Wilfred Owen is famously known for his graphic and descriptive poems of World War 1.

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Khazrul Kamaludin 13Y _                                                  Ms. Rupchand -English

Wilfred Owen is famously known for his graphic and descriptive poems of World War 1. His experiences as a soldier in the trenches during the World War enabled him to distinctively produce poems that recall personal events during the battle. Poems such as ‘The Sentry’ and ‘Exposure’ are based on great and intense occurrence of the war and they also show soldiers under unendurable stress and paranoia. The fascinating aspect of Owen’s poems is that he effectively conveys the reality and effects of war on individuals, which is a direct comparison to Alfred Tennyson, whose poems primarily show a sense of patriotism and glory of war. Instead of honouring and praising the war, Owen lets the people at ‘home’ know that war is not simply a playful game of battle, but of suffering and destruction.

The poem, ‘Disabled’, reflects on after-effects and consequences of war, setting an image of a disabled soldier and the physical disadvantages that has now burdened him for the rest of his life. The title itself gains sympathy from the readers and the poem starts off immediately with dull and sad images with words such as ‘dark’, ‘grey’ and ‘shivered’. This sets up a portrait of the isolation of the wounded soldier. The first stanza is in contrast with the second as it conveys a sense of warmth when he reflects on the pass, “About this time Town used to swing so gay”. The word ‘Time’ also gives us an impression of movement; from the present to the past. It is also in the second stanza that we begin to see how Wilfred Owen effectively conveys the reality, “In the old times, before he threw away his knees.” We are instantly acknowledged that there is an implication of needless loss; a sense of sacrifice and regret of going into war. What sets this poem apart from the others like ‘The Sentry’ is the description that shows the psychological effects of the war. The loss of the soldier’s arm has affected him mentally and he now knows that he will be avoided be women.

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‘The Sentry’ is an extremely personal poem as it is based on an account of Owen’s great intense experience in the trenches. The poem is basically made up of iambic verses and opens almost conversationally, “We’d found an old Boche dug-out, and he knew.” The language is exceptionally used to create an image of the situation and event. The gap at line 10 would probably suggest that Owen is looking for his readers to pause and gasp. This would also explain why the gap is directly situated after the word ‘corpses’. There is a direct and clear reference with ...

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