Literature since the time of the Ancient Greeks glorified and glossed over the horrors of war, making it seem as a worthwhile, honourable, and romantic male endeavour. This same philosophy carried on even until past the time of America’s bloody Civil War and the war heroes of poetry, much like in the days of ancient civilization, were put on a pedestal and treated as national treasures.
For the most part, war, although undeniably tragic, was viewed as necessary and in many ways applicable.Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est" and "Anthem for Doomed Youth" was written during his World War 1 Experience 28 July 1914 - 11 November 1918. Owen an officer in the British Army deeply opposed the intervention of one nation into another. The poem explains how the British press and public comforted themselves with the fact that, terrible that is was, all young men dying in the war were dying noble, heroic deaths.
The reality was quite different; Owen wanted to throw the war in the face of the reader to illustrate how vile and inhumane war really was. InnocenceOwen explains in his poem that people were encouraged to fight for their country, but in reality, fighting for your country is simply sentencing yourself to an unnecessary premature death. The name of the poem relates to Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Patria Mori - It is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country. The most important thing is that the title is ironic. The intention was not so much to induce pity as to shock, especially civilians at home who believed war was noble and glorious.
The quote; "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks" is a simile, which compares the men to how beggars walk when the soldiers march. By starting the poem off with an image of men "doubled" it creates the possibility that the soldiers really have become two people, the men they were before the war which is contrasted to the creatures that they are now showing juxtaposition of how they used to be. Another quote; “Men marched asleep,". This line starts out with a stark image because people don't usually walk in their sleep, unless something is seriously wrong.
Making abnormally the normal seems to be one of the major functions of this war.We can also see this from “Anthem for Doomed Youth” from the quote; And “Bugles calling for them from sad shires,” This is the first time the poem reaches out beyond the death of the soldiers to mention the suffering and innocence it causes others; relatives, neighbours, and so on. Those “sad shires” really are pitiful, calling for their dead young men. The only way they seem to get them back is for a funeral. Another quote we can relate to “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds,” This quiet, beautiful image points to death in about a bazillion ways. Dusk and dawn blinds are both a sort of end or closing.
Plus, the line even comes at the end of the poem; the poem itself is dead, too. Plus it can be read from the soldiers’ perspective, with the onset of dusk standing as the equivalent of pulling down blinds which makes it night time. Or it can be seen as an image of civilians reacting to the death of soldiers, either to keep out the reality of it, or to shut out the world so they can mourn in their own private ways. Futility Wilfred Owen's poetry describes the grotesque reality of the frontline of WWI; however, this poem concentrates on the meaning of existence, and the futility of war and inevitability of death.
The narrator of this poem is having an existential crisis; what is the point of being born if you are just going to die a few years later? It is common for people to question death and what comes after death, especially if that person is surrounded by death or on the verge of death them. Soldiers are faced with death every day, the death of their fellow soldiers and of their enemies; being surrounded by death on a daily basis can lead anyone to feel betrayed by life and life-givers. The anonymity of this poem allows it to universal; it can be describing any soldier.This poem also serves as an elegy, which is a song, poem, or speech that expresses grief for one who is dead, and it is usually melancholy in tone.
The quote; "But someone still was yelling out and stumbling and floundering like a man in fire or lime”; Lime, or quicklime, is a chemical compound that can burn through the human body like a fire. Referring to death by fire or lime allows Owen to describe the horrors of gassing as both natural and unnatural suffering, is like fire and lime-burns combined."The white eyes writhing in his face, his hanging face, ike a devil's sick of sin" The man described here seems almost inhuman as if the physical effects of gassing can transform his body into a version of hell on earth. His very face begins to melt off of him.
We can also relate this to “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” in the quote; “The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells,” from this don’t you feel shivers down your spine? Artillery shells falling from the sky are terrifying enough already, but compare them to “shrill, demented choirs” and you have an ugly mixture of heaven and hell that’s enough to start you quaking all over.No mockeries now for them, no prayers nor bells,” The second half of this line is where we find out how critical our speaker is of religious ritual. Before this, we might have thought he was just missing those passing-bells, wishing they had some at the front to honour the soldiers. And the way the line sets it up giving us “Mockeries”, then having us find out that those mockeries include prayers and bells makes the line that much more shocking , and let us know that our speaker is really going to let it rip. Religious rituals as mockeries?Owen sure isn’t pulling any punches here. Suffering The parallel construction of the quote; "Many had lost their boots, but limped on, blood-shod.
All went lame; all blind; drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind. " Emphasizes misery as a universal condition. No one escapes. No one. Words like "lame," "blind," "drunk" and "deaf" suggest that the soldiers have been stripped of their bodily integrity before they even enter into battle.
They're almost zombie-men, stumbling through the dark with bodies that don't work anymore.And that's before the gas attack. Into the gas attack urgency and immediacy is presented through the use of the present continuous and shouted exclamations "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! ” Owen uses an extended metaphor of the sea and drowning to recreate the froth choked drowning caused by a gas attack. The lines are separated to show their purpose as a link between the reality of war and the warning to those who present it otherwise.Another quote; "In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning.
From this we get the sense that the action is the present tense. The speaker's comrade dies over and over in his dream, making the suffering of wartime casualties never-ending. We can also relate to “Anthem for Doomed Youth” in the quote “Can patter out their hasty orisons”. The word “hasty,” plus the haphazardness of “patter,” relates to us the suddenness of death on the battlefield.
Not only is death fairly certain, but it doesn’t necessarily announce itself far in advance. It’s not stately, heroic, or glory-filled.It’s quick and dirty. “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns,” in this quote being killed like an animal isn’t anyone’s idea of glory, and this line makes sure that we don’t approach the idea of dying in war with any undue excitement.
Any patriotic idea these soldiers might have had about how heroic it is to die for their country is totally undercut by this simile. There's the suggestion, through the comparison to cattle, that the soldiers are trapped and at the mercy of others.It doesn't leave much hope of escaping death. Conclusion In conclusion, Owen's opinion, this couldn't be further from the truth. Emphasizing the gruesome details of his real experiences during the war allows him to demonstrate the emptiness of war. If schoolbooks teach us what heroes ought to do, his poem seeks to show us just how un-heroic wartime action can be.
I believe my attitudes toward war in general helped me accept the poem as a commentary of the difference between a glorified lie on war and the stark truth of battle.
