Analysis of the Deserter by Winifred M. Letts

The action cuts between two settings: a television studio and a Melbourne motel room. The opening scene shows Bridie re-enacting the kowtow, a tribute to the emperor of Japan. (Bridie stands in a spotlight. She bows stiffly from the waist, and remains in this position). Stage directions allow the readers to visualise exactly how the composer wants it to be performed. The reader is able to share their experiences, and feels engaged with Bridie at this point. Misto uses photographic images, projected on a screen behind Bridie to support the dialogue. [On the screen behind Bridie are projected several 1940 posters for the Women’s Army. These are followed by photographs of the Australian army nurses disembarking in Singapore]. This allows the reader to feel included into the play, and creates an emotional impact by reminding us that although the play is fiction, the stories themselves are real, and real people who suffered in this way. Wilfred Owen’s first line of ‘the Send-Off’ illustrates the soldiers singing happily, heading to defend their country. ‘Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way to the siding-shed’. Owen opens the poem with this powerful visual line to display the juxtaposition present in the happy soldiers and the ‘close, darkening lanes’. This line reflects the soldiers being sent to their death, and we as the readers are able to understand that Owen points

Explain how particular features of at least two of Wilfred Owen's poems set for study interact to affect your response to them.

The author of “Anthem for Doomed Youth” leads his reader through his personal struggle and frustration of war. Owen has an abrasive approach when describing the death all around him and clearly expresses his anger with the “hasty orisons” for the dead. He speaks directly of battlefront in the first octet and then includes the home front in the second half of his sonnet. Owen’s purpose is not a commemoration of fallen soldiers. Rather, he divulges the disgust and disappointment of war. Like McCrae, Wilfred Owen paints a picture of the multitude of deaths. Back at the home front, “…each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.” We can construe that the author is not simply talking about preparing for bed in the evening, but rather lowering the blinds in a room where yet another dead soldier lies, as an indication to the community and out of respect for the soldier. There is a lack of “passing-bells for these who die as cattle….no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs.” Owen writes as though he feels that there is indifference among the death of his fellow soldiers.

The poem is separated into two parts, each with sixteen lines, and is loosely based on an iambic pentameter metre. The rhyme scheme is ABAB throughout the poem, with the noticeable exception of the last four lines of part II, in which it changes to

The soldiers who had attended the war were shown to have died brutally, like “cattle”, yet when reaching the home front, it is seen that they are laid to rest in a much more civil and dignified manner. The concept of this can be seen as an extended metaphor throughout the entire poem, with the battle front seen as a world filled with violence, fear and destruction, where as the home front is perceived as a place marked by order and ritual, a civilized world. The second sonnet opens with “What candles may be held to speed them all?”, invoking a more softer and compassionate tone towards the audience, more specifically through Owen’s use of a rhetorical question. It captures the readers’ attention, engaging them to feel empathetic and notice the shift of energy from anger and bitterness to a sadder and more somber tone. Owen’s use of descriptive language, as simple as it seems, such as ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ provokes the audience to view the horrors of the war as if they had been placed onto children, because in reality the ‘men; who had signed themselves into war to fight in glory for their country had really only just been boys themselves.

“He was drafted in drums and cheers...some cheered him home, but not as the crowd cheers goals. Only a solemn mad thanked him” Owen shows the irony of the poem by showcases the perspectives of the people. Owen compares the casting of war to a football game. Usually when going off to war or starting a game the soldier is drafted out in cheers by thousands of people and you would expect the same level of cheers to return to or finish with. However in this case only one person thanked him for the hard work which he produced at war. The quote then showcases the irony of the poem. The readers then begin to realize how insensitive people are to completion of war. The insensitivity of people then causes the readers to feel enormous pity and compassion towards the subject on showing bestowed respect and honour towards

Wilfred Owen can be considered as one of the finest war poets of all times. His war poems, a collection of works composed between January 1917, when he was first sent to the Western Front, and November 1918, when he was killed in action, use a variety of poetic techniques to allow the reader to empathise with his world, situation, emotions and thoughts. The sonnet form, para-rhymes, ironic titles, voice, and various imagery used by Owen grasp the prominent central idea of the complete futility of war as well as explore underlying themes such as the massive waste of young lives, the horrors of war, the hopelessness of war and the loss of religion. These can be seen in the three poems, ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ and

Wilfred Owen’s poetry effectively conveys his perspectives on human conflict through his experiences during The Great War. Poems such as ‘Futility’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ portray these perceptions through the use of poetic techniques, emphasising such conflicts involving himself, other people and nature. These themes are examined in extreme detail, attempting to shape meaning in relation to Owen’s first-hand encounters whilst fighting on the battlefield.

Apart from that, the poem consists of a series of turns that reflect different parts of the speaker’s feelings and the experiences he had. The significance of these turns is made possible through the use of stanza breaks. For example, the first

Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem made of four stanzas in an a, b, a, b rhyme scheme. There is hardly any rhythm to the entire poem, although Owen makes it sound like it is in iambic pentameter in some lines. Every stanza has a different amount of lines, ranging from two to twelve. To convey the poem’s purpose, Owen uses an unconventional poem style and horrid, graphic images of the frontlines to convey the unbearable circumstances that many young soldiers went through in World War I. Not only did these men have to partake in such painful duties, but these duties contrasted with the view of the war made by the populace of the mainland country. Many of these people are pro-war and would never see the battlefield themselves. Owen’s use of word choice, imagery, metaphors, exaggeration, and the contrast between the young, war-deteriorated soldiers and populace’s favorable view of war creates Owen’s own unfavorable view of the war to readers.

How does Wilfred Owen use language and poetic devices to create impact on the reader?

War is not heroic. War is sickness, struggle, and death. This is the message that poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen wanted to instill in his people back home. Those back home talked of glory and national pride and rooted for their soldiers, however, they were unaware of the horrors these soldiers witnessed and experienced. The soldiers and their people back home were not only separated by distance but by mental barriers, which Owen showcases in his poetry. Owen’s use of personification in “Anthem for Doomed Youth” degrades the soldiers to objects to show how the war dehumanized them to intentionally create a disconnect between the audience and the soldiers.

Wilfred Owen poems ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ contain a myriad of both shocking and realistic war experiences on a microscopic level. Wilfred Owen a company officer talks about his egregious exposure to war and how war contaminates life and existence of humans. In both poems the 1st stanza implies the threats and life in war, which then springboards us to the physical effect of one specific soldier and the thirds stanza he relives the inescapable experience and ends the poem with a bleak, ironic statement. ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ have many similarities; they highlight the price paid by soldiers and relentlessly unveil the full scale of war 's horrors. There are two types of prices paid by soldiers due to war; one deprives humans of their sanity whereas one consumes the breath which makes us human.

Analysis of a working manuscript for Wilfred Owen's "Strange Meeting" provides the student with insight into the creative process. Owen's original wording coupled with his subsequent revisions illuminate how he may have intended the poem to be understood by the reader. Owen's revisions show a determination to accomplish three apparent objectives. First, Owen paid close attention to the connotative meanings inherent in his diction. Equally as important, Owen attempted to refine his language mechanics to enhance the esthetic quality of his work. Finally, there is evidence of a concerted effort to universalize the poem for readers of diverse experience.

Owen used, in this poem, an alliteration to add emphasis to the poem and the image it presents. The phrases like "bayonet-blade", "blind, blunt bullet" and "famishing for flesh" have alliterations of the letter "b" and "f" which create an effect on the ears. The letter "b" is pronounced harshly to emphasize the cruelty of these weapons which is used to kill. Also, the letter "f" is pronounced harshly, but it is used to emphasize the heartlessness and inhumanity of having such thoughts by the boy. These alliterations give greater significant in regard to the exact image. Also, there is a use of