Suffering In The Poems Of Wilfred Owen And Jane Weir

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

Wilfred Owen uses language and poetic devices to evoke sympathy for the soldier in the poem by using in-depth descriptions. An example of this is in the first stanza where the soldier in the poem ‘shivered in his ghastly suit of grey’. The ‘g’ sound in the words ‘ghastly’ and ‘grey’ emphasises the horror of ‘ghastly’ combined with the dreariness of ‘grey’, which are now the two main features of his life. The word ‘ghastly’ shows something that is strange and unnatural. The adjective ‘grey’, which has connotations of bleakness, portrays an image of darkness and monotony. Furthermore, the verb ‘shivered’ shows that he is vulnerable and exposed. In the phrase, ‘Legless, sewn short at elbow’, the sibilance at the end of ‘Legless’, and in ‘sewn short’ tell us that the short-syllable words are ruthlessly to the point, so it emphasises the fact that the soldier has no arms and legs because of his wounds.

Compare how the theme of loss is communicated in the poems ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘Out, out-’ by Robert Frost

Wilfred Owen’s poetry is shaped by an intense focus on extraordinary human experiences. In at least 2 poems set for study, explore Owen’s portrayal of suffering and pity.

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.

As an anti-war poet, Wilfred Owen uses his literary skills to express his perspective on human conflict and the wastage involved with war, the horrors of war, and its negative effects and outcomes. As a young man involved in the war himself, Owen obtained personal objectivity of the dehumanisation of young people during the war, as well as the false glorification that the world has been influenced to deliver to them. These very ideas can be seen in poems such as 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and 'Dulce ET Decorum EST Pro Patria Mori'. Owen uses a variety of literary techniques to convey his ideas.

One of the most notable differences between these two poets is that Owen experienced war from a first person perspective and actually died as a result of his partake in the First World War. Even with the fact that Levertov did not experience warfare directly, she was well-acquainted with suffering resulting from war and thus had little to no problems writing in regard to it.

Through sensory imagery, he portrayed the severe everlasting conditions. Owen’s treatment for shellshock at Craig Lockhart mental hospital influenced his writing and he was undergoing the treatment when his first poem was published. His poems continued to be published even after his death in November 1918, one week before the ceasefire.

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.”

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 Owen's poem ‘Exposure' the alliteration in "the frost will fasten on this mud and us" depicts the weather as determined and malicious, and similar repetition of the "f" sound in "pale flakes with fingering stealth" that "come feeling for our faces" seems to suggests the way the cold subtly infiltrates and clings to the body. The metaphor "fastening" and "fingering stealth" suggests the relentless and almost malign way in which the cold takes hold of the body, with the "merciless east winds" more deadly than "flights of bullets" highlighting the sheer severity of such conditions towards human life. The determination of the personified conditions is also apparent in ‘Atonement' when Robbie tries to run for his life despite the "rich soil clinging to his boots". The use of the verb "clinging" highlights how difficult the conditions were to survive in. McEwan can convey the conditions of war so vividly because his father would have passed his stories of war on to him meaning both writers are able to reveal how mundane details like mud can have such a devastating impact. It also conveys the desperation of the situation in which every man is for himself. Owen himself experienced the coldest winter in living memory. In January 1917 his men "had to lie out in the snow and the deadly wind", he wrote to his mother; for two days and two nights at Redan Ridge unable to move and one man did actually freeze to death as depicted in another of his poems ‘Futility.' In the poem ‘1914' Owen depicts war as the "winter of the world". The metaphor highlights the harsh conditions of reality with destructive verbs such as "whirled" and "down-hurled" creating a tone of despair and horror at the destruction wrought by the war on societies across the globe.

In both poems Owen shows us the physical effect of war, Wilfred starts the poems showcasing unendurable stress the men were going through. Appalling pictures are created and expressed through similes and metaphors. Owen’s lexical choices link to the semantic field of the archaic which conveys the atavistic effects of war. The men are compared to old beggars, hags, the once young men have been deprived of their youth and turned into old women, the loss of masculinity express the how exhausting and ruthless war was. The men were barely awake from lack of sleep, they “marched in sleep” their once smart uniforms resembling “sacks”. He also expresses how

Throughout Wilfred Owen’s collection of poems, he unmasks the harsh tragedy of war through the events he experienced. His poems indulge and grasp readers to feel the pain of his words and develop some idea on the tragedy during the war. Tragedy was a common feature during the war, as innocent boys and men had their lives taken away from them in a gunshot. The sad truth of the war that most of the people who experienced and lived during the tragic time, still bare the horrifying images that still live with them now. Owen’s poems give the reader insight to this pain, and help unmask the tragedy of war.