Discuss ways in which Owen presents the experience of the soldier in A Terre. In your answer explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form, and consider how his relates to other poems that you have studied

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Discuss ways in which Owen presents the experience of the soldier in A Terre. In your answer explore the effects of language, imagery and verse form, and consider how his relates to other poems that you have studied.

In Owen's original prologue for his collection of poems he wrote 'My subject is war, and the pity of war'. In 'A Terre' Owen focuses in on the extent of suffering each man went through, as he captures this soldiers thoughts and feelings through this moving monologue. Dominic Hibberd argues that Owen is 'unique' in the way he deals with the survivors of the First World War; perhaps due to the time he spent recovering from neurasthenia at Craiglockhart in late 1917.

This poem begins with a three-worded sentence, and continues to come off jerky on the ear throughout. This creates an immediate sense of breathlessness in the soldier's voice, which is later reinforced as he fantasizes that one day 'wind would work it's own way to my lungs'. From this we can assume that he is a gas case. This clipped, breathless speech has a jarring effect on the ear, giving a sense of awkwardness to the soldier's voice.