Explore the portrayal of war in the poetry of Wilfred Owen.

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 Explore the portrayal of war in the poetry of Wilfred Owen.

In this assignment, I am going to examine Wilfred Owens’s portrayal of war within his poetry. To do this I will firstly examine the context of the poems Mental Cases and Dulce Et Decorum Est. I will also discuss the attitudes towards the myth and reality of war. I will then be exploring the choice of language and structure of the poems.  I will conclude this essay with my own thought on the impact that these poems had on me.

History has allowed us not to forget the losses we as a national endured. However, the portrayal of war as seen through the first hand experiences of poets such as Wilfred Owen

offers us an insight into the sensory invalidity of war.  Owen uses both Mental Cases and Dulce et Decorum Est, as a verbal pallet in which he paints the colour, sound, smell and distaste of his war.  Although we as a generation have never experienced these atrocious; Owen’s use of graphic imagery within his poetry allows us the reader to instinctively know that we would not want to experience these first hand realities.  

Both poems where written by Owen during his military service. Nevertheless, the contrast between Mental Cases and Dulce et Decorum Est, allows the reader to gain a intuitive insight into both the physical and emotional casualties that this war produced.  

Owen wrote Mental Cases during his convalescent period at Ripon in May 1918. Originally titled ‘The Deranged’, Owen exemplifies the more sinister unspoken effects of war. His illustration of the pained psychological damage that was being inflicted to the youth in the name of patriotism conjurors horrific images of youthful innocents being lost forever.  ‘This war was like none other’ and Owens use of vivid imagery portrayed back home that there was much more at stake now than the expected psychical deformities caused by war.  Battle scars heal in time, however, mental anguish is unpredictable.

Whilst again, in his poem Dulce et decorum est, Owen uses his own experiences of first hand combat to echo the psychosomatic distress that was so prevalent within the squadrons serving at the front line. Nevertheless, unlike Mental Cases, these soldiers did not have the luxury of time for reflection.  Owens raw descriptions of the lack of basic requirements for human survival validates the mindlessness of this conflict.  Additionally Owen use’s his shocking depiction of the cruel reality of war, as a form of retaliation towards the establishment that continued to send the youth of our national to certain death under the false notion that ‘it is sweet and proper to die for your country.’ 

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Although, immensely popular, the hard-hitting reality poetry of poets such as Owen, and Sasson only started to filter through into mainstream publication during the latter part of the war.  Previously, poets would be seen to reinforce the myths of war, by implanting a false idealization of active service onto the nation.  

Though their poetry, poets such as Seaman and Pope conveyed the benefits of war, invoking men into their jingoistic duty. Whilst inferring that the nation would shun the cowards, too weak willed to enlist.  Pope’s utilisation of lines such as, ‘Who knows it won’t be a picnic ...

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