Which of Wilfred Owens poems do you particularly admire and why Essay Example

honorable (to die for one's country)," shocking and accusing the nation rather than eliciting pity.

The opening stanza of the poem depicts a group of tired soldiers trudging back from the front line like old beggars. They show signs of exhaustion from their battle, with feet blood-shod, and even the hoots of the gas shells dropping do not faze them. Owen portrays the soldiers as deprived hags, stripped off their youth. He consistently blames and accuses the bold uncles who sent young boys to face death, as seen in many of his poems. The condemnation becomes a defining feature of his work. He confronts his readers with lines such as "pawing us who dealt them war and madness" from "Mental Cases." His disparaging tone while discussing soldiers leaving for war seems to imply hidden wrongdoings, as seen in "The Send Off."

During the war, the soldiers experienced a sudden change of pace when a gas attack caused panic among them. Owen added realism to the poem by using direct speech "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!" which was something that no secondary source poems had. This helped Owen in revolutionizing war poetry. Unfortunately, one soldier was unable to fit the "clumsy" helmet in time and drowned "under a green sea" while the others watched helplessly. In the second stanza, Owen addressed the reader directly and used imagery to persuade them. He stated that if anyone had seen "his hanging face" or heard "the blood come gargling", they would not consider it honorable to go to war.

According to Owen, dying for one's country is neither sweet nor honorable. The use of contradiction in the title "Anthem for Doomed Youth"

immediately creates a cynical tone. The word "anthem" is deliberately chosen to add a sarcastic twist to the poem because an anthem is traditionally used in celebration, not as commentary on an entire generation being sent off to war with no chance of survival. The poem is a tribute to the men who died "like cattle." Owen acknowledges that soldiers receive nothing more than "the monstrous anger of the guns" and choir-like screams of shells as funerals. He juxtaposes the ideas of war and a funeral to convey the unorthodox combination of both, stating that their prayers will be murmured amidst the patter and stuttering rifles.

Owen expresses a disdainful attitude towards any prayers or bells that the authority may offer for the soldiers, referring to them as "mockeries". He tenderly respects the deceased soldiers in his poem but displays utter disgust towards the institution that deliberately sent so many young lives to their gruesome deaths without even a simple candle to accompany them. Owen notes that the only candles that are lit for the dying are the "holy glimmers of goodbyes" visible in their own eyes as they perish. Similar to "Strange Meeting", this poem and several others by Owen depict "the pity of war". Additionally, "The Send Off" showcases Owen's belief in a conspiracy led by the establishment, sending young men off to battle.

Owen expresses the belief that their departure is being kept secret, similar to concealing wrongdoing. The departure is shrouded in secrecy with the use of signals and a wink from a guard. They leave under cover of darkness from secluded streets, ensuring few people notice how many depart. This silence allows

the fact that only a few return to their villages to be concealed by those in power. Owen reveals his conviction that the government uses deceitful propaganda to obscure the numerous killings happening daily, as shown in Mental Cases. Similarly, in The Dead Beat, Owen depicts a man collapsing "sullenly" on the front line as a result of complete mental exhaustion.

The man is kicked several times while he is down and his head is threatened with a revolver to get him up, but he is mentally worn out and only blinks blearily. He is so mentally beaten that he does not appear to know that there is a war going on. This poem by Owen is an attack on the higher-ranking people who are at war but not in the front lines. It shows how people did not understand the mental as well as physical pain caused by being in the front line. Owen tells how the stretcher-bearers describe the "dead-beat" man as "malingering" and the doctor as "scum". This poem depicts the cruel incomprehension of others towards soldiers who could not cope mentally in the war. Additionally, it places the blame for the "crazed men" on "Blighty", the British government, as they are the ones who "dealt them (the soldiers) war and madness" (Mental Cases), not the "stiffs".

The poem "Mental Cases" portrays the devastating effects of war, depicting soldiers as "human squander". Despite this, the government's propaganda in the form of poetry inspired many young men to sign up and fight. The poem ends with a disturbing line from a doctor regarding a mentally ill man sent to him: "that scum you sent last

night soon died. Hooray!"

The poem, "In Memoriam S. C. W." by Charles Sorely, propagated the belief that dying for one's country is the ultimate end for young men. However, the harsh truth of war was masked by the phrase "sacrificing swift night." This is what Owen criticized as the "old lie" in "Dulce et Decorum est."

During World War One, individuals were indoctrinated with the notion that it was their responsibility to "do and die," as expressed in Alfred Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade." An illustration of propaganda during this time can be seen in Herbert Asquith's "The Volunteer," which was written simultaneously with Owen's work. While Owen's poem is dissimilar in theme, Asquith's piece is heavily steeped in patriotism, exclusively extolling the bravery and nobility of perishing during military conflict and masking the true ramifications of war.

The message of the poem is to praise death and inspire other young men to follow the soldier's example and "lie content" with a broken lance. This echoes Owen's portrayal of soldiers as mentally and physically exhausted, ultimately being buried without ceremony. Rupert Brooke's "The Soldier" similarly avoids the harsh realities of war and instead glorifies England and its greatness through pure patriotism.

The earth that conceals the bodies of dead soldiers is referred to as "rich earth, a richer dust concealed". This idea is what Owen challenged in his poetry, as he considered it to be the "old lie". Rupert Brooke, who wrote about the glory of war, was the type of person Owen aimed to educate about the true horror of war. Prior to Owen's writing, war poetry celebrated duty, heroism and honour.

Through clever propaganda, it was believed that dying for one's country was a glorious act that would never be forgotten. However, it was these misconceptions about war that Owen sought to confront head-on with his honest and realistic portrayal. I have deep respect and admiration for Owen's poems, as they courageously articulate the brutal truth.