Contrast is also related to the irony in the poem. Firstly, before his injury all the girls loved him and were fighting to get their hands on him. One of the main reasons he went to war was to “please his Meg”. But after returning with his injury girls no longer seemed interested. “Now he will never feel again how slim girls waists are, or how warm their subtle hands, all of them touch him like some queer disease.” Secondly, irony is used in the second stanza. Before he went to war he “liked a blood smear down his leg” as if it made him feel strong and powerful. He liked to show his scars off, so people thought he was brave. Now his real wounds leave him disabled.
Powerful visual images used in the third stanza emphasise this point.
“A leap of purple spurted from his thigh.” This describes his injury dramatically. The word “purple” describes his blood, which makes us think of royalty. He has lost something very precious. Imagery is used in the third stanza, which creates atmosphere and feeling. “Poured”, like his life is poured away.
The powerful visual images created by Owen in the third stanza. Are contrasted by the glamorous images created in the fourth stanza. In the third stanza the man thought that going to war would be great. He thought he would look so brave and hard; impressing everyone especially his girlfriend; He would look great in his uniform; all the soldiers would be like a great big family; He’d come home a hero. All soon this changed. In the fifth stanza the dull and horrible reality of war soon began to sink in, it was terrifyingly escapable.
In the sixth stanza word choice is used to show the tragedy of war. “Why don’t they come?” This leaves the reader thinking of what it means. Which I think it means his fate. “When will this tragic life come to end?”
I think Wilfred Owen used poetic techniques very effectively to show the true effects of war. The use of irony, contrast, word choice, and visual images, all emphasise the sheer horror of war and what it would be like to become disabled. How it can totally turn around someone’s life.
