The poem deals with various language features. There are lots of alliteration, enjambments that slow down one sentence, onomatopoeia, which makes sound more dramatically, and oxymoron to show confusion. Throughout the poem, there is also the use of comparisons both similes and metaphors. They are used to increase drama and to revel layers of meaning. One simile is “as under a green sea”. This was when there was a gas attack and all was green because of the gas.
The first stanza describes the state that the soldiers are as they retreat, physically and mentally. They are tired because they have just stopped fighting. The first verse is slow, it has the same pace. That emphasises the fact that the soldiers are tired. The first line has the effect of a kind of erratic movement. This stanza gives us the sense of it getting quieter, calmer, kind of peaceful. The metaphor “cursed through sludge” suggests that only the violence of their language divers them forward.
The second stanza is about the gas attack. It describes how the gas killed his friend. This stanza starts with the repetition of the word GAS and everything seems to move faster now. The tempo changes from men too slow to react to the sudden explosion of “Gas! Gas! Quick boys!” There is surprise because there is an unexpected gas attack. Owen uses short vowels and sharp consonants to make the effect that everything is happening faster. At the end of the stanza, everything seems to slow down; it feels as being under water. Everything is in slow motion and this is because now, the soldiers are inside the gas mask. Owen uses comparisons that bring feelings of sickness and revulsion to the reader.
The last stanza is the one that gives us the conclusion. This stanza is isolated; a couplet separates it from the second stanza. This isolation emphasizes the poet’s personal reaction to his situation. This verse talks about the nightmares that the poet has after the war. This verse hasn’t got so much punctuation because there is too much to say. It is as if the poet was anxious and breathless to say all. The last paragraph of the stanza is very ardent and intense. It is the description of the man that has been gassed. It emphasizes the horror of what was it like to see a friend dieing like that. It is a passionate description. At the end of the stanza, from “My friend” onwards, it is direct addressed to the readers of the poem. This is the section that has grater impact. Owen wants everybody to realise the big Lie of the famous quote.
Owen wanted to be truthful; he wanted to express reality on how things really were in war. The poet achieved a lot with this poem because it makes people “open their eyes” and see how war really was. The message is that it is not worth to go to war because t is not sweet and honourable, it is just dieing in vain. It also tells us that in the past, everyone thought that it was the best to die in war but now, nobody thinks that. People persuade other people to go to war with lies, by quoting what Horace said.
I think that the author wrote the poem in a very profound way. He uses comparisons when he wants to emphasize something and uses very hard words that go directly to the point. He writes the poem in a way to make people realize the truth, comparing war with horrible things because that is how war is; HORRIBLE.
