...Poetry: Post 1900: An essay analysing ‘Strange Meeting’ by Wilfred Owen in terms of Imagery, themes and sound effects Wilfred Owen’s poetry expresses the horrors of war through dramatic and memorable imagery, whether it’s physical or the soldiers’ inner mental torment. It allows us to feel deep pity with the young soldiers and we share resentment for the government in Britain for encouraging the war. Strange Meeting is an example of a thought provoking poem that carries complex messages regarding the soldier’s mental state. Themes include hopelessness and pity, in stanza three he says ‘Now men will go content with what we spoiled’[1], from ‘we’ we recognise that he himself is taking his share of the responsibility encapsulating the guilt that he and the soldiers must feel. The poem explores the idea that the enemy soldiers are just like them, holding bitter resentment towards the politicians and generals who have caused and encouraged this war, not these ordinary men. The poem’s themes include disillusionment, compassion and the need for reconciliation, we feel hopelessness due to the precise details given regarding emotions, thoughts and sights of the soldier, for example ‘…must die now, I mean the truth untold/the pity of war’[2], we feel pathos as the soldiers must have felt alone and that the truth would never have been told to the people back home so they can stop this meaningless brutality. The future for the living is bleak and with the rest having blood on their...
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...Wilfred Owen wrote his poems as an attempt to stop the war and to make people realise how horrific it was. In a thorough examination of the poems "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Dulce et Decorum Est" and "Disabled" and also with some reference to other works by Owen, it can be seen that he uses different poetical features, styles and methods. Wilfred Owen addresses his readers from different stances right up to him addressing the reader personally. This method is very effective in evoking feelings from great anger and bitterness to terrible sadness and even sarcasm, making the reader sometimes even feel guilty. Whichever way he chooses to portray the pity of the war the end result is always the same. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is a direct attack at the people in Britain who had been taken in by the propaganda drive by telling them the truth of what life is really like at the front and in what conditions their sons, fathers, brothers etc. are in. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" consists of four unequal stanzas, the first two in sonnet form, and the last two in a looser structure. The first stanza sets the scene of soldiers limping back from the front. The authorial stance is of Owen telling us of his own personal experiences. The second stanza focuses on one man who could not get his gas mask on in time. This is a recurring nightmare that Owen has, where he sees one man "drown" in the gas and in the third stanza he describes how the man "plunges" at Owen, "guttering, choking, drowning." This...
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...l Wilfred Owens poetry Essay How are Wilfred Owen’s main themes and concerns conveyed through his poetry? Refer to two poems to support your response. Wilfred Owen was a soldier who wrote poems to raise awareness of the reality of war into the public consciousness. Having experienced the harsh impacts of war in first person Wilfred wished to create a negative perception of war “my subject is war and the pity of war”, “the poetry is the pity”. His purpose was to inform, awaken & enlighten the audience about the brutality of war. The focus about the horror of death in war is continued in Owen’s poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth” but it is in a more somber tone, and he shows us a sadder more pitiful image of death in the trenches, compared to Dulce ET Decorum Est.’s pure fury. Anthem for Doomed youth is a sonnet, structured into an octave and a sestet. This divides the poem into its core themes. The first stanza shows a tone of misery & horror which then shifts into a tone of compassion and sympathy in the second stanza. This tonal shift also highlights the different contexts of funerals, one at battle, with no grieving or rituals and one at home, with mourning and respect. Anthem for doomed youth is a poem that attempts to recreate the dehumanizing, wasteful deaths of war in an attempt to shock the audience. Owen explores the reactions of those at home and has genuine sympathy for their grief and helplessness. The lost...
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...their wartime experiences through poetry as a way of recollection and to voice their own opinions about the war. Often writing poems to remain sane, the common themes and elements of the British soldier-poets often included the horrors of trench warfare, and the deplorable conditions of war; that the British soldiers encountered on an everyday basis. Two of the most influential poets of the great war were Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. They both displayed many common themes and elements during the peak of their writing. These common themes and elements as well as some differences in their writings shall be discussed. Siegfried Sassoon grew up in a wealthy Jewish family where he often wrote poetry as a young child. As a young adult Sassoon’s only desire in life was to become a poet. Motivated by patriotism Sassoon joined the British Army, just as the threat of World War 1 was realised. As a soldier-poet he would eventually become one of the most well known and influential poets of the first World War. His poems were generally angry and compassionate towards the war, which often brought him public and critical acclaim. Sassoon served with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, a division that saw lots of action in France in late 1915. The devastation he witnessed while fighting in the Somme Offensive had much to do with his angry and dark poems of the callous war. The further along he went into the war he questioned why he was serving, and opposed the war. He often condemned...
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...In this essay you will notice the differences and similarities between “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “Dulce Et Decorum Est”. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” was written in the nineteenth century by Alfred Lord Tennyson. In contrast, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” was written in the twentieth century by Wilfred Owen. The main similarity observed is that they both capture wartime experiences. However, the poets’ present these events using their own style and the effect is two completely different observations of war. The themes of the two poems are portrayed in very distinctive ways. “The Charge of the Light Brigade” explains in a majestic approach that fighting in war is something every soldier should honor. The poem is also about the loyalty of the soldiers, not the bad luck or foolishness of men. Tennyson presents this in his poem to show the bravery of the soldiers, although, he only highlights on the benefits of war. Tennyson’s poem glorifies the war, celebrating the sacrifice they had made for their country with the statement “Honor the charge they made”, (“The Charge of the Light Brigade”, line 51, Tennyson). By glorifying the Brigade, Tennyson has ignored the obscurity and massacre of the war. This is shown by the loyalty that the soldiers have for their country. The commitment of war in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” is only shown because Tennyson's looking at war from afar. We can see this because in the poem he has...
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...spare their own lives in "ecstasy of fumbling". Frightening and dreadful pictures of the gas assault are highlighted by concentrating on one unfortunate soldier who does not get the opportunity to wear the mask in time and is gradually but surely poisoned to death. The thought of lung smoldering "And floundering like a man on fire or lime" makes an alarming picture of the man writhing and experiencing the side effects of intoxication. These acute description of Owen’s poem, encourages the readers to question the reality of what propaganda advertise, “the glory of...
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...March 5th, 2012 Institute Le Rosey TOK “The Arts have little to do with knowledge”. Discuss this assertion with detailed reference to two works of arts in different genres. Knowledge is something at our circumference at all times. We pursue and obtain it in the various stages of our lives. As children we acquire knowledge from our parents, in school, by reading books, going on the Internet etc. As a matter of fact, Knowledge is thrown at us everyday, everywhere and from every angle, without us even knowing about it. Most people know that Math and Science give us knowledge known as Accepted truth and experimental knowledge. But can we acquire unforeseen knowledge from pieces of art such as Paintings, Music and Poems? Does art truly give us knowledge or is it the artist’s intention to play with us and influence us by making us think that we have learnt something? When thinking of it, we as viewers of the pieces of art are confused because we cannot record anything we have ever learnt from them. To most people Art is just there to impress us and for us to admire it. Never would we think that the Art’s actually give us some sort of knowledge. Nevertheless, the reason for this might be because we have the wrong definition of knowledge and are therefore not looking for the correct kind. Essentially, there are two types of knowledge that can be found in pieces of Art: Explicit and Tacit (Implicit) knowledge. Explicit knowledge is the average Joe’s definition of knowledge. It...
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...historical figures featured within Regeneration. Birdsong emotively persuades readers that individual anguish has detrimental effects on soldier’s lives intensifying their suffering. The texts use third person narrative to create emotive circumstances which manipulate the reader into understanding the suffering as either mass or individual. The writers’ portrayal of individual suffering was the most poignant compared to the subversion of widespread suffering. The texts expose the stigmatization of physical disability as a cause of individual suffering. Historically, the dependence of disabled life reflects the burden faced by soldiers of returning to normality. Wilfred Owen’s poem Disabled explores the first-hand impacts and consequences of war, coupled with the persistent individual suffering. Owen became infamous during the war as his poetry extracted the distorted views of the home-front and revealed reality. The metaphor, “put them to bed”[2] symbolizes the individual suffering caused by dependence, and also the neglect caused through others’ ignorance to their needs. The dependence of...
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...and contrast essay, I have decided to choose Wilfred Owen’s “Disabled” and Robert Frost’s “Out, Out -”. I have chosen these because they both show loss in different ways and perspectives. One talks about the loss of a leg and that effect on him and the way that society treats him after this and the other is about the loss of a hand that then causes the loss of a life. One has a very precise structure of stanzas and rhyming meanwhile the other is more broad, free-flowing, has no stanzas and little rhyme. In Disabled there are rhyming couplets every other line. In line 1 and line 3 there is a couple “dark” and “park”, Line 2 and line 5 rhyme “grey” and “day”. These rhyming couplets give the poem a certain feel as it creates a sense of flowing, this can be both to help the reader but also as a metaphor to the point that with his lost leg he can no longer do fun things, not doing fun things is causing his spirit to leave him slowly through the amputated. This is...
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...Logbog Britains response to WWI Brittany made a poster with the quotation “I want YOU for the army”. The British people got dragged by the poster and they saw the war as an opportunity to become war-heroes. Under the war Poems We have been working with two poems in the last module. “The soldier” by Rubert Brooke and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen The Soldier This poem by Rubert Brooke is as you very easily can see, putting England in a very god light. England is being praised to the sky, and Rubert Brooke can look a little bit self-laudatory since he is saying that if he dies, England will just become some corner of a foreign field. But I think that he wrote this poem, to give the English people a picture of how all English soldiers thinks about their country and them self and how valuable they are for their country. Dulce et Decorum est This poem is quite the same as “The Soldier”. The message is just completely different than the message “the Soldier” have. Both poems is showing how soldiers think doing a soldiers job, but in “Dulce et Decorum est” it is a more negative way the picture of how a soldier thinks, there is being explained by Wilfred Owen. The battle of Hiroshima The battle of Hiroshima took place 19 February– 26 March 1945 and it was the first American attack on Japanese soil. It was America who attacked the Japanese property. The reason why they wanted that island was because they needed airstrips close to Japan. The Japanese would of cause...
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...Dulce et Decorum est. In 1917 Wilfred Owen was shell-shocked in the war and was a patient in hospital in Edin burgh when he penned ‘Dulce et Decorum est.’ It was here that Owen encountered Siegfried Sassoon who was sent there to silence him, but encouraged and helped Owen to not only write his poems, but ultimately ensured that his work was published. This was a time when the battles he experienced were still fresh in his mind and the truth about war was not cloud- ed by further life experiences. This is a particularly potent, powerful and hard-hitting piece of poetry. The poet describes the harsh and inhuman conditions of war which is in stark contrast to the propaganda which was published by the military hierarchy and the British state. The following essay will analyse the experiences that Owen was trying to convey through the words he very carefully chose in the writing of this poem. The first eight lines take on a very slow laborious tone which actually physically slows the reader down and sets the mood. Using a phrase like ‘Bent double like old beggars’ in his description of young men in their prime, really gives you a proper idea of the effect this battle has had on the soldiers. ‘Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge’ allit eration of the letter ‘k’ gives the line even more punch and portrays absolute exhaustion, ‘coughing’ would refer to the effects that the battle had on their health from colds and flu’s to the effects...
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...Bottom of Form ------------------------------------------------- Top of Form Bottom of Form Home » Literature » Poetry » Poem Analysis of “Do Not Go Gently into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas Poem Analysis of “Do Not Go Gently into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas Posted by Nicole Smith, Dec 6, 2011 Poetry No Comments Print In this analysis of “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, it will be explored how this is a poem that explores the helplessness associated with growing old and inching toward death. There are six stanzas in “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas with a simple rhyme structure that belies the complex message of the poem. In general, it is clear that this is a poem about death and dying but when examined closer, it becomes apparent that it is also about life and how it is lived. Through the structure of “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas as well as the use and choice of language that invokes certain images and employs certain techniques that arouse deep imagery/ The speaker of the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas seems to think it is not honorable or befitting for a great or interesting man to die quietly in old age and he encourages the reader to think that death is something that should be fought rather than mutely accepted. Interestingly, this poem can be divided into three parts, the first of which acts as an introduction to the speaker’s message. This is followed by...
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...is the Website I used to help me a little bit with understanding Citations. (I attempted utilizing Chicago Style.) Some of the paragraphs in my report have been reworded and rephrased to my satisfaction, and others have not. These are the ones with Citation. Please enjoy; this is something I am extremely proud of: I LOVE ART! CANADIAN ART DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR: John McCrae Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae MD, Born the 30th of November, 1872 in Guelph Ontario, was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during WWI, and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. McCrae is best known for his world renounced poem, In Flanders Fields, which he supposedly began to draft for on the evening of the May 2nd, 1915, in the second week of fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres. During 1915 John McCrae sent this poem to The Spectator magazine. It was not published and was returned to him. It was, however,...
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...electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. These materials may contain links for third party websites. We have no control over, and are not responsible for, the contents of such third party websites. Please use care when accessing them. Designed by Mike Brain Graphic Design Ltd Typeset by E Clicks Enterprise, Malaysia Cover design by Clare Webber Cover photo by Jenny Palmer The author and publishers are grateful for permission to reprint the following copyright material: Bloodaxe Books for the poem ‘Dreaming black boy’ by James Berry from Hot Earth Cold Earth, published by Bloodaxe Books, 1995. Reproduced with permission of Bloodaxe Books; University of Pittsburgh Press for the poem ‘Epitaph’ from Uncle Time by Dennis Scott, copyright © 1973. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press; Michelle Saywack and Dr Keith Carter for the poem ‘This is the dark time, my love’ by...
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...http://www.historytoday.com/jerome-de-groot/signposts-historical-fiction These were some of the questions raised at a recent conference at the Institute of Historical Research at which History Today Editor, Paul Lay, hosted a discussion between Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall, and the Tudor historian David Loades. Historians often describe themselves as detectives, seeking out a kind of truth among the conflicting evidence of the past. There is, furthermore, a large and growing subgenre of historical crime fiction. From C.J. Sansom to Philip Pullman, from Orhan Pamuk to Walter Mosley, from Ellis Peters to Boris Akunin, novelists have been keen to use the past as a backdrop for their stories of detection and mystery. The most famous historical detective might be Brother William of Baskerville in Umberto Eco’s peerless The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980). Recently we have seen a flowering of historical crime fiction as the subgenre attains maturity and becomes increasingly popular and innovative. Jason Goodwin, Philip Kerr and Susan Hill were all shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers Association Dagger this year (recent historical winners include Arianna Franklin, Jake Arnott and Craig Russell). Clearly the combination of thriller, crime and historical detail is compelling. Anne Perry’s new Inspector Pitt novel, Betrayal at Lisson Grove (out in paperback from Headline this year) is a pacy, twisting thriller. It is 1895 and Pitt is up against a conspiracy...
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