Compare two poems by Wilfred Owen, showing how they reflected contemporary attitudes to the ‘Great War’. Refer closely to language and poetic techniques. World War 1 broke out in 1914. At the beginning of the war, there was a great feeling of patriotism and enthusiasm. Young men were eager to join the armed forces, as they thought the glory and heroism of war would be enjoyable.
Fighting in France was expected to be an exciting adventure. Thousands of men joined so they would have the honor of serving their Queen and country. Underage age boys lied about their age in order to join, which showed that the English people thought the war would be won and over quickly. Many patriotic poems and songs were written which encouraged the war effort even more.
However, by 1917 the true horror and cruelty of fighting in the war was unveiled. The soldiers experienced true pain, hardship and psychological damage. For those who were left in England, there was huge grief for the loss of life, and people’s attitudes to the war changed dramatically. Wilfred Owen was a teacher who fought from the begging of the ‘Great War’. Owen himself displayed a contrasting attitude as the war progressed through his poems. Before he signed up, he shared the view of the British public, and wrote ‘Ballad of Peace and war’ in 1914.
The Term Paper on How much impact did war have on social attitudes, 1939-c1950 in Britain?
This essay will examine the central topic relating to the impact of the Second World War on British society in regardance to their social attitudes. Attention will be focused on the question of whether the experience of war on the Home Front led to an ‘impact’ on social attitudes and whether this was large, minute, short term or long term. The greatness of this war caused an impact and changed ...
He thought that peace was good but it was better to fight for the country. By 1917, his poetry had changed from blind patriotic disillusion and encouragement, to bitterness and anger. “Dulce et Decorum Est’, and “Disabled” were poems he wrote during his time in Craig Lock heart hospital, where he was suffering from shell shock. He had seen the tragedy and graphic brutality of trench warfare, and the trauma he had seen and experienced had sunk in. Both the poems focus on one main person or event. Wilfred Owen wrote these poems to highlight the reality of war, they were ‘protest poems’ to propaganda declaring fighting for soldiers as an honor.
‘Disabled’ focuses on a dingle victim of war, now disabled and in a wheelchair, spending his life in an institute, lonely and unloved. The emphasis of the poem is the tragic consequences of war, and the man’s pain and suffering evokes great empathy for the disabled man in the reader. Losing his legs in the war has robbed him of his masculinity and youth forever. The message of this poem is that the man wasted his life and that he joined for the wrong reasons ‘He thought he’d better join.
He wonders why.’ ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ focuses on one specific incident, a soldier who dies during a gas attack. The reader is shown the reality of war, and the poem is directed at the reader ‘If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood’. This technique immediately involves the reader and grabs attention. The reader imagines how bad the reality of trench warfare really was, and if they experienced it then their attitude would have changed. This kind of death is not ‘sweet’ or ‘fitting’ is the message throughout the poem The feelings of bitterness and anger are strongly shown in both of the poems. Displayed in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, is Owens annoyance of writers such as Jessie Pope who wrote ‘Who’s for the Game?’ , a patriotic war poem, which showed the naivete and innocence of the people back home who thought war was a game.
The Essay on War Poems
Question: In what specific ways do Wilfred Owens poems attempt to dispel the illusions about the war represented in the art on pages 367-368? As the First World War raged through Europe many of the countries involved used posters to draw people to the cause. The posters located in the Human Record showed scenes of happiness and patriotism. People were seeing these posters and assuming that war was ...
‘The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’, demonstrates what was said and thought at the begging of the war was wrong, and the word ‘lie’ is used to show that Owen no longer believed the statement as he once had, and that it was no longer believed by people because their attitudes had changed. The Latin expression shows encouragement to fight, and displays soldiers as heroic and glorious, which clearly angers Owen. In ‘Disabled’, their are examples the people who had signed up feeling excited, glamorous and expecting glory ‘And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears.’ The repetition of the word ‘and’s hows the abundance of good things the war represented at the beginning. Now footballers were seen as more heroic ‘Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.’ This empathizes that the enthusiasm for the war was lost and that the people no longer cheered for war veterans. The use of the word ‘Some’, shows only a few people notices him which creates a sense of sympathy in the reader. The difference in attitudes of British people who stayed at home is emphasized by directly following the phrase ‘drums and cheers’, with ‘not as crowds cheer Goals.’ Attitudes of the soldiers changed dramatically as they experienced emotional damage and suffering in the trenches.
They saw the horrific reality of death and realized what they were told before they joined was all lies and that war was not fun or exciting. Dulce et Decorum Est shows this with the line ‘In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning’. The soldiers experienced nightmares and were traumatized by the scenes of death they witnessed. Owen uses a graphic image of a dying man, which is emphasized by the ending verbs, which are the climax to the stanza. The word ‘guttering’ is an ugly sound and imitates the noise in the dying mans throat.
The imagery is very graphic and shows that Owen experienced disturbing events during his time in the war, and he was no longer disillusioned by thinking that it was would a glamorous to die for the country. ‘Disabled’ also shows a change of attitude in a soldier, ‘Tonight he noticed how the women’s eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole’, displays how the soldiers life was permanently affected by the ‘Great War’, as he feels that he can no longer have relationships with women. He has lost his confidence, and he is bitter that he has been stripped of his self-respect because of the loss of his legs. For the man, fighting in the war did not ‘please his Meg’, and he thinks that because he was so naive he wasted his life, and now has seen the true side of war. He blames other people for his life now ‘that was it, to please the giddy jilts’.
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The Vietnam was a war like no other and the nature of the fighting in this war had great impacts on the soldiers. At this time, communism was seen as a great threat, especially by Western countries, and so extreme emphasis was placed on the domino theory that when one country falls to communism, others would follow and that forward defence would be the only solution to this issue. Also during this ...
Attitudes of people towards the soldiers changed throughout the war. They were no longer thought of as glamorous heroes, and pride and encouragement towards them quickly turned into pity for their physical state, grief and remorse for death. ‘Disabled’s hows how the man was physically and emotionally scarred by his time in the war and how people now treated him differently, ‘All of them touch him like some queer disease’. Now the nurses treat the man like an object, and have a sense of embarrassment and disgust around him.
‘Now he is old; his back will never brace’, creates a sense of sympathy in the reader as he will never be able to walk again.’ In ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, we learn of the hardship the soldiers faced. ‘Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed thorough sludge’, grabs the readers attention and stands out from the poem. The hard, ugly sounds, and alliteration of the ‘k’s sound makes the situation sound worse. The simile used emphasizes the extent of the decline of physical health of the once fit men. Owen uses a large number of poetic devices in the first stanza to portray the harsh reality the soldiers faced in the trenches, and to helps the reader to imagine their tremendous hard efforts. Owen uses contrasting attitudes in both poems.
In ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ the heroic noble image of dying for your country against the horrific reality is used. ‘My friend you would say with such high zest’, emphasizes the fact that the author has strong views against war and his sarcasm adds to the line. There is also the remaining trauma of the soldiers in their dreams ‘In all my dreams, before my helpless sight’. The attitude of the writer is very clear in the poem. There was nothing noble about how the soldiers died and fought, ‘All went lame; all blind’.
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British soldiers and civilians had high expectations of their government following World War 1, most of which did not eventuate. The soldiers needed understanding of their suffering and emotional pains of the war, while the British civilians felt that Germany’s reparations were highly important in the short-term. Employment was a significant issue to both groups, with the soldiers arriving ...
The repetition of ‘all’s hows that nobody escaped the pain of war and that everybody was affected. The word ‘limping’, as opposed to ‘marching’ takes away the image of the soldiers being glamorous. It shows that the soldiers were not young fit healthy men, but disease-ridden people who were suffering and in pain. This changes the attitude of some people. The contrast in ‘Disabled’ is how good the man’s life used to be and how bad his life is now. ‘Girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim – In the old times, before he threw away his knees’.
The contrasting words of past and present directly following each other are very effective. Before the war the man was loved and wanted ‘After the matches, carried shoulder high’, portrays the man as a hero. Now the man is lonely and unloved, ‘Only a solemn man… thanked him; and then inquired about his soul.’ He has been forgotten, and even feels lonely in the institute ‘Why don’t they come and put him to bed? Why don’t they come?’ The repetition of the line emphasizes his despair and frustration. Owen talks about the man being happy in the old day, and the fact that now he will never again have the feeling of happiness in a relationship. The man is now a charity case ‘take whatever pity they may dole.’ If he had not fought in the war then this would never have happened to him.
Owen uses striking images and vivid imagery in both poems to clearly show his anger of people who were disillusioned about war, and to show the harsh reality of war. A sense of pathos runs throughout the poems in the reader for the men. The sarcasm used in ‘Dulce et Decorum est’s hows Owens passion of getting his point across. Many peoples attitude of war in England had changed drastically by the time Wilfred Owen wrote these two poems.
‘Dulce et Decorum est’ and ‘Disabled’ both realistically reflected contemporary attitudes to the ‘Great War’ at the time they were written.
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The draft law otherwise known as the conscription of soldiers to serve their country, is one of the most controversial issues not only in the United States but in the entire world. Because of the history behind its past, debate has led up to present day about whether or not the Draft law should be used. The draft law goes back at least as far as biblical times. It's read in the Bible that the Lord ...
