In “War Photographer”, Carol Ann Duffy’s poem sends out a similar message, saying that compared to normal life, war is a very frightening and serious thing. Outside of the horrors of wartime, minor things are often treated as if they are drastic. People do not realise how bad life as a soldier can be. Owen’s writing of the experience of a soldier involved in a gas attack during the First World War tells of how life as a soldier really was and how they had to cope with terrible experiences on a daily basis.
In “War Photographer”, Carol Ann Duffy writes about the photographer, saying “he”. She uses the present sense but is not directly addressing the reader. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” however, the poem is started as if the reader is actually there, marching beside the poet, experiencing the horrors. By the second verse the reader is not there anymore. Later, towards the end, Owen speaks directly to the reader, saying “you”, almost attacking the reader. Finally, in the very last verse he goes back to writing using direct speech, and uses “we” to show that the reader was expected to be included.
The forms of the poems are quite different. In “War Photographer” Duffy neatly used six lines in each of the four stanzas. The reason she wrote in this certain way is to make it seem neat and easy to read. It could also seem that she set the poem out in this way to make it seem like 4 soldiers, standing straight, all equally spaced out. She also employs enjambment to help make the poem seem tidy e.g. “In his darkroom finally alone / with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows.” In “Dulce et Decorum Est” however, Owen took a different approach by using four stanzas of differing length. The first is average sized, using eight lines, followed by a stanza of six lines. The third verse is merely two lines long, whereas the last stanza of the poem is very long compared to the others, taking up twelve lines. I think Owen has used this approach in the third stanza to make it stand out. It is short and to the point and the briefness of the verse makes it dramatic. Owen used enjambment in “Dulce et Decorum Est” e.g. “Drunk with fatigue; deaf even into the hoots / of gas-shells dropping softly behind.” The effect of this quote is that the soldiers were so absorbed in their jobs that they ignored almost everything that happened as to them, it seemed irrelevant.
In “Dulce et Decorum Est” there are many excellent uses of imagery. A good example is “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / knock-kneed, coughing like hags…” this line is very interesting as it uses poetic techniques to convey many meanings. It describes how tired and worn out the soldiers were from fighting for their country, and not having enough sleep. It also gives the impression that the soldiers were begging for their lives. In this line, Owen has used a simile to describe the soldiers, and has also used alliteration with “knock-kneed”. Another example of Owen’s imagery is the reference to a “thick green light”, which he uses to describe a gas attack. The actual gas was green, and Owen was trying to help the reader obtain an image of the scene in their mind. “As under a green sea” shows that it resembled a green blur, as everyone was panicking and was shocked.
There are also many uses of imagery in “War Photographer” e.g. “a hundred agonies in black and white”. This refers to the many pictures in the newspapers of injured soldiers, and their families who are in pain, also suffering their losses. One can imagine the actual black and white photos as they would appear on the page of a newspaper.
Owen used a specific way of writing to make his thoughts stick into the readers’ minds and make them think. He did not want to state the obvious, so he chose to include “Dulce et decorum est/ pro patria mori” meaning ‘It is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country. It is a well known Latin motto. He is using irony here because it was his desire for the readers to remember this phrase and every time they thought about the army, they would recall it and change their minds about joining.
In “War Photographer” Duffy chose a specific way to describe things e.g. “Home again / to ordinary pain which simple weather can dispel”. Dispel means dismissing. She chose that word to show that even a trivial thing like the weather could alter people’s mood, which was so minor compared to what the photographer had seen. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” Owen wrote “Behind the wagon that we flung him in.” He opted to use this word because it showed that it was the soldiers’ procedure. They treated it so calmly like it was ‘just another dead person’ because in their world, soldiers were dying all the time and they were used to it.
There are many examples of alliteration in both poems. In “War Photographer”, Carol Ann Duffy has written “Spools of suffering set out” and “five or six for Sunday’s supplement”. Both are concentrating on the letter S which emphasises sadness. In “Dulce et Decorum Est” Wilfred Owen wrote “watch the white eyes writing”. There may be no specific reason why Owen chose to use alliteration apart from him wanting the sentence to stand out to the reader, and to make it more interesting. Alternatively he used alliteration saying “knock-kneed”. When you are nervous, your knees knock together, he chose to show that the young soldiers were nervous.
In “Dulce et Decorum Est” Owen has used assonance to make the poem more dramatic, “guttering, choking, drowning.” He used commas to create dramatic pauses. Both poems used rhyme. “War Photographer” has a very confusing rhyming scheme consisting of ABBCDD, whereas “Dulce et Decorum Est” uses a much straightforward system of ABAB. Onomatopoeia was not used very often in either poem. “War Photographer” does not use it at all, but “Dulce et Decorum Est” uses two examples, one being “hoots” and the other being “gargling”. “Hoot” is a sound which is very alert and catches the reader’s attention. This may be why he chose to use it.
Owen set the scene with caesuras, “Gas! Gas! Quick boys!”, using exclamation points to create a real sense of panic and shock. This brings the poem to life and makes the reader feel like they are experiencing the gas attack too. It creates some excitement for the reader and shows that the soldiers were alert and enthusiastic. “War Photographer” also uses caesuras, “Belfast. Beirut. Phnom Penh” These are short, sharp statements, making up a list of the places the photographer has visited. Enjambment is used in both poems, especially “War Photographer” where Duffy used lots of enjambment to make the poem continue on and on for a long time, perhaps like the war did e.g. “Home again / to ordinary pain” and “he remembers the cries / of this man’s wife”.
The mood of “Dulce et Decorum Est” changes quite frequently throughout the poem. It starts off when everyone felt dull and tired, “Men marched asleep”, “But limped on, blood-shod”. Deeper into the poem the mood changes instantly to excitement, everyone was rushing around, “An ecstasy of fumbling, / Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”. Quickly again, the mood changes and Owen becomes angry and upset. “His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin”. Throughout the poem Owen gets more and more bitter and angry. The mood of “War Photographer” stays the same throughout, sad, painful, emotional and infuriated. This illustrates that life as a soldier is never happy or fun and it is always gloomy and depressing. It teaches the reader not to expect any exciting events or new, fun moments.
To conclude, both poems are very different, in that one is from the point of view of an actual participant and the other is by a detached observer, however they send out a similar message. Owen was a pacifist who hated war and from his poem, he shows the readers why. Tragically he was to die towards the very end of the war. Duffy reminds readers of the horror of war, and warns not to take life for granted and to think about others.
