Homecoming Wilfred Owen Analysis

Conversely, Wilfred Owen explores the idea of bereavement in war through the perspective of a solider on the front line. Owen’s use of imagery illustrates suffering which the soldiers experienced after inhaling toxic gases for example “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” With the uses of onomatopoeia in “guttering, choking and drowning,” Owen accentuates the horrible suffering of the soldiers.

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While, Owens’ poem uses imagery to exemplify death, Dawe’s, Homecoming extensively uses personification to explore the coldness of death and war. As the soldiers’ dead bodies are returned from war, Dawe conveys the undignified treatment of the bodies, as they are closed “in green plastic bags”. Personification and similes are used such as ‘telegrams tremble like the leaves of a wintering tree’ to depict the dread that comes with receiving a
The symbol of ‘sleep’ is utilised as an extended metaphor through the poem, this illustrate the horrors of war not only when it occurred, but also the haunting experiences which left the young soldiers emotionally scarred and tormented. Owens use of enjambment in, “In all my dreams before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me” is essential for the dream-like flow. The use of enjambment concludes the idea of dreams, and replaces it with suspense before the action in the second line. This also further portrays the way a young soldier suffered during sleep. Owen extends this use of symbolism to portray the physical effects of the war on the soldiers, expressing “Men marched asleep” to exhibit that they once healthy men are so drained that they were left in a state of utter exhaustion. The objective of Owen’s use of sleep as a symbol is to create a clear description of the toll the war left on the soldier’s mental and physical state. This allows the reader to begin to understand how the war deprived soldiers of so much life and