How do the poets you have studied explore the suffering of war through their choice of language?

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GCSE English: First World War Poetry

'How do the poets you have studied explore the suffering of war through their choice of language?'

The poems that I will analyse are: 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' and 'Exposure', both written by Wilfred Owen. Dulce Et Decorum Est describes what it was like on the battlefield. Wilfred Owen had wrote this in conjunction of the poem, 'Who's for the Game', by Jessie Pope. Jessie Pope emphasised in her poem that war is a good, patriotic thing. Wilfred Owen begged to differ as he wrote what was really happening in the war, as he was a soldier himself. In 'Exposure', which is once again written by Wilfred, it is about what happens in the trenches and how it was really like during the First World War.

In the Great War, soldiers suffered intense physical pain. In Dulce Et Decorum Est the poem describes the suffering of the soldiers in more detail, this is because Wilfred Owen was a soldier and he had the experience in the war. In his poem, it seems to be an anecdote of what happened in a certain event in the war.

"Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind Drunk with fatigue" Dulce Et Decorum Est
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It shows that war wasn't all about glory, but it was about the suffering of the soldiers. I think that in this poem he has done well to emphasise his point in argument to Jessie Pope. Although Wilfred Owen died two days before the war ended, his poem will be talked about for a long time. Another poem, which demonstrates the physical suffering of the First World War, is "Exposure" which is also by Wilfred Owen. In this poem there are similes and metaphors that conveys the message of physical pain.

"Pale flakes with fingering stealth ...

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