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Wilfred Owen Poetry Essay Research Paper Owen

Wilfred Owen Poetry Essay, Research Paper


Owen’s war poetry is a passionate expression of outrage at the horrors of


war and of pity for the young soldiers sacrificed in it. It is dramatic


and memorable, whether describing physical horror, such as in‘


Dulce et Decorum Est’ or the unseen, mental torment such as


in‘ Disabled’. His diverse use of instantly understandable


imagery and technique is what makes him the most memorable of the war


poets. His poetry evokes more from us than simple disgust and sympathy;


issues previously unconsidered are brought to our attention.


One of Owen’s talents is to convey his complex messages very


proficiently. In‘ Dulce et Decorum Est’–‘ If in


some smothering dreams you too could pace / Behind the wagon that we


flung him in’ the horror of witnessing this event becomes eternal


through dreams. Though this boy died an innocent, war allowed no time to


give his death dignity, which makes the horror so more poignant and


haunting. This is touched on in‘ Mental Cases’–‘


Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter / Always they must see


these things and hear them’. Many of the sights which will haunt


the surviving soldiers are not what the officials have ordered them to


do, but what they have done to save their own lives. It is the tragedy of


war that you are not able to stop to help a dying man. They then, not


only physically scarred and mentally changed, carry remedyless guilt with


them. They have survived, at the expense of others–‘ Why


speak not they of comrades that went under?’ (‘Spring


Offensive’). Another dimension is that even the enemy soldiers are


just like them, it is the politicians and generals who have caused this


war, not these ordinary men. This is explored in‘ Strange


Meeting’ – the meeting of an enemy who is really a‘


friend’.


Many of Owen’s poems share resentment towards the generals and


those at home who have encouraged war.‘ Disabled’ has a very


bitter tone–‘ Aye, that was it, to please the giddy


jilts’.‘ His Meg’ didn’t stay around after he


joined to‘ please’ her– presumably she is with a‘


strong man’ who is‘ whole’. In‘ The Send


Off’ and‘ Anthem for Doomed Youth’ the prayers and


flowers for the soldiers are mocked– useless offerings to men who


are being sent as sacrifices. In‘ Apologia pro Poemate Meo’


Owen again adopts a harsh tone to those at home -‘ You shall not


come to think them well content/ By any jest of mine . . . They are worth


your tears / You are not worth their merriment’. Much anger is


directed towards those ignorant of the full implications of war, but,


perhaps ironically, his poetry would serve to make them aware. The


thought of killing, watching your comrades be killed and constantly


trying to survive sounds horrific enough, but the precise detail of the


emotions, thoughts and sights of the soldier, succeed to drive the full


horror home. This is where much of Owen’s originality lies, not


vague reporting, but deep cynicism and conveyance of the situations.


Owen sympathises profusely with the vain young men who have no idea of


the horrors of war, who are‘ seduced’ by others and the


recruiting posters. He bitterly rejects the patriotic reasoning for war


in‘ Dulce’. That they eagerly join up for vanities makes


their situation all the more tragic– he‘ threw away his


knees’.‘ Smiling they wrote his lie’ depicts officials


who not only accept this under age boy, but smile knowingly while they do


it. In‘ The Send Off’ a lack of support for these men is


suggested. The young men are to give up their lives as a sacrifice for


their country, but their leaving lacks passionate good byes as‘


they were not ours’. In‘ S.I.W’ the full impacts of


social pressure are highlighted. Though the man’s family clearly


love him, they would‘ sooner him dead than in disgrace’,


leaving him only suicide to escape. This notion of escaping into hell


from war is also in‘ Strange Meeting’.


A recurring theme in Owen’s poetry is the notion of unseen scars.


Though the soldier may return alive or uninjured, their lives will never


be the same. In‘ Disabled’ the pain of the man’s life


is not his injury, but how others react to him. He will never feel love


or live life to the full again. The moment when‘ the women’s


eyes / Passed from him to the strong men’ is wonderfully picked out


by Owen, the women’s embarrassment at staring, and the man’s


misery at no longer being seen as a valid person. Though sleep is relief


from his tortuous life in‘ Disabled’, sleep becomes a hell


for many of the poems. In‘ Dulce et Decorum


Est’–‘ In all my dreams . . . He plunges at me’


and in‘ The Sentry’ the persistent memories–‘ I


try not to remember these things now’.


The detail in Owen’s poetry puts forward his scenes horrifically


and memorably. His poems are suffused with the horror of battle, yet


finely structured and innovative.‘ His bleeding cough’–


a scene unimaginable by us, something only a true witness would see


and‘ puckering foreheads crisp’– more than frozen to


death, Owen acutely describes the impact on the skin and face. The scene


witnessed by Owen is so detailed we feel familiar to it ourselves. As


with the unseen scars, Owen delves beneath the surface of cover ups and


expectations. As in‘ Disabled’ and‘ S.I.W.’, the


full horror behind these unemotional terms is described.


The particular techniques adopted by Owen in his poetry underline his


messages. His use of speech and present tense give his poems urgency and


directness. All the senses are utilised by Owen, a constant input of


sound, smell, touch as well as sight increase the dimensions of his


images and overwhelm us as he must have been. Owen’s appliance of


half-rhyme gives his poetry a dissonant, disturbing quality that


amplifies his themes. His stanzas jar, as war does.


Owen is more famous for his angry and emotional poems such as Dulce,


though his quieter poems can pack just a strong a punch. Futility has a


barely controlled emotion to it, we are used to Owen questioning war and


people but here he questions life itself. His desperation and hollow lack


of hope, so resigned against life, is intensely emotional, beyond anger


and beyond help. His use of sounds and assonance give the poem a quiet


tone, almost as if the speaker is whispering. There is no appeal to God


or to anyone, he includes no physically horrific imagery, but mentally


tormenting ideas.


Religion is a recurring theme in Owen’s war poetry. The intensity


of war can either bring crisis of faith (Futility) or spiritual


revelation -‘ I too saw God through mud‘’ (Apolgia Pro


Poemate Meo). But most poems seem to question God–‘ For love


of God seems dying’ (Exposure). Then in‘ Futility’ the


Christian idea of God is ignored and a more pagan view of nature and life


is turned to. Futility ultimately questions life’s motives and


offers neither religious comfort nor reasoning for war. In‘ Spring


Offensive’ some of the imagery used echos passages of‘


Revelations’ in the bible–‘ And instantly the whole sky


burned/ With fury against them; earth set sudden cups / In thousands for


their blood’. In this same poem he adopts a sneering tone about


belief in God–‘ Some say God caught them even before they


fell’. But though the Christian church officials are criticised as


hypocrites, and the rituals of Christianity are rejected (Anthem for


Doomed Youth) many of the Christian values are supported. The church


officials are depicted as hiding behind the church, and encouraging the


soldiers to fight. The soldiers are the only true supporters of


Christianity – prepared to die, the ultimate sacrifice.


Understandability of his poems was Owen’s main objective– in


a letter to his mother in 1918 Owen states “I don’t want to write


anything to which a soldier would say‘ No Compris’.” This is


reflected in his very direct techniques. Instantly recognisable sounds


and words– such as onomatopoeia are used frequently. In‘ The


Sentry’–‘ And thud! Thump! Thud! Down the steep steps


came thumping . . . The Sentry’s body’. This has the effect


of appealing to more of our senses– we don’t just see the


body falling, we hear it too. Alliteration and repeated sounds adds to


the flow and images of the poem without compromising its


clarity–‘ Slush . . . choked the steps / too thick with clay


to climb’. We hear the clogging footsteps, see the mud and most of


all feel the effort to walk through the mud. Though all the poems are


understandable to most, Owen adds things, for example in‘


Inspection’, his use of the term‘ damn?d spot’ is a


reference to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. If this is not picked up by the


reader it doesn’t leave them at a loss, but if it is understood it


enriches the poem further– adding the image of the guilt and


frantic scrubbing at the blood. This creates layers in Owen’s


poems, creating appeal through many groups of people.


The use of concrete, everyday material for his images creates great power


in his poems. This application of common notions could account for the


dismissive attitudes of some towards him. Yeat’s verdict was‘


mud and sucked sugar stick’ and promptly refused Owen recognition


in his 1936 edition of the‘ Oxford book of Modern Verse’.


This is to miss the point and the power of his poetry. He makes the


situation real, dramatising the experiences, making us share his


suffering. However full recognition as a highly esteemed poet did come,


sadly after his death.


So many of Owen’s poems bring across poignant themes and images,


which stay in the mind long after having read them. Though he states his


primary aim is not poetry, but to describe the full horrors of war, he


tells his experiences and opinions with such clarity and beauty–


adding to the poignancy as war is so ugly and confused. I love to read


his poems over many times, because each time I notice some new cleverness


or point unseen before. His ability to pin point certain images and


moments makes the moments recognisable, even to those who have never


experienced war. He attempts to connect war with other aspects of human


suffering, making him much more than simply a war poet.


Bibliography


‘ The Collected Letters’ Edited by H. Owen and J. Bell 1967


‘ A War of Words’ English Review S. Badsey Feb 1999


‘ The Wilfred Owen Association’


http://www.wilfred.owen.association.mcmail.com/ 1999

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