Wilfred Owen Poetry Essay, Research Paper

Owen & # 8217 ; s war poesy is a passionate look of indignation at the horrors of

war and of commiseration for the immature soldiers sacrificed in it. It is dramatic

and memorable, whether depicting physical horror, such as in & # 8216 ;

Dulce et Decorum Est & # 8217 ; or the unobserved, mental torture such as

in & # 8216 ; Disabled & # 8217 ; . His diverse usage of immediately apprehensible

imagination and technique is what makes him the most memorable of the war

poets. His poesy evokes more from us than simple disgust and understanding ;

issues antecedently unconsidered are brought to our attending.

One of Owen & # 8217 ; s endowments is to convey his complex messages really

proficiently. In & # 8216 ; Dulce et Decorum Est & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; If in

some surrounding dreams you excessively could gait / Behind the waggon that we

flung him in & # 8217 ; the horror of witnessing this event becomes ageless

through dreams. Though this male child died an guiltless, war allowed no clip to

give his decease self-respect, which makes the horror so more affecting and

haunting. This is touched on in & # 8216 ; Mental Cases & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ;

Steping blood from lungs that had loved laughter / Always they must see

these things and hear them & # 8217 ; . Many of the sights which will stalk

the lasting soldiers are non what the functionaries have ordered them to

make, but what they have done to salvage their ain lives. It is the calamity of

war that you are non able to halt to assist a deceasing adult male. They so, non

merely physically scarred and mentally changed, carry remedyless guilt with

them. They have survived, at the disbursal of others & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; Why

speak non they of companions that went under? & # 8217 ; ( & # 8216 ; Spring

Offensive & # 8217 ; ) . Another dimension is that even the enemy soldiers are

merely like them, it is the politicians and generals who have caused this

war, non these ordinary work forces. This is explored in & # 8216 ; Strange

Meeting & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; the meeting of an enemy who is truly a & # 8216 ;

friend & # 8217 ; .

Many of Owen & # 8217 ; s verse forms portion bitterness towards the generals and

those at place who have encouraged war. & # 8216 ; Disabled & # 8217 ; has a really

bitter tone & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; Aye, that was it, to delight the giddy

jilts & # 8217 ; . & # 8216 ; His Meg & # 8217 ; didn & # 8217 ; t remain about after he

joined to & # 8216 ; delight & # 8217 ; her & # 8211 ; presumptively she is with a & # 8216 ;

strong adult male & # 8217 ; who is & # 8216 ; whole & # 8217 ; . In & # 8216 ; The Send

Off & # 8217 ; and & # 8216 ; Anthem for Doomed Youth & # 8217 ; the supplications and

flowers for the soldiers are mocked & # 8211 ; useless offerings to work forces who

are being sent as forfeits. In & # 8216 ; Apologia pro Poemate Meo & # 8217 ;

Owen once more adopts a rough tone to those at place – & # 8216 ; You shall non

come to believe them good content/ By any joke of mine. . . They are deserving

your cryings / You are non deserving their gaiety & # 8217 ; . Much choler is

directed towards those ignorant of the full deductions of war, but,

possibly ironically, his poesy would function to do them cognizant. The

idea of killing, watching your companions be killed and invariably

seeking to last sounds hideous plenty, but the precise item of the

emotions, ideas and sights of the soldier, win to drive the full

horror place. This is where much of Owen & # 8217 ; s originality prevarications, non

obscure coverage, but deep cynicism and conveyance of the state of affairss.

Owen sympathises abundantly with the vain immature work forces who have no thought of

the horrors of war, who are & # 8216 ; seduced & # 8217 ; by others and the

enrolling postings. He bitterly rejects the loyal logical thinking for war

in & # 8216 ; Dulce & # 8217 ; . That they thirstily join up for amour propres makes

their state of affairs all the more tragic & # 8211 ; he & # 8216 ; threw away his

articulatio genuss & # 8217 ; . & # 8216 ; Smiling they wrote his prevarication & # 8217 ; depicts functionaries

who non merely accept this under age male child, but smile wittingly while they do

it. In & # 8216 ; The Send Off & # 8217 ; a deficiency of support for these work forces is

suggested. The immature work forces are to give up their lives as a forfeit for

their state, but their departure deficiencies passionate good passs as & # 8216 ;

they were non ours & # 8217 ; . In & # 8216 ; S.I.W & # 8217 ; the full impacts of

societal force per unit area are highlighted. Though the adult male & # 8217 ; s household clearly

love him, they would & # 8216 ; sooner him dead than in shame & # 8217 ; ,

go forthing him merely self-destruction to get away. This impression of get awaying into snake pit

from war is besides in & # 8216 ; Strange Meeting & # 8217 ; .

A repeating subject in Owen & # 8217 ; s poesy is the impression of unobserved cicatrixs.

Though the soldier may return alive or uninjured, their lives will ne’er

be the same. In & # 8216 ; Disabled & # 8217 ; the hurting of the adult male & # 8217 ; s life

is non his hurt, but how others react to him. He will ne’er experience love

or unrecorded life to the full once more. The minute when & # 8216 ; the adult females & # 8217 ; s

eyes / Passed from him to the strong work forces & # 8217 ; is wondrous picked out

by Owen, the adult females & # 8217 ; s embarrassment at staring, and the adult male & # 8217 ; s

wretchedness at no longer being seen as a valid individual. Though slumber is relief

from his Byzantine life in & # 8216 ; Disabled & # 8217 ; , sleep becomes a snake pit

for many of the verse forms. In & # 8216 ; Dulce et Decorum

Est & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; In all my dreams. . . He plunges at me & # 8217 ;

and in & # 8216 ; The Sentry & # 8217 ; the persistent memories & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; I

attempt non to retrieve these things now & # 8217 ; .

The item in Owen & # 8217 ; s poesy puts frontward his scenes horrifically

and unforgettably. His verse forms are suffused with the horror of conflict, yet

finely structured and innovative. & # 8216 ; His hemorrhage cough & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ;

a scene impossible by us, something merely a true informant would see

and & # 8216 ; rumpling brows crisp & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; more than frozen to

decease, Owen acutely describes the impact on the tegument and face. The scene

witnessed by Owen is so elaborate we feel familiar to it ourselves. As

with the unobserved cicatrixs, Owen delves beneath the surface of screen ups and

outlooks. As in & # 8216 ; Disabled & # 8217 ; and & # 8216 ; S.I.W. & # 8217 ; , the

full horror behind these unemotional footings is described.

The peculiar techniques adopted by Owen in his poesy underscore his

messages. His usage of address and present tense give his verse form urgency and

straightness. All the senses are utilised by Owen, a changeless input of

sound, odor, touch every bit good as sight addition the dimensions of his

images and overwhelm us as he must hold been. Owen & # 8217 ; s contraption of

half-rhyme gives his poesy a dissonant, upseting quality that

amplifies his subjects. His stanzas jar, as war does.

Owen is more celebrated for his angry and emotional verse forms such as Dulce,

though his quieter verse forms can pack merely a strong a clout. Futility has a

hardly controlled emotion to it, we are used to Owen oppugning war and

people but here he inquiries life itself. His despair and hollow deficiency

of hope, so resigned against life, is intensely emotional, beyond choler

and beyond aid. His usage of sounds and vowel rhyme give the verse form a quiet

tone, about as if the talker is whispering. There is no entreaty to God

or to anyone, he includes no physically hideous imagination, but mentally

torturing thoughts.

Religion is a repeating subject in Owen & # 8217 ; s war poesy. The strength

of war can either bring crisis of religion ( Futility ) or religious

disclosure – & # 8216 ; I excessively saw God through mud & # 8216 ; & # 8217 ; ( Apolgia Pro

Poemate Meo ) . But most verse forms seem to oppugn God & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; For love

of God seems deceasing & # 8217 ; ( Exposure ) . Then in & # 8216 ; Futility & # 8217 ; the

Christian thought of God is ignored and a more heathen position of nature and life

is turned to. Futility finally inquiries life & # 8217 ; s motivations and

offers neither spiritual comfort nor concluding for war. In & # 8216 ; Spring

Offensive & # 8217 ; some of the imagination used echos transitions of & # 8216 ;

Revelations & # 8217 ; in the bible & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; And immediately the whole sky

burned/ With rage against them ; Earth set sudden cups / In 1000s for

their blood & # 8217 ; . In this same verse form he adopts a sneering tone about

belief in God & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; Some say God caught them even before they

fell & # 8217 ; . But though the Christian church functionaries are criticised as

dissemblers, and the rites of Christianity are rejected ( Anthem for

Doomed Youth ) many of the Christian values are supported. The church

functionaries are depicted as concealment behind the church, and promoting the

soldiers to contend. The soldiers are the lone true protagonists of

Christianity & # 8211 ; prepared to decease, the ultimate forfeit.

Comprehensibility of his verse form was Owen & # 8217 ; s chief nonsubjective & # 8211 ; in

a missive to his female parent in 1918 Owen provinces & # 8220 ; I don & # 8217 ; t want to compose

anything to which a soldier would state & # 8216 ; No Compris & # 8217 ; . & # 8221 ; This is

reflected in his really direct techniques. Immediately recognizable sounds

and words & # 8211 ; such as onomatopoeia are used often. In & # 8216 ; The

Sentry & # 8217 ; & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; And thump! Thump! Thump! Down the steep stairss

came beating. . . The Sentry & # 8217 ; s organic structure & # 8217 ; . This has the consequence

of appealing to more of our senses & # 8211 ; we don & # 8217 ; t merely see the

organic structure falling, we hear it excessively. Alliteration and repeated sounds adds to

the flow and images of the verse form without compromising its

lucidity & # 8211 ; & # 8216 ; Slush. . . choked the stairss / excessively thick with clay

to mount & # 8217 ; . We hear the clogging footfalls, see the clay and most of

all feel the attempt to walk through the clay. Though all the verse forms are

apprehensible to most, Owen adds things, for illustration in & # 8216 ;

Inspection & # 8217 ; , his usage of the term & # 8216 ; curse? d topographic point & # 8217 ; is a

mention to Shakespeare & # 8217 ; s Macbeth. If this is non picked up by the

reader it doesn & # 8217 ; Ts leave them at a loss, but if it is understood it

enriches the verse form further & # 8211 ; adding the image of the guilt and

frenetic scouring at the blood. This creates beds in Owen & # 8217 ; s

verse forms, making entreaty through many groups of people.

The usage of concrete, mundane stuff for his images creates great power

in his verse form. This application of common impressions could account for the

dismissive attitudes of some towards him. Yeat & # 8217 ; s finding of fact was & # 8216 ;

clay and sucked sugar stick & # 8217 ; and quickly refused Owen acknowledgment

in his 1936 edition of the & # 8216 ; Oxford book of Modern Verse & # 8217 ; .

This is to lose the point and the power of his poesy. He makes the

state of affairs existent, dramatizing the experiences, doing us portion his

agony. However full acknowledgment as a extremely honored poet did come,

unhappily after his decease.

So many of Owen & # 8217 ; s poems bring across affecting subjects and images,

which stay in the head long after holding read them. Though he states his

primary purpose is non poetry, but to depict the full horrors of war, he

Tells his experiences and sentiments with such lucidity and beauty & # 8211 ;

adding to the poignance as war is so ugly and baffled. I love to read

his verse forms over many times, because each clip I notice some new inventiveness

or point unobserved earlier. His ability to trap point certain images and

minutes makes the minutes recognizable, even to those who have ne’er

experient war. He attempts to link war with other facets of homo

agony, doing him much more than merely a war poet.

Bibliography

& # 8216 ; The Collected Letters & # 8217 ; Edited by H. Owen and J. Bell 1967

& # 8216 ; A War of Words & # 8217 ; English Review S. Badsey Feb 1999

& # 8216 ; The Wilfred Owen Association & # 8217 ;

hypertext transfer protocol: //www.wilfred.owen.association.mcmail.com/ 1999