Wilfred Owen Poems; Comparison Essay Example
Discuss the ways in which Wilfred Owen vividly conveys disability and death in ‘Miners‘and ‘Disabled‘
Wilfred Owen was an English poet, who was born on the 18th March 1893. He got in to the army in 1917 after working as a teacher, however, he didn’t spend a long time there; 4 months only. He never forgot this experience. His work was strongly influenced by a poet Siegfried Sassoon. War had got a lot of effects on the people who got in it. Disability was one of them, and so was death of course. These were used as themes for many of the poems he had produced.
‘Miners’ and ‘Disabled’ were both written during the period of WW1. They share the reality of war and the effects of it on humans, both psychological and physical. ‘Miners’ is Owen’s respond on a colliery disaster, which caused a big shock to him and made him very disappointed. Many men and even young boys were killed there and he wanted to convey the truth to the ordinary people; not to forget. This is shown in ‘But they won’t dream of us’ as no one is going to remember what actually happened on that bloody day. However, the dead bodies are going to be transformed into coal, which is a source of heat for future generations. The second poem I have chosen is about a soldier, who signed up for the war when he was a teenager, but the fighting made him disabled. He has got no limbs, which makes him extremely desperate, leaving his mind in questions such as ‘Why don’t they come?.’ The poem is supposed to bring back the painful memories.
Both poems show us use of alliteration, which then leads to a stronger effect and exaggeration of the meaning, either with the ‘show steam-phantoms simmer’ or ‘ghastly suit of gray’. Another device is the metaphor, when the real meaning is covered by a ‘blanket of something else’. To be more specific, ‘Miners’ are a metaphor of how people only know about the kill-crazy soldiers who just want to destroy the enemies, instead of other people, who also work very hard for a better
Wilfred Owen was an English poet, who was born on the 18th March 1893. He got in to the army in 1917 after working as a teacher, however, he didn’t spend a long time there; 4 months only. He never forgot this experience. His work was strongly influenced by a poet Siegfried Sassoon. War had got a lot of effects on the people who got in it. Disability was one of them, and so was death of course. These were used as themes for many of the poems he had produced.
‘Miners’ and ‘Disabled’ were both written during the period of WW1. They share the reality of war and the effects of it on humans, both psychological and physical. ‘Miners’ is Owen’s respond on a colliery disaster, which caused a big shock to him and made him very disappointed. Many men and even young boys were killed there and he wanted to convey the truth to the ordinary people; not to forget. This is shown in ‘But they won’t dream of us’ as no one is going to remember what actually happened on that bloody day. However, the dead bodies are going to be transformed into coal, which is a source of heat for future generations. The second poem I have chosen is about a soldier, who signed up for the war when he was a teenager, but the fighting made him disabled. He has got no limbs, which makes him extremely desperate, leaving his mind in questions such as ‘Why don’t they come?.’ The poem is supposed to bring back the painful memories.
Both poems show us use of alliteration, which then leads to a stronger effect and exaggeration of the meaning, either with the ‘show steam-phantoms simmer’ or ‘ghastly suit of gray’. Another device is the metaphor, when the real meaning is covered by a ‘blanket of something else’. To be more specific, ‘Miners’ are a metaphor of how people only know about the kill-crazy soldiers who just want to destroy the enemies, instead of other people, who also work very hard for a better