Wilfred Owen War Poetry

Poetry places individuals minds in a state of imagination and emotion where words are thoughts of experiences branding into the minds of the readers. Dulce Et Decorum Est explore how the experiences create emotions for the readers mind to capture the essence of war whilst on the other hand the Anthem for Doomed Youth speaks about what war was like in conjunction to pitifulness and stupidity. To begin, Dulce Et Decorum Est (It is sweet and honourable) talks about war and the effects of war.
The effects of war are described as ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags’ where soldiers are demystified in juxtaposition to the propaganda where they are spoken about as young, strong, handsome men and here they come back buggered and weak from the war. Owen speaks about the war with his insights of pity he has for it ‘In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin’ and Owens insights of the war allow the readers to capture and understand what world war 1 was like from his own experiences. Owen uses emotive and alliteration language to grasp the minds of the readers ‘Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time; But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime… Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. ‘ With Owen being able to grab the readers attention, he is able to use this imagery to create a sense of emotion towards the readers as they look to find a deeper understanding of the war.

Assonance of the terms ‘ing’ helps to associate the feeling of what was happening at that time where he expresses the scene as ‘guttering, choking, drowning’ when his friends where being drowned in the green poisonous gases described as ‘green sea’ to emphasis that sense of dying helplessly. The enthusiasm that own incorporates into his poetry expresses his own opinions and thoughts of the pitifulness and stupidity of war when he says ‘My friend, you would not tell with such high zest’ and this is an indication to hat he feels about outsiders trying to explain what it was like without even being their to experience it first hand. To understand the war, the poetry of Owen directs his insights of the war straight to the readers where his descriptive language and emotive scenery create the images of a first hand experience and this is how Owens poetry brands emotions and melts the images of emotion into the readers minds through his thoughts and experiences.
In relation to Owens Dulce Et Decorum Est, the poem Anthem for Doomed Youth uses a range of techniques to embed emotions into the mods of readers. Owen captivates the readers attention through a wide range of imagery where ‘passing-bells for these who die as cattle? ‘ grasps the minds readers to create a scene of dying cows to mimic the deaths of soldiers and the pain of death and war through ‘stuttering rifles rapid rattle’ where the alliteration captures the readers attention whilst still creating that image of death and loss.
The poem Anthem for Doomed Youth is rather a sad story of tears and sorrow where by Owen speaks about ‘The pallor of girls brows shall be their pall;’ which indicates how the sad expressions of girls eyebrows are the only thing that they can share that is common to both sides. The excessive use of personification dims the horror of the war to allow readers to understand the pain through metaphors explaining ‘passing-bells for these who die as cattle? , and ‘wailing shells’ and ‘drawing-down of blinds’ which signify the closing of the soldiers eyes in death and wailing shells are dead men in the ocean floating by one by one without anything able to be done about it and this is how Owen further expresses his feelings of pity and stupidity on war. Owen uses personification and emphasis in his poetry to allow his emotions and thoughts to be branded into the minds of the readers and to allow them to grasp the sense of pithiness of war.
In conclusion, Owens poetic insights in Dulce Et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth allow readers to grasp the experiences of war and a sense of emotion towards what Owen would have been feeling throughout the war. Owen way of communicating to the outside world away from war is effective in enabling him to capture the minds of readers and lead them into a state of embedding his insights into their minds so that they can gather s deeper understanding of the lives of soldiers in world war 1.