The Sentry and the letter, that Wilfred Owen wrote, are both powerful accounts of the war. Personally, both accounts become more effective as Owen experienced war first hand. Due to Owen's first hand experiences he could use honesty as a form of dramatic effect.
Although, because people knew Owen was a soldier of war, he could exaggerate to the reader to provide another form of dramatic effect. The purposes, of both the poem and the letter, is to show how horrendous the war actually was. The Sentry goes further to explain a particular incident using speech as, 'he whined, "Oh sir, my eyes"'.This helps you visualise a realistic account of how horrific Owen's surroundings were at the time. The purpose explaining the war, to the readers of the poem and to his mother through the letter, was because Owen knew that people at home away from war didn't have any knowledgable facts about what was truthfully going on. The poem helps show the reader what was going through Owen's mind at the time of the war aswell.
The poem's last stanza explains the mental distress that people went through during war as Owen tried, 'not to remember' the traumatic events going on around him.In my opinion, this gives the poem a powerful impact as it shows the reader that the war was not just horrific at the time but horrific within your long term momory aswell. The letter only describes the effects on a day to day basis. In this case, the letter can also be effective because it gives a detailed account of the suffering he went through each day.
To gives both texts a realistic portrayal of the cheos during war, Owen used imagery. Owen used many similes within the poem to help the reader visualise the gory events surrounding him such as, the sentry's eyes 'bulged like squids'.As similes help visualise within the poem, onomatopeoias help you feel and hear what Owen is trying to explain. The onomatopeoias within The Sentry gives the poem an extremity, a loud description of the war. As you read the poem you gain an image of Owen shouting the words at you. The words 'blast' onto the page and get 'Hammered' into your head so you feel the true pain that people had to go through.
In comparison to The Sentry, where there is loud descriptive text, Owen gives the letter a blunt desciption of war.Owen gives the impression that he is trying to make his mother feel slightly guilty that he is being murdered while, 'I suppose, you would be going to church' as if nothing is happening. The onomatopeoias within the letter gives the impression that Owen is spitting with annoyance as his 'machine gun spluttered'. As Owen explains how horrific and deadly the war is, he seems to exaggerate every point as it was not just dark but, 'it was of course dark, too dark. ' Owen also writes metaphorically to prove a point of it not just being muddy but, 'an octopus of sucking clay'.Although the letter is not completely poetic you can see from evidence that Owen was a poet and could describe using imagery and give a dramatic effect to prove a point.
This definitely gives the letter a powerful impact for the reader. Owen's use rhyme within The Sentry is a great mix of alteration and couplets. Although, some sentances do not rhyme at all. This gives the poem a cheotic image as you feel that Owen can't think straight. The ryhthm gives you a sense of panic thats going his body. His mind seems to be racing around frantically trying to gather sentances whilst bombs, machine guns and tanks are exploding around him.
The rhythm within the letter is blunt, but also active as if never ending. Owen is constantly portraying the rapid fire of guns then slows then repeats. Short sentances are key within this structure as they give the poem the effect Owen wants to show. Owen's letter comes across informal as you would not speak of the agony you, yourself, were going through to someone you hardly knew. Although, within the poem, Owen explains the war as tramatic but not about himself but of the others suffering around him. As the letter is written for his mother, he is almost crying out for sympathy and love of the person who has been there for him all his life.
Within the poem, you obviously sympathise with the soldiers but not on a personal level. Even as Owen uses speech of one of the sentry you get the impression that Owen has seen this happen over and over again. Personally, this did not make me sympathise with this individual but for the many who were wounded and suffered in this distressing way. The Sentry and the letter both are powerful accounts of war in their individual way. In my opinion, The Sentry became most powerful as, 'we heard him shout "I see your lights! "'The impact on the last sentance, of the poem, gave you a slight hint of hope but shows most people knew or thought that the war was going to end their life. The light could mean many different things but to me it meant the individual thought he may survive.
This sentance brought the war into perspective that solidiers are sent to war to die and many knew they would actually be ending their lives as hope for them 'had long died out'. In my opinion, The Sentry came across most powerful as I felt the sublime effects not just from Owen himself but from his descriptive imagery around him.
