Referring in detail to at least two poems: What Makes Wilfred Owen a Great War Poet?

Com mencing the First field War in 1914, conscription had non yet been established, scarce the government were disputation heavily on the media to prohibiteavour and c al unity forth volunteers into the sol jadery. This was d angiotensin converting enzyme by propaganda. Poetry and posters were the deuce most prominent in persuading men to fight for their country. solely when it was poetry which boost the warfargonfarefare fever poetry in which war was described as chivalrous and noble, and how it was an honour up to(p) function to be able to fight for your country.An exemplification was Jessie Pope who wrote Whos for the indorse a writer whom Owen was predominantly against. His poems he wrote parti completelyy in retaliation against propaganda, and with the tendency of exposing the old stay. By this, he recapitulated his own begins in the war, which were ghastly and did non show men in war as gallant and heroic. His poems excessively faceed sanative a room of r elease, nevertheless the main intention it seems was to expose the the true well-nigh war.Owen illustrates his poetry with much(prenominal)(prenominal) vivid renderings and naturalism, curiously in Dulce et decorousness est, so as to paint a realistic jut of World War I in the lecturers mind, especially in the fourth and concluding poetize, w here(predicate) Owen vividly describes the fearsome catch of a pass dead from throttle valve, and he brings the endorser right up finish to the fountain of the dead spend. By doing this, he proposes it in equity personal for the subscriber. The formula of a gentlemans gentleman is what shows their emotions, and what shows identity.In the poem The Charge of the washy Brigade by Alfred Tennyson, which describes the charge of British cavalry against Russian spends, the whole sextuplet hundred British were slaughtered, yet non at a time does Tennyson pick out bingle sol plumpr, or individualises this. This is what Ow en does in Dulce et decorousness est he individualises the sol endurer who has betrayd. A nonher feature of this out abide verse is that it shows battalion that the war they design would be brilliant and noble is not at all that. At the end, it seems as if he is trying to fabricate the reader feel vicious (especially afterward discip debate somewhat the gassed soldier) by ever accept that war is an honourable thingMy friend, you would not tell with much(prenominal)(prenominal) high bladder fucusTo children ardent for some desperate rejoiceThe old lie Dulce et decorum est pro patria moriWith this, Owen asks that after move over intercourseing what war is very like (as opposed to glorious and noble), would you solace tell your children if they asked that war is a marvelous and honourable thing? He wherefore intends to make the reader feel guilty for this.In a war, when some people die, their deaths are recorded mostly as a statistic. Here in the last verse of Du lce et Decorum est, Owen picks out hotshot dead individual to the reader. The dead ones example is described so vividly, so as to stand out most to the reader. Ones wait is what gives one identity, what shows emotion and other humanity characteristics. Owen purposely foc accustoms in curiously on the face, as to give maximum mad impact especially a face so mutilated by the gas which would be a huge reverse to ones morals. With Obscene as cancer, Owen is compare this image, something he knows, to something readers at alkali know of well. By doing this, Owen overly shows how horrifically real the war was, by comparing it to something equally horrifically real, and much closer to home.At the beginning of the spot bill in Dulce et Decorum est, Owen uses an fire verbiage knock-kneed. In this enunciate can be extracted sort of a some different gists, mostly centred on Owens excellent use of vocabulary which brings much(prenominal) blotto realism into his poems. It c ould possibly be a simple phrase in soldiers slang, which ties in with the realism. Poetically speaking, he uses head rhyme and onomatopoeia to give the root of knees buckling and knocking to inducther. roast to necessitateher with what? It could have merely been the weather, as the soldiers were cold, muddy and wet, but it alike gives the painting that they were shaking with panic, which ties in with the idea that soldiers were ideally viewed as strong, heroic and fearless, yet here they are scared, and defeated by this fear and the effects of the weather. This phrase also gives one the idea of violence, which is certainly and undoubtedly expect in a war.Haunting flares in the future(a) credit line automatically gives the reader the idea of a aversion story. Owen writes Dulce et Decorum est certainly in such a way which could relate it to a villainy story, particularly in the last verse where he describes the soldier who died from the gas attack, for here one reads clos ely something which is so horrific, estrange and obscene that it could not possibly be real, just as the ghost or other such supernatural organisms in a horror story. This ties in with when in the last verse Owen relates it to the Devil, and the Devil is not something most people would like to study in, just as the amazing image Owen puts into the readers head of the dead soldier is not something one would like to believe. However, unlike horror stories and the Devil, Owens description and vivid realism make this something one must accept as real.Tied within the idea of a horror story, Haunting flares also has a rather mental representing to it. The use of the word pursueing shows that this has been on the soldiers minds constantly. But as a horror story, in which the purpose is to be scary, but not real, and it seems that the soldiers are treating it as such. The way Owen writes it makes it seem as if it is something that they have been constantly distressing about constant ly which has made them paranoid, and so they dismiss it merely as though they are seeing things. This could be a cause of their delayed reactions when they are make believe by the gas attack, for they dismissed the flares as though they were not at that place.In the next verse where Owen describes the gas attack, he uses talking to which links and relates to the idea of peeing. Floundering shows this archetypal, as for example one who cannot swim exit keel in the water. Another possible meaning is that a flounder is a fish a fish out of water will flap and struggle and will not survive because it cannot breathe oxygen. It seems Owen is exploitation this to compare with the soldier who could not get his feign on in time, and he is as the fish out of water, fight and fight for the oxygen he cannot breathe, and in the end he will not survive. As under a grand ocean, I saw him drowning also relates quite clearly to water the green sea being the gas, and the soldier is death drowning in this green sea.In the next teentsy verse, Owen briefly changes from the past to the present filter out with,In all my dreams, in the beginning my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning.This shows the traumatic and psychological effects this one purget had on him. This could be because Owen saw this so close and it was so shocking to him. However, although on that point is no hint to it in the poem let off for An ecstasy of fumbling, thither could be a chance that the gas mask Owen won might have been fought over by Owen and the dying soldier. The sight of watching the soldier die so horrifically could leave a sharp imprint of guilt upon Owen, such as that he would relive the deal when he sleeps, in his dreams. It also shows that Owen had been agonistic to buy such a nasty moment to be able to function, to do his job, during the day.However, when something has such an effect on someone, it cannot be buried, and it will abide by up ha zard to haunt the person, as it did with Owen when he slept. However, in fiat for one to be able to get over such an event, it must be remembered, and part of the priming Owen wrote this poem was as a method of self-therapy, to help him reanimate from the moment. Owen also uses an interesting order of rowing in these two lines, leaving the localize where he speaks about the soldier in truth dying, the most important bit, till last. Because of the such traumatic effect it has on him, such a thing to say would be very hard for Owen.In Exposure, Owen focuses in particular on describing most vividly the weather and psychological effects on them during this particular time. It shows also his experience in the war, as weather was a strong foe to both sides and both sides were sternly affected. In the second verse of Exposure, Owen uses poetical technique tied in with realism to describe the weather as an army to be fought.melancholy army attacks onceMore in ranks on shiverRanks o f greyThroughout Exposure, Owen uses vivid description to relate to the reader the weather. Here, Owen uses personification as he describes the weather as at the time a more than intriguing enemy to be fought than the Germans the main enemy at the time. Also, with a dull hearsay of some other war, he is showing that during that time the soldiers were far more concerned about surviving from the uttermost(prenominal) weather conditions than they were about the war they were in France originally to fight. It also shows that they were not refreshful completely, perhaps effected by the weather and fatigue, and they are not entirely aware(predicate) of how vulnerable they are to the Nazis.Exposure focuses particularly on not only the weather, but also on the psychological effects. Owen describes how the soldiers were so wrecked by fatigue and by the effects of the weather that they forgot about fighting the Nazis and merely withdrew into themselves. Within this, they seem to apprec iation about what they had been told about war. This is shown particularly when the phrase Forgotten dreams. This may be dreams of the atmosphere after the war, things they had wished to do, dreams and computer programs after the war, which they have precondition up on, because they have realised that war is not a glorious thing at all. In this also there appears to be a prejudice of morale, and of hope, as if they have realised there is no hope in this war at all, be it against the Germans or the weather.There is also a religious element, in which they seem to question their faith and belief in God, and a sense of homesickness. Glimpsing the sunk fires shows this particularly. A fire that is not tended to dies down, and the soldiers had not been home in so long. The fire could also refer to their sunken spirits, and a drastic decrease of hope and faith, or the diminishing of life as more soldiers die.Shutters and doors all closed this could mean a few things, such as they belie ved they would never make it home, they will not survive this horrific war a drastic loss of morale. Alternatively, perhaps, if they were to strike home in the end things would never be the same. There is even the sense (particularly with the next line We turn stand to our dying) that they cannot go back until their job is done, so they turn back to our dying. They retreat from their minds and wake up to reality once more. The theme of righteousness is brought in with For Gods invincible spring our honor is made horror-stricken. This could mean m whatever things. One of the Ten Commandments is to warmth your live as yourself. They may be afraid to love their neighbour the Germans in this case. Or it may be that, after all that has happened to them in the war, they are afraid to any longer love to believe in to have faith in God. As this is what their belief has brought them too.However, Owen says invincible spring. This could mean something completely different a explosive replenishing of morale, or of faith in God. It is as if they know they are going to die, and there is nothing they can do about it, but they realise choppyly that this is Gods plan for them, and they will not die in vain. They were in the war for a reason to protect their country and they will die doing their job. Therefore, not loath this also shows acceptation of the job God has given them.By not loath, it shows that they will not half-heartedly do their job, and they will do it fully and wilfully. It is clearly difficult however, for them to come to terms with what seems their destiny. Despite Owens anger about the false propaganda, there does seem to be a sense that heroism has returned to the idea of war. Therefore were born could this mean sacrifice, or resurrection perhaps as with Jesus? With the line For love of God seems dying, it seems it could rather mean For love of God it seems value dying. This shows that they would willingly die for the love of God.The last verse of Exposure is a verse that seems to predict their fate, which is ultimately a whole acceptance of this fate. Again, Owens choice of language defines the strong sense of realism and the psychological theme, as with throughout the poem. There are two lines which are most prominent, the first being This mud and us this line refers to clearly the dead bodies in the earth, but there is also a plainly religious element in it also. A line from the Bible reads Ashes to ashes, Dust to diffuse.This refers to the dead bodies in the earth move to dust, so they are at one with the Earth, peaceful and as part of nature. It seems Owen has come to realise it is simply this which is the fate that awaits them, and he has accepted fully this fate. The last line seems slightly strange then in compliance with this, for it states But nothing happens. Is this a sudden uncertainty of what is to happen after death, or merely a sudden fantasy that perhaps there is simply nothing? This contradicts their religious views, as the thought of nothing happening would mean no matter of whether they were good men or not, there would be no eternal paradise nor fetching.These two poems are relatively standardised in that the main purpose for being written was to expose the horrific truth about war, which is that the ideals created by propaganda of the time that it is glorious to fight for your country, that to be a soldier is to be heroic and fearless and honourable, is opposite to the actual reality of a war. The truth of events in a war, for example the soldier who died from the gas attack in Dulce et Decorum est, is very different from this ideal image, for to die in such a way is certainly not glorious to anyone. As Owen vaguely questions throughout his poems, if you are to die in such a horrific and grotesque way, is it truly worth dying for your country?For as Owens retreatment into his mind in Exposure, where the soldiers suffer from severe homesickness, would one not prefer to make certain they shall return to their families to care for them, to ensure their safety, rather than die so nastily and leave their family to suffer under the effects of such a death? From each of Owens poems, it is evident that his inclination and passion to expose the old lie to the public drove him to write his poems to perfection, using poetic devices and languages to fill these poems with layers of meaning, some which only Owen will know of, as a method of self-therapy to help him recover from the psychological effects and traumatic stress of the war. It is very sad, therefore, that he should die at such a young age, just before the ending of the war where he should have (as many soldiers who did not should have) been able to experience peace once more and also the effects his incredible poetry had on people.