Accounts of the World War I were written by British soldiers who had not only experienced and witnessed traumatic events in battle but also depicted them in poetry and prose which suppose to be explored the humanistic values to the readers. Among those works, war poems are spelled out the futility and agony of war in highly intensive way. The paper tries to elucidate the pity and humanistic values of war poems through the select works of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Artistic creation is one of the best of reflecting reality and, at the same time, of perceiving and apprehending it; it is also one of the strongest levelers of influencing the development of humanity. By emphasizing the authentic and pragmatic details of war life of soldiers …show more content…
English Poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Neither it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except war. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are to this generation in no sense consolatory. They maybe to the next. All a poet can do today is warning. That is why true Poets must be truthful” -- Wilfred Owen, from a preface to a planned book of his poetry …show more content…
War is one of the basic aspects of present history and it makes history more interesting. War is the greatest of all the evils invented by humanity; but for countries war matters a lot. There are a lot of differences between the words ‘humanity’ and the people of a particular ‘country’. Since a country makes up for a political entity, it never accepts the domain of humanitarian generosity. War has always caused the deepest remorse and suffering in human history. Almost all the societies, from ancient to the modern times, have undergone the trauma of war and its related pains. The zenith of such destructive force of war was seen in the twentieth century with two massive world wars which rattled the globe and effected unmeasured casualties of all possible kind. The western countries and societies experienced the intense consequences of war in a far reaching scale from the beginning of the World War I to the 1960s. The period from the starting of the World War I to the post-World War II got the attention of the writers, especially poets, playwrights, novelist, artists and other literary critics, since the particular age (1915-1960) was marked by the sufferings caused by the wars, which penetrated into the inner psyche of the
Wilfred Owen's war poems central features include the wastage involved with war, horrors of war and the physical effects of war. These features are seen in the poems "Dulce Et Decorum Est" and "Anthem for Doomed Youth" here Owen engages with the reader appealing to the readers empathy that is felt towards the soldier. These poems interact to explore the experiences of the soldiers on the battlefields including the realities of using gas as a weapon in war and help to highlight the incorrect glorification of war. This continuous interaction invites the reader to connect with the poems to develop a more thorough
Often, personal experiences are what influence a poet’s writing. Since the 1600s and up until World War One, poets have been heavily impacted by the glorification of war, as well as the catastrophic losses the world has suffered from. Poets such as Richard Lovelace and Lord Tennyson glorified the sacrifices soldiers made for their countries and honored them. While poets like Mary Borden and Wilfred Owen expressed their outrage towards war because they have witnessed the brutality and wickedness of it. In the two poetry collections, diction is the main factor in establishing the tone and theme of each poem.
War is a scandalous topic where peoples’ views differ as to what war is. Some people see it as pure evil and wicked while others think that it is brave and noble of what soldiers do. Looking at poems which had been written by people affected by war help show the messages which are portrayed. The two sets of poems which show different views of war as well as some similarities are “the Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson, “To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars” by Richard Lovelace and “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, “The Song of the Mud” by Mary Borden. Both these poets use linguistic devices to convince the reader of their view of what the war is. Tennyson and Lovelace show how war is worthy
One is to think of war as one of the most honorable and noble services that a man can attend to for his country, it is seen as one of the most heroic ways to die for the best cause. The idea of this is stripped down and made a complete mockery of throughout both of Wilfred Owen’s poems “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. Through his use of quickly shifting tones, horrific descriptive and emotive language and paradoxical metaphors, Owen contradicts the use of war and amount of glamour given towards the idea of it.
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
Dating to the beginning of civilization, war continues to be a repeating occurrence in the world whether it be with oneself, society, or the outside influences in the world. In terms of war between countries, there is the growing controversy over its utilization and purpose when a country is predisposed to a situation foreboding unavoidable conflict. War is the only solution to certain situations but cannot be considered a panacea to all the issues prevalent in the world. The reasoning behind this is that war produces consequences some of which that are permanent. War has always spawn more conflict, gives disfigurement to human bodies, death and occasionally affects the state of one’s mind in areas such as mentality, emotions, rationality
Throughout history, people of different backgrounds have perceived the act of going to war differently, and it was often reflected in literature in the form of poetry. Some poets, such as Richard Lovelace and Alfred Lord Tennyson, glorified and honored sacrifice; in contrast, others like Mary Borden and Wilfred Owen, condemned war and viewed it as a waste of life. The two poetry collections, while both discuss the effect of going to war, have very distinct central themes. The difference can be depicted mainly through each poet’s tone and diction, in addition to sound elements and the point-of-view. While each element contributes to engaging and/or persuading the reader, an analysis of those elements, and research on the history of each era, must be done in order to properly define the motives and purpose of each work of literature.
War has been a terrible driving force throughout history. One can come to the conclusion that war is a gruesome experience that causes one to become blinded by anger, regret their actions, and feel immense amounts of sorrow for and towards others. The works of literature written by Erich Maria Marque, Thomas Hardy, and Denise Levertov help to shed light on these horrors of war.
Intensively striking war imagery emerges throughout the course of the text and therefore effectively joins its underlining fore. Graphic images of the grotesque face of war characterize and develop the
army when he was 22 years old. He was injured in a shell explosion in
“In his poetry, Wilfred Owen depicts the horror and futility of war and the impact war has on individuals.”
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.
Owen’s poem has the clear intention of showing the true nature of war to the reader, which is mainly achieved by contrasting reality against the ways in which war is so
In conclusion, on both sides, whether fighting for the Germans or Allied forces, all the soldiers describing the war in poetry and art are unanimous in depicting the death and destruction witnessed there. It is therefore universal that war is destructive and must be avoided by all civilized societies at all costs. War can be summarized by the expression on the soldier’s face in the artwork titled “wounded soldier”, which can be described in a word as
A Comparison of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon's War Poetry Lieutenant Wilfred Edward Salter Owen M.C. of the second Battalion Manchester Regiment, was born March 18th 1893 in Oswestry, Shropshire. He was educated at the Birkenhead Institute and at Shrewsbury Technical school. Wilfred Owen was the eldest of four children and the son of a railway official. He was of welsh ancestry and was particularly close to his mother whose evangelical Christianity greatly influenced his poetry.