Dulce Et Decorum Est". "Anthem for doom youth". "Night Patrol" and "Survivors". Which of these poems are clearly anti-war?

“Consider the four war poems. “Dulce Et Decorum Est”. “Anthem for doom youth”. “Night Patrol” and “Survivors”. Which of these poems are clearly anti-war? How do the two poems written about the Second World War differ from the first world war poems in their purpose and message?

NOTES

Dulce Et Decorum Est is written by Wilfred Owen. Owen is very anti-war and believes no good can come from it. In Dulce Et Decorum Est his use of language and description conveys this anti-war theme which can be seen. Owen starts the poem, 'Bent Double like old beggars under sacks) This use of simile describing the men as, 'old beggars' because they are bent over due to the weight of the sacks helps bring the poem to life.

On the second line Owen continues to use similes, 'Knock kneed, coughing like old hags. This use of comparison creates a vivid image in our minds. Owen describes the horrors of war and what the soldiers had to go through, 'Many had lost their boots, But limped on blood-shot,' and uses of metaphors 'Drunk with fatigue'. This use of language makes you feel as though you know the soldiers and you begin to feel sorrow for them.

In Dulce et Decorum Est at the end of the battle the soldiers are extremely tired. They walk with hunched-up shoulders, carrying heavy packs and supporting their wounded mated. They are ill because they have no protection against all kinds of weather. They cough 'like hags' - simile. Hags ugly, old scruffy women. They walk with difficulty through the slimy! thick mud on the battlefield, cursing when they stumble or slip because they are too tired to control their movements.

After some time they are able to walk away from the scene of the battlefield, which is lit by the bursting bombs and the flares that produce an unnatural light and reveal where the soldiers they are hiding. The light is ghostly, eerie and flares up regular1y. They walk with grate difficulty because they have reached the end of their endurance and the comfort and safety of a place where they can rest are very far away w

Due to their acute weariness, they seem to fall asleep on their feet.

Those who have lost their boots have suffered cuts on their feet. These wounds bleed, but are not dressed, So that the layers of dried mud and blood stick like shoes to their feet.

These soldiers are more dead than alive - they cannot walk properly, they cannot see what is happening around them and they have lost control of their movements. This metaphor is followed by the statement that they have lost all their senses.

The first mention of ...

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Due to their acute weariness, they seem to fall asleep on their feet.

Those who have lost their boots have suffered cuts on their feet. These wounds bleed, but are not dressed, So that the layers of dried mud and blood stick like shoes to their feet.

The first mention of gas isn't enough to alert the soldiers because their extreme weariness. But then the realisation strikes home and there is a scramble for the gas masks.

The word 'ecstasy' in line 9 is used to refer to an intense emotion of any kind, in this case it is panic and fear. Also the word 'fumbling' is used because the soldiers are clumsy because of their tiredness.

One of the men is not able to fit his mask on in time and he moves aimlessly around, falls clumsily, yelling for help because he suffers intense pain.

'like. . .lime' his movements are like those of a man on fire - he twists turns in agony. Through the glass lenses of the mask, the poet can see the swirls and billows of the green gas boiling, rising and falling like waves so that it seems to be an underwater scene. The stumbling movements of the man and his gasping for breath are like the actions of a man who is drowning.

In stanza 3 it tells us about the effect this has on the poet. In every single one of his dreams he relives this event, and in his dream he is incapable of helping the man as he was in real life. He sees again the last weak flame of life in the soldier flickering like that of a dying candle. The soldier chokes on the blood and dislodged lung tissue and drowns in his own blood , which is flooding his lungs.

In stanza 4 the poet addresses the reader. He expresses the wish that the reader could have been on the battlefield and watched the man dying and heard the ghastly sound of his breathing. This would of ensured that the reader would of found out how horrible and violent war is.

It is a battle for survival and nobody can help the dying man. So his tired friends pick him up and toss him Q,",to the wagon so that they can get away from the gas as soon as possible. The agony of this death is clearly shown on the face of the dying man.

Every time the wagon strikes a pothole or a stone, the bump forces blood to bubble from the disintegrating lungs. This entire scene of death is really evil, disgusting, repulsive, shocking and indecent. It leaves the onlooker with a shocked , horrified feeling .

Wilfred Owens purpose with this poem is to paint a picture of the horror an pain experienced on the battlefield. By doing this he hopes to persuade people to be more realistic when they encourage young men to engage in battle. They should not speak of being a patriot, being loyal to one's country 1 but should also prepare them for the ghastly effects of war and the actual circumstances on the battlefield.

The poet uses everyday language which gives the scene an atmosphere of reality. In the last stanza we are aware of his bitterness and his disgust about war. The fact that Wilfred Owen himself experienced such circumstances strengthens his appeal to the reader.

In all Wilfred Owens poems he uses a lot of descriptive writing that paints a picture in the readers' mind. He also uses a lot of verbs, which create action.

In the second stanza of Dulce Et Decorum Est the pace quickens, 'Gas! Gas! Quick boys!', which creates panic and tension. Owen uses a strange almost flamboyant type of writing, 'ardent, floundering,' this again makes the poem feel more reel in our mind$"

Wilfred Owen has a very unique style of writing was poetry to most other writers, Owen m~kes w~r sound terrible, which it is, by ~ying, 'floundering like a man in fire or lime'

The format between, the three of Wilfred Owens poems are all different. In the poem Dulce et Decorum Est there are four stanzas but in the poem inspection there are three stanzas and lastly in Anthem of doomed youth there are two stanzas.

When looking at the language of all three of Wilfred Owen$ poems only Dulce et Decorum Est has any repetition in it. Owen uses the repetition of 'drowning' and in the end of the poem a final repitition of 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. In the third stanza of Dulce et Decorum Est there are only two lines. The writing in the stanza is very dramatic. ' In all my dreams before my helpless sight he plunges at me', and there is more evidence of description, guttering, choking, drowning. ,

In the fourth stanza he continues to use metaphors, 'smothering dreams',' innocent tounges' and he uses a verb to increase the pace, 'flung'. There is also evidence of alliteration' watch the white eyes writhing'. The use of similes also continues 'like a devil's sick of sin' and 'bitter as the cud'.

Then at the end of the fourth stanza he addresses the reader, 'My friend' which makes it feel more personal as he is talking to the reader directly. He finishes by describing, 'Dulce et Decorum Est Pro partia mori', which means it is sweet and honourable to die for one's county as 'The old lie'. Meaning that this old lie which has been told to convince young and innocent people to go off to war as it was the right thing to do to keep one's pride.

The title of Anthem of Doomed Youth tells us a lot about Wilfred Owen, it tells us that he was definitely against war and that if a young man went off to war then the chances where, that he would never return. For someone that dies at war there is no funeral where the sounding of bells ring, there are no people to see you being buried, you are just left on the battlefield, and the only sounds that will be heard are that of fighting and the loud guns blazing.

This is the point that Wilfred Owen tries to get across in the first stanza of Anthem for Doomed Youth, 'What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?

Only the monstrous anger of the guns, only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle' the poem is very short and very to the point. It is not as descriptive as Dulce et Decorum Est but it still has the same sort of impact on you, only in a different way.

I believe that war is an awful thing and that there is nothing in the world worse than war. I think that no one knows what war is actually like at all and it is a very horrific and horrible place to be. It is a very tragic thing to happen and many people that go to war never return. The army try and prepare young men for but the army only train the men to kill the person but nothing can prepare them for what they feel like afterwards and the mental anguish that a person that has been in the war has to go through. A man that has been in the war can never go back to being just an average person because they hav seen the most atrocious things ~nd it is extremely violent and nothing compares to it.