This soft ‘s’ sound brings us to the sadder, more reflective sestet, as Owen refers to the soldiers as ‘boys’, clearly showing their youth and innocence. This makes the sonnet become very moving. He emphasises his bitter objection here, about soldiers who die in quantities in the trenches, not receiving the funerals they deserve, just the memories of those they leave behind. The whole poem stands as a lament for the soldiers lonely deaths, and suggests that these ‘boys’ are dying in their thousands without proper funerals, so they are, in perspective a lost generation. I find this an extremely saddening thought.
In Dulce et Decorum Est, Owen expresses the horror of senseless death in the trenches, and attacks the sentimental, bogus patriotism of stay-at-home war enthusiasts. Owen wrote this poem to put right the misconception that war is glorious and did this through showing the horror of conditions, suffering, and senseless death of so many. He strongly opposed the lies and propaganda that were being told at the time. He had first-hand experience of war and wanted to tell people back at home the truth. To do this, Owen writes as the first person, making the poem more emotional and empathetic, because it is a personal response.
He uses irony in the first few lines to help get his point across, where the soldiers are compared to ‘old beggars’ in a simile. This implies that they look shabby, which is not the image of soldiers in shiny, bright uniforms, which would be in keeping with the glorious image of war. The line has very slow, heavy caesura’s to create a drawn out sound, which is also in contrast to the image of war back home, as people would expect the soldiers to be marching along at a brisk pace.
The second line continues this theme of ‘old beggars’ as it compares the soldiers to ‘hags’, which are very similar. There is a similarity with Anthem for Doomed Youth here, as in this poem, the first line compares the soldiers to cattle. The following lines in Dulce et Decorum Est, all contain words, phrases, and imagery, to show us the harsh reality of war. The word ‘trudge’ implies that the men are walking with difficulty, and the alliteration of the ‘m’ sound creates a slow rhythm, indicating the slowness of the soldiers’ walk. Owen also uses this technique in Anthem for Doomed Youth, when describing the sounds of the guns, ‘rifles’ rapid rattle’.
The metaphor ‘men marched asleep’, implies that the soldiers’ are alive, but mentally dead with fatigue, and ties in with the slow rhythm that has been created. Phrases like these are used throughout the poem; ‘All went lame’, ‘All Blind’, ‘Drunk with fatigue’, and ‘limped on blood-shod’, are just a few examples. They show exactly how the men moved and staggered, how they looked, and how they felt, bringing the agony of war to life in every line. Through this, the reader is able to relate to the horrific scene, and as a result is forced to empathise.
Many lines are broken up with punctuation, forcing us to read them slowly. This is also the case in Anthem for Doomed Youth, ‘No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; nor any voice of mourning’, where the line is broken up in more than one place, causing the reader to feel pity and sorrow for these men.
The second stanza illustrates another side of war. Owen demonstrates the sheer panic and confusion, which arises in dangerous situations, by telling the reader a horrific story in the present tense, of one soldier’s death. The pace of the poem immediately quickens, with the phrase, ‘Gas! Gas! Quick boys!’ This abrupt line shocks the reader after the slow drawn out lines we have been used to.
Owen goes on to describe the, ‘ecstasy of fumbling’, that occurs when, ‘fitting the clumsy helmets’. The contrast of the words, ‘ecstasy’ and ‘fumbling’ evoke both the sharpness of fear and the clumsiness of exhaustion, enabling the reader to feel involved in the chaos and confusion. The fact that one soldier is not able to put on his gas mask, and chokes, ‘drowning’ in the ‘green sea’, gives an example of one man dying in a way that could not possibly be described as sweet and honourable.
Owen goes on to deal with the aspect of death, which is vividly presented as the opposite of glorious, ‘the white eyes writhing in his face’, ‘his hanging face, like devil’s sick of sin’. He fills the poem with as many vile, ugly images as he can, along with his own feelings of anger and bitterness, to make the reader relive the agonising torture that this one soldier went through, not to mention the rest. An example of these vile, ugly images is the line that describes the dying soldier’s condition, ‘froth-corrupted lungs, obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud’.
This poem is the closest we will get to experiencing such atrocities, and if we had, Owen tells us in the final lines, then we would not try to glorify war anymore. By his graphic description of the man’s death, the fact that Owen himself was there, and the use of bitter sarcasm and irony, he arises immense pity in the reader. Through this poem, Owen completely destroys the perception of war as a knightly adventure and shocks the reader into believing they have been tricked by the old lie, forcing them to think more deeply about the values of war.
Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Decorum Est, have many distinct similarities. In both poems, Owen seems to be attacking the people back at home in England. His bitter objections come across strongly in both; the lies that were being told about war, and the soldiers who die in quantities not receiving the funerals they deserve. To get his opposing views across, Owen uses a bitter tone, with sarcasm and irony in both poems, such as the line, No mockeries now for them’, in Anthem for Doomed Youth, and ‘ My friend, you would not tell with such high zest’, in Dulce et Decorum Est.
As well as having similarities, there are also contrasts between the two poems. The primary difference is that Dulce et Decorum Est is written in the first person, at the time that the action is taking place on the battlefield. Through this ‘present tense’ format, Owen brings the atrocity of war to life to the reader. In comparison, Anthem for Doomed Youth addresses the death and passing of soldiers after fighting, and therefore looks back and reflects on the atrocities they had to face. This poem is also much calmer and more solemn than Dulce et Decorum Est, which was written to abrupt and shock the reader more strongly.
The poem, The Send-Off, deals with the pre-war aspect. It describes a night scene at a railway siding, where troops are beginning their journey to war in France. Owen attacks the facile patriotism of the civilians, and implies that there is a certain shamefulness about the whole proceedings.
The title immediately suggests something to the reader, as a ‘send-off’ occurs in such games as football, and could also be associated with funerals. Owen also used this technique in Anthem for Doomed Youth, where the title has an association with the church, and emphasises the young age of the soldiers.
The first line of the poem has a sinister element to it, as we are told the soldiers, ‘sang their way’, down ‘close darkening lanes’, to the ‘siding shed’. The use of the phrase, ‘siding shed’, creates a picture of soldiers being sent to be slaughtered like cattle, but the soldiers seem unaware of this. The comparison and link to cattle was also used in Anthem for Doomed Youth, and the repeated use suggests that there is truth in it.
The words and phrases in the poem create a furtive atmosphere throughout. The powerful oxymoron, ‘grimly gay’, particularly does this in the first verse, as the reader can instantly recognise the contradiction of the two words, which seems to suggest a conspiracy in the proceedings.
Owen continues this theme, as he tells us that the soldiers’ ‘breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray’. This is because their wives and girlfriends have given them flowers, but Owen sees these as wreaths, associating them with death and funerals.
The second stanza tells the reader that, ‘dull porters’ watched the soldiers, and a tramp ‘stood staring hard’. The behaviour of these characters implies that they are not interested, perhaps because they have seen these proceedings before, or know that the soldiers may not return.
The ‘winking lamp’ and nodding signals at the end of this stanza, appear to be creating a plot and guilty conspiracy that again, the soldiers do not seem to know about, as a wink and nod are secretive expressions. A sense of guilt is then introduced to the poem, as ‘secretly, like wrongs hushed up’, the soldiers leave on the train. The guilty conspiracy of silence shows us how Owen felt about this, and we know it must be true, because he has had first-hand experience of the atrocities that these soldiers would soon face.
In the last stanza, Owen asks the reader a question, which he then answers with a very negative response. He asks if, ‘they will return’ in ‘wild train-loads’ as they left, and uses his first hand knowledge to tell us that they will not. He says that ‘too few’ will return, for the glory of ‘bells’, ‘drums’, and ‘yells’, again attacking the idea that war is glorious, as he does in Dulce et Decorum Est. Owen is saying that there will be nothing to celebrate as the soldiers will all be mentally scarred from their horrific experiences.
The form of The Send-Off is very different to that of Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth. It consists of iambic pentameters, alternating with metrically irregular half- lines, achieving the stuttering effect of a train in motion, which is the basis of the poem.
Also, unlike the other poems, Owen refers to the men as ‘them’, and ‘they’, implying that they are a commodity, not human beings. This aloof detachment to the soldiers arouses a deep sense of guilt and responsibility in the reader, and through the bitter tone that we receive at the end, we are encouraged to believe that the true principles of war have been completely lost.
The poem Dulce et Decorum Est has a fast tempo, to keep the action ‘alive’ to the reader, and create a chaotic, confusing mood. This is due to the fact that that Dulce et Decorum Est deals with the aspect of war in the present, and Owen uses horrific, nightmarish imagery to apprehend the realism of war. He uses his personal response to contribute to the atmosphere, through an isolated third stanza of only two lines. This stanza is Owen’s reaction to the soldier’s death, who ‘plunges’ at Owen, ‘in all his dreams’, ‘before his helpless sight’, indicating a recurring nightmare, and sense of guilt, at his inability to help the soldier. Owen also uses direct speech in this poem, as he uses his own experience to narrate the story, therefore attacking the reality.
In contrast, The Send-Off and Anthem for Doomed Youth both have a slow pace and solemn, detached view from Owen, to reflect the sadness, pain, anticipation, and sheer exhaustion of the soldiers. Both poems are very gloomy and cold in character with constant references and comparisons to funerals and death, in stark contrast to the exciting, yet horrific atmosphere of Dulce et Decorum Est.
In all three poems Owen enlightens the reader through contrast; the contrasting ‘lie’ of the phrase ‘Dulce et Decorum Est, Pro patria mori’, the contrast of elaborate Victorian funerals and the way in which men go to death, in Anthem for Doomed youth, and in The Send-off, the contrast of the phrase ‘grimly-gay’, to imply a sense of guilt and conspiracy to the poem.
The three poems that I have studied, all show different aspects of war, and have many similarities and comparisons. However, they were all written with the same intention and opinion, by a soldier who had first-hand experience of the front line, and as such would not be duped by the media’s portrayal of war as romantic and heroic.
I think that the overall message Owen is trying to portray, is that the atrocity of war should be considered utterly senseless, brutal, and inhumane, and avoided at all costs, no matter what the situation happens to be.
