Select TWO poems set for study and explore Owen’s portrayal of suffering and pity.
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The recollection of Wilfred Owen’s poetry epitomise the true depiction of war and consequently the dehumanising ramifications of warfare. Influenced by the extremities and first hand experiences on the battlefield, Owen’s poetry encapsulates the extraordinary human experiences to the degree of unbearable suffering and extreme states of dehumanisation. Owen’s vivid portrayal of war corresponds to his personal endeavour in condemning the misconceptions of war; where he manifests the brutal reality and the detrimental aspects of warfare- the powerful and destructive entity of war; the dehumanising consequences of slaughter; and the abhorrent physiological, psychological and emotional trauma suffered through modern warfare. These aspects are incorporated into the texts which correspond to Owen’s portrayal of suffering and pity; revolving Owen’s poetry on the basis of extraordinary human experiences.
The intense focus on the extraordinary human experiences to the degree of unbearable suffering and extreme states of dehumanisation reinforces Owen’s endeavour in criticising the propaganda of WW I, where Owen manifest the brutal reality of war, objectifying war as an entity of mass destruction and power- causing conflict and universal suffering. The destructive entity of war is a central focus that is explored within each of his works in depicting the nature of war. As seen in ‘Strange meeting’, the portrayal of war is depicted- “through granites which titanic wars had groined”, where the allusion of the ‘titanic wars’ emphasises the catastrophic and destructive aspect of war on a universal scale. Here Owen metaphorically objectifies war with the references to