Wasteland: War and Wilfred Owen's Poetry
Wasteland: War and Wilfred Owen’s Poetry Poetry, by its definition, is a type of language that unites beauty, the deep sense of the value of life, with truth, the realization and awakening to the meaning of life. Poetry is also a type of language that expresses more and expresses it more intensely than ordinary language. It can also unite the three uses of language: literary, hortatory, and practical. Poetry can be written on a very broad range of subjects. A poet can also write poetry about the beauties of life, but the ugliness of life and horrible experiences human may endure can be subjects, as well. The belief that poetry must rhyme, give a lesson, or only be about the sweet and lovely things in life is a misconception. Wilfred Owen knew of the horrors of war from his firsthand experiences in World War I. Owen’s war poetry has the common and recurring theme of death, destruction, inhumanity, and waste of human life , as three of his most famous war poems indicate: “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” and “Strange Meeting.” Wilfred Owen, from an early age, had a passion for writing and knew it was what he wanted to do in life. As he grew older, Owen studied at schools whenever the opportunity and finances were available until, that is, the Great War, WWI, had begun. According to Orrmont, Owen disliked violence of any kind and looked on the war as just another impediment to his attainment of poet hood, as had been poverty and his lack of degree (79). In fact, Orrmont also writes
Wilfred Owen was not only a poet who wrote imperishably on the true nature of modern war; he was also one of the first war protestors of modern times. To him war was a crime against nature, a crime against humanity’s limitless potential for good, a crime against creation itself. He saw clearly the complete futility of the great bloodletting of 1914-1918 which decimated the flower of a generation, leaving on both sides more than ten million combatant
Wilfred Owen was not only a poet who wrote imperishably on the true nature of modern war; he was also one of the first war protestors of modern times. To him war was a crime against nature, a crime against humanity’s limitless potential for good, a crime against creation itself. He saw clearly the complete futility of the great bloodletting of 1914-1918 which decimated the flower of a generation, leaving on both sides more than ten million combatant
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