How Does Wilfred Owen Use Satire In Poetry?

Section One I have chosen two poems that have been studied to be analysed. The first poem is ‘In Westminster Abbey’ by John Betjeman and the second one is ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ by Wilfred Owen. The reason why I choose these two poems is because I have this tendency to be into war poems and am interested in how the poets used satire in them.
Satire is a powerful literature concept that can be used to address the fault in our society by using satiric devices such as humour, irony, invective, parody and many more. Even though these poets use criticisms to ridicule certain people, they are protected by the concept of satire itself, since those criticisms are implied in poems, rather than directly stated. Meyer (2009) indicates that poems are
often described as dressed on black and cannot be smiled upon. This is where satire plays its role –to bring laugh and smile to the people reading the poems. Not every poem is too serious at the surface and while it does have some deep implicit meaning, readers can still laugh at the silliness that is presented in the poem.
Before I begin, here is a brief synopsis of the first poem, ‘In Westminster Abbey’.
Set during the beginning of World War II in Britain, it tells a story of a quite well-off woman who goes to Westminster Abbey one day in order to pray. At first, it can be seen that she is praying very sincerely, wishing for the well-being of the women of the Germans –England’s enemy in the war, the safety of those who fight for England i.e. the people of Jamaica, Hondura and Togoland, and so forth. However, later it becomes obvious that the real reason for her to pray is mostly herself. I can say that she is really being selfish for sure, for everyone is afraid of wars but not to the extent of praying for only oneself and being conceited even at the front of one’s God. We do care for other people even though the most important thing in the first place is our own safety as well as our family. Other people come down to the second place. But when it comes to this woman, it makes us wonder whether she is too afraid to be able to think properly or is just plain
selfish.
The second poem ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ was written by Wilfred Owen, a soldier-poet who served during the First World War. In this poem, the poem’s speaker (persona) is on the battlefield, trying to survive. In this process, he witnesses one of his comrades gets exposed to mustard gas and suffers before dropping dead right in front of his eyes. He also tells the audience of how he and his friends drag and dump their comrade and how the gas affects his physical condition as well as his organs. Satire comes in this piece when this poem draws to its end. In all, it is a very gruesome poem as it describes the gory details of the dying process of a soldier and also what is hidden beneath a war aside from the honour of fighting for one’s country.

Section Two ‘In Westminster Abbey’ is a dramatic monologue poem in which the poem’s speaker speaks for the entire poem to an audience that does not respond. As the poem goes, the characteristics and the personality of the poem’s speaker are revealed to the readers. As mentioned earlier, the persona of this poem is a wealthy upper class woman who goes to Westminster Abbey to pray. Despite that, once I read through the poem, I cannot help but notice that she begins to ridicule herself and makes herself seem bad.
Usually, people pray with complete honesty and humility especially because we are in front of our God, and we are going to ask for something. However, this woman, based on this line, ‘We will pardon Thy mistake.’ speaks as if God is the one that will make a mistake that needs forgiveness instead of the other way around. Other than that, her slight racism is also shown in the line that reads ‘Protect them Lord in all their fights, And, even more, protect the whites.’. The way she includes this in her prayer portrays that she feels that white people are higher in hierarchy and thus should be overly protected even by God himself when the truth is everyone is the same, and what differs us is only our skin colour. The next trait that should be banished from the persona is her materialism. The line ‘So, Lord, reserve for me a crown, And do not let my shares go down.’ depicts that regardless of the war and the people suffering of it, she still cares about her wealth. But the worst of all is the fact that she goes to pray just to look good in front of other people. The line ‘And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait Because I have a luncheon date.’ shows how she takes a prayer lightly and how she is not devoted to her religion.
The truth is, the poet used this poem to tackle and criticise the improper attributes that are present in the society. The type of satire that is employed by the poet is the Horatian satire since it is witty and gentle. It is considered gentle because it does not attack only one individual but the whole society.. At the same time, it is witty and able to make the readers laugh even though what is being said (human dysfunction) applies to their own selves. The satiric device used in this poem is a mix of both irony and humour. The poet called the readers to laugh at the woman and at the same time made readers realise that they should not be like this woman and avoid from behaving like her. Section Three ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’ is a Latin saying that translates into ‘Sweet and proper it is to die for one’s country’. This makes the readers wonder since this saying contrasts so much to the explicit descriptions of a battlefield contained in the poem. Usually, dying for the sake of your country is considered tremendously noble and you name will forever be remembered by everyone. This is where satire plays its part in this amazing poem –for me anyway.
In my opinion, the poem’s speaker is actually delivering the poem with a Menippean satire; it resembles Juvenalian satire –angry and personal but that angriness is not directed to the readers but to all in order to realise something –and the identity of the speaker is not revealed or mentioned but since we all know that Owen was a real soldier who served in the World War II, he did have the experience of a war and was probably angry that he had to go through all that.
It is shame that a poet with a talent for pure and raw poems died at the young age of 28. This poem shows the point of view of someone who is fighting in a war instead of someone who is just a spectator of war. Therefore, we can see a big difference if we compare this poem with the other poem I analysed that is ‘In Westminster Abbey’. We can see from the sentences such as ‘Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod’, ‘He plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning.’, that war is not a pretty sight especially for those who have to experience the hardship of battles. The poem’s speaker is trying to show here that yes, people can say that fighting for the independence of your country and dying in the process is sweet and proper, but the fact is it is only in the eyes of the people who never have to go through what the real soldiers have
to.
It can be deduced here this poem utilises irony as its satiric device. After all the detailed description of the situation in a real war, the emphasis on the dangers that soldiers have to face, the constant fear that you or your comrades will die in any minute, the poet ended the poem with a saying that contrasts greatly, as if saying sarcastically that ‘It is a real honour to die protecting your country even though you might be handicapped or killed’. I can also say that the poem’s speaker thinks that the soldiers are treated like tools or sacrificial goats, and that deep down the poet is hoping for the war to end, in order for the suffering of the soldiers to stop. The use of irony in this poem is also dedicated to those who think that inability to volunteer oneself to be at the front lines is an act of cowardice since they have no idea how horrible it is. Being in a war can be likened to walking into death itself.