of dying for one’s country. The poets express their sentimental emotions on the subject matter in terms of figurative language, tone, diction and imagery. The tone is exhibited through the use of unyielding and vivid imagery, primarily by the use of compelling metaphors and similes. Both poets swirl around the idea of death in the name of ones country, in this case England in the World War 1 era, but this example serves different purposes in the two poems. Owen uses a graphic example where he remorsefully describes the death caused by a gas attack, exposing to his readers that war is an ugly, brutal and detestable encounter. Yet Brooke uses a different approach, and expresses that not only is it every man’s duty to fight and die for his country to preserve perfection, but once dead, the ashes shall physically enrich the already ‘rich’ soil “In that rich earth, a richer dust concealed”. And all ‘English’ values that the motherland bore will live on in one form or another. This way Brooke tries to convince that there is a deeper meaning to what lies on the surface of war. Religious undertones also lie beneath each poem. Owen uses “Dulce et Decorum Est” to portray and war as the epitome of hell, juxtaposing the devil over the gassed man. In contrast, Brooke uses ‘The Soldier’ to convey ‘England’ rather like ‘heaven’, and that it is righteous to defend such land in war. In the poem "Dulce et Decorum Es... ... middle of paper ... ...inions about war, in fact, almost opposite opinions, each poet uses different types of diction, figurative language, imagery, sounds, and tones to achieve his purpose. There are also a multitude of differences between ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘The Soldier’. While ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ conveys the ruthless reality of war and mocks the very act of patriotic death, Brooke uses ‘The Soldier’ to stress that it is undeniably an honor to die for ones country. To build on his tone, Owen uses harsher, more repulsive onomatopoeic words that give off ‘g’, ‘c’ (k) and a lot of hissing ‘s’ sounds, which continue to keep you on your toes-“ knock-kneed… sludge… trudge… guttering… choking… gargling”. But Brooke uses softer words, such that give off ‘f’ sounds. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ has a bitter and cynical tone helped by changes in rhythm which travel back and forth.
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 poem opens with two similes depicting the soldiers as being "like old beggars under sacks" (1) that are "coughing like hags" (2). The comparison to a beggar explains the fact that the soldiers have no real home on the battlefield; all they have is a filthy trench. The reference to a coughing hag serves to illustrate how strong, young men have been reduced to weak and unhealthy beings. Hags are also characterized as females which feminizes the soldiers. Owen also uses imagery to deliver a detailed account of the death of one of the soldiers.
In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’, Owen compares the solders who are men to ugly, old, sick women through the simile “coughing like hags”, highlighting that the men no longer possess strength, masculinity, exceptional physical skills and potency. As a result, the soldiers’ eradicated youth and innocence portrays the dehumanising effect that the soldier’s have faced through their experiences of the war. Additionally, Owen further explores this dehumanising effect through the exaggerated movement of the soldiers in the hyperbolic metaphor “We cursed through sludge”, illustrating the ghastly and gruesome environment made up of a mix of materials such as body parts of other fellow soldiers, blood and mud. The horrendous conditions the soldiers faced for a long period of time had a drastic impact on the soldier’s mental health which in turn lead to post-traumatic stress disorder or shell-shock disorder and lost of potency. Owen also portrays that not only did the war affect a few soldiers, but all the soldiers through the repetition of “all”. Ultimately, it is conveyed that the soldiers had to unwillingly sacrifice their human attributes and was dehumanised as a result of human conflict. Similarly, in ‘The Next War’, Owen
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.
Human conflict is a violent confrontation between groups of people due to differences in values and beliefs. During World War I, poet and soldier, Wilfred Owen, faced the harsh realities of human conflict, dying at a young age of 25, only six days before the war ended. Owen’s personal encounters during war had a profound influence on his life as reflected in the poems and letters he wrote before his passing. In using a variety of poetic devices to write about the suffering and brutality of war, vividly captured in his poems ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, Owen effectively conveys his own perspective about human conflict. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ depicts the horrific scenes on the battlefield and a grotesque death from drowning
Wilfred Owen ‘is the most famous and most praised’ (Caesar 1993: 115) First World War poet, and was able to communicate this seldom communicated experience. During his time on the front line, Owen suffered from shellshock, and was taken to hospital to recover. The matter of suffering will be further explored in the essay. Whilst recuperating, Owen’s doctor wanted to help him deal with the horrific scenes he had seen, and so he decided that getting Owen to write down his thoughts and dreams into poetry would offer a release. In total, Owen wrote four drafts of Dulce et Decorum Est, and each one shows a progression of his efforts to present an account of the war. He suffered horror and fear whilst in combat and in the trenches, and so is shown
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.
Similarly, Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” describes a soldier who witnesses the death of his comrade from poisonous gas. Using imagery and irony, Owen presents a blunt contrast between the propaganda practiced for recruitment and the truth behind the suffering endured by the soldiers. While presented in different formats, both literary works criticize the romanticism of war, arguing that there is no glory in the suffering and killing caused by conflict.
‘Poetry can challenge the reader to think about the world in new ways.’ It provokes the readers to consider events, issues and people with revised understanding and perspectives. The poems Dulce Et Decorum Est (Wilfred Owen, 1917) and Suicide in the Trenches (Siegfried Sassoon, 1917), were composed during World War One and represented the poets’ point of views in regards to the glorification of war and encouraged readers to challenge their perspectives and reflect upon the real consequences behind the fabrications of the glory and pride of fighting for one’s nation.
Have you ever witnessed something that has stuck with you forever? Unfortunately, over the years, our world has had deadly wars and millions of people have died for their country, leaving them with unbearable memories that have stuck with them throughout their lives. More times than not media outlets and the general public think it is a good thing to fight for one’s country, but do not ever learn the truth about what really happens during wars, even the Roman poet Horace said, “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” In “Dulce et Decorum Est” the author Wilfred Owen uses many poetic devices and figurative language, such as images, sounds of words and mood and tone to embed a picture in the reader’s head of what war was really like
In ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’. Owen, throughout the poem, creates the impression of the trenches for the reader and stanza one helps to set the scene. The soldiers, who have been fighting for a long time in the trenches, are finally returning to their billets to rest. The exhaustion of the men is shown here through similes which compare the men to old beggars and hags, ‘like beggars under sacks’ and ‘coughing like hags’, although they were young men, showing just how exhausted they were and the effects the war is having on them physically. Also, the men are ‘blood-shod’ which makes them seem more like horses than human beings. Owen also uses metaphors in stanza one to describe the terrible tiredness the men were suffering from, ‘men marched asleep’. The stanza describes how the poor conditions of the trenches are putting a strain on the soldiers, until they are ‘knock-kneed’ and having to ‘trudge’ through the ‘sludge’ to get to their place of rest. They are ‘drunk with fatigue’ and limping with wounds or loss of boots. This stanza also illustrates the ...
The words Owen chooses to use in the poem describing the soldiers are peculiar choices. The speaker refers to them as “[b]ent double, like beggars in sacks” (line 1), very different from a typical idea of a soldier. From the beginni...
Owen opens his poem with a strong simile that compares the soldiers to old people that may be hunch-backed. ‘Bent double, like old beggars like sacks.’ ‘like sacks’ suggests the image that the soldiers are like homeless people at the side of a street that is all dirty. This highlights that the clothes they were wearing were al...
Owen emphasises that the massacres caused by war do lead to crippling physical damage. In ‘DEDE’, he conveys this by the use of simile paired with alliteration “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”. These two lines, to begin ‘DEDE’ sets the mood of the poem, giving the audience a bitter greeting and asserts their fatigue. The comparison the men to beggars emphasises their ageing prematurely and that they have a lack of control over their life. Owen forcefully highlights how these men are going to war young but dying old due to the ageing of this war
In a nutshell, Wifred Owen had succeeded in bringing the readers through an exciting journey back to time when World War I began. Being cosily staying in a peaceful world today, most of us may have difficulties in comprehending the cruelty and hardship that one been through in a war. Owen’s poems are like a ticket that sends us back in time that allowed us to watch the war with our naked eyes. Owen had done a good job by describing a lot of vivid images through his writings that can help the readers to connect them with the theme of anger and frustration of the people due to the devastation of the war.