Wilfred Owen War Poems
“Owen presents an exclusively bleak view of human experience in WW1. Discuss”
Wilfred Owens collection of letters and poetry can be seen as incredibly insightful accounts of the experiences of war. Owens dramatic personal transformation is evident in the evolution of his writing due his surrounding influences such as Sassoon, and his experiences with war, and it is in this change of writing we witness the way in which war and its barbaric conditions can utterly transform a man. It is this notion which Owen attempts to convey through his writing, and the accumulation of personal experiences translated into imagery, and language devices and techniques such as alliteration, onomatopoeia and personification is what expresses the truly abominable and melancholic nature of war.
A common theme which runs throughout Owens pieces are the descriptions and references to the physical conditions and environments of war that made it so frenetic and clamorous. Owen uses oxymorons such as “ a waterfall of slime” in Dulce et Decorum Est, to provide the reader with something relatable, which we view as pure and free, and contaminates it with the foul effects of war in order to provide us some basis of beginning to understand the conditions of war. Whilst Owen makes clear that no person can truly appreciate the futility of war unless they experienced it first hand, he attempts to put a twist on things that are relatable, to evoke as much understanding as possible. Another re occurring element to Owens descriptions of war is the inescapable feeling, that caused soldiers to feel trapped, isolated and extremely far from normalcy of civilisation. Owens selection of words in “The Sentry” such as “deluging muck”, “mud”, “sploshing in the flood” “thick fumes” and “waist high slush” recreate a sense of urgency and frantic desire to get out and be rid of the harsh and unforgiving environment. Such language is also found in “Dulce”, where soldiers “curse through sludge” and stumble
Wilfred Owens collection of letters and poetry can be seen as incredibly insightful accounts of the experiences of war. Owens dramatic personal transformation is evident in the evolution of his writing due his surrounding influences such as Sassoon, and his experiences with war, and it is in this change of writing we witness the way in which war and its barbaric conditions can utterly transform a man. It is this notion which Owen attempts to convey through his writing, and the accumulation of personal experiences translated into imagery, and language devices and techniques such as alliteration, onomatopoeia and personification is what expresses the truly abominable and melancholic nature of war.
A common theme which runs throughout Owens pieces are the descriptions and references to the physical conditions and environments of war that made it so frenetic and clamorous. Owen uses oxymorons such as “ a waterfall of slime” in Dulce et Decorum Est, to provide the reader with something relatable, which we view as pure and free, and contaminates it with the foul effects of war in order to provide us some basis of beginning to understand the conditions of war. Whilst Owen makes clear that no person can truly appreciate the futility of war unless they experienced it first hand, he attempts to put a twist on things that are relatable, to evoke as much understanding as possible. Another re occurring element to Owens descriptions of war is the inescapable feeling, that caused soldiers to feel trapped, isolated and extremely far from normalcy of civilisation. Owens selection of words in “The Sentry” such as “deluging muck”, “mud”, “sploshing in the flood” “thick fumes” and “waist high slush” recreate a sense of urgency and frantic desire to get out and be rid of the harsh and unforgiving environment. Such language is also found in “Dulce”, where soldiers “curse through sludge” and stumble