Analysis or Owen's "Dulce et decorum est".

The poem 'Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori' is the name of a poem written my Wilfred Owen, a wartime Poet. The title was taken from an ode by Horace. The title literally means 'It is sweet and right to die for your country'. It was written specifically to stress the fact that the government's Propaganda was a lie, "The Old Lie" as it states in the final stanza of the poem. Propaganda is a word generally used in a war, meaning advertising, promoting and spreading information towards the public. They were generally based around that if you join up, you would get the women! The government wanted, young, fit and red-blooded men to enlist, to fight and die for their country. Thousand's of patriotic men enlisted. Wilfred Owen described the conditions endured by the men in the first stanza in more of a physical manner, emphasizing the men's appearance, positions and actions. From reading this stanza, I can identify that the men were clearly pushed to their physical limits, for example, "drunk with fatigue" or "men marched asleep" both suggest how extremely exhausted they were. Special camps were used in the war; a phrase that suggests this is "and towards our distant rest began to trudge". As the men slowed down with physical and mental drainage, their distant rest seems prolonged. A very serious and saddening mood is used in the poem. If spokes, one would use a very somber

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 683
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Explain how the poems reflect the changing attitudes to war. Comment on content, language and poets' purpose.

Explain how the poems reflect the changing attitudes to war. Comment on content, language and poets' purpose. World War One started in August 1914. British people were feeling positive at the time. They were feeling enthusiastic and patriotic. The partners, friends and family of the "heroic" soldiers all thought they would be home by Christmas. Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen are famous poets from the time. Rupert Brooke at the start of the war wrote 'The Soldier'. In 'The Solider' it shows going to war is heroic but some lines are shockingly ironic. During the war, Wilfred Owen wrote two famous poems named 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and 'Dulce et Decorum Est'. These poems showed more of the reality of the war. A difference between the 2 poets was that Wilfred Owen saw frontline trench warfare and Rupert Brooke did not. A year into the war, Rupert Brooke wrote 'The Soldier'. His main subject was to tell the people how heroic the soldiers were going to war. He wrote the poem as if he was a soldier himself. "If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field". This line is saying that if he dies at least he died for England. Also in the poem he expresses idealism through irony. His ironic lines such as "And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness". This really didn't happen in the war but helped families of the soldiers feel better. He also

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 939
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Dulce Et Decorum Est And The Soldier

Dulce Et Decorum Est And The Soldier Dulce et decorum est is written regarding the First World War in the hindsight of the battle of the Somme. This takes a somewhat cynical view on warfare. The soldier by Rupert Brooke on the other hand takes a very strong patriotic feel and this shines through more then anything else. The soldier paints a picture of English serenity and whereas "dulce et." portrays Owens anger at the indifference of those at home who continued to propagate lies. You can see the influence of Siegfried Sassoon in this piece. The language is more direct and shocking "guttering, choking, drowning" helps convey the grievance in the air. In the soldier the language is less deplorable and has a feel more of a love poem "her sights and sounds... under an English Heaven" this coupled with the fact that the poem is written as a sonnet reiterates the feel of Love. Both poems are based on death in Wars. However Brooke paints a more glamorised and less direct picture of death "if I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field...blest by suns of home." This evokes the idealistic image of a perfect England in a 'Golden' age, such as many believe existed immediately prior to the First World War. This does however expose the arrogance that Brooke perhaps had. It places too much importance on his own sacrifices and not on the general

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 728
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare 'The Soldier' written by Rupert Brooke and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' written by Wilfred Owen.

World War One Folio Piece Erin McDougall 4A1 Lately we have studied two poems that were written during the time of World War One. They were 'The Soldier' written by Rupert Brooke and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' written by Wilfred Owen. Both of these poets were soldiers involved in fighting during World War One. 'The Soldier' is an uplifting and optimistic poem looking at the positive side of dying for your country when going to war. I think the poet Rupert Brooke wrote the poem to send home to his family to reassure them if he died it would be peacefully and not in pain. In the first stanza Brooke is saying that if he dies while away in this foreign country, that he'll leave a part of England there. The following quotation is an example that he is English through-and-through: "A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam." He was born and brought up with a certain kind of English lifestyle and culture. He then goes on to describe the flowers and winding paths making us think of England as idyllic and peaceful. He uses personification in the first line of the quote. It compares England to a woman giving birth to a child and bringing it up. In the second stanza Brooke describes England as a country of no evil and that he will remember it forever, he'll always have happy memories from the past when he lived in England. Some

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1017
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare The Send-off and Dulce et Decorum Est

"The Send-off" and "Dulce et Decorum Est" are two poems, both written by the anti-war poet Wilfred Owen. Wilfred Owen was born in England in 1893. He was the son of a railway man who was not very rich, so because of financial hardships he moved to France. When he was in France the First World War began (1914). This meant that he got involved in the war and during the war he sustained a severe head injury, which led him to suffer the rest of his life in hospital. During the stay at the hospital he started to write poems about war. He became an anti-war poet because he witnessed the reality and the suffering of war. Owen wanted to show the world how ruthless war was through his emotional poems. The injuries he sustained during the war finally killed him in 1917 at the age of just 24. Owen wanted show young men that war wasn't all about honour and glory, but that the true reality of war was death and destruction. He used his own experiences of fighting to write about the horrors of war in many of his poems. "The Send-off" and "Dulce et Decorum Est" are both about soldiers in the First World War. "The Send-off" is an ironic poem that deals with the lack of respect given to the young men heading for the front lines, whereas "Dulce et Decorum Est" talks about the horrors and realities of war. "The Send-off" is a poem in which the poet expresses his disgust at the lack of

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1406
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Comparing "The Sentry" and "Dulce et Decorum Est".

Comparing The Sentry and Dulce et Decorum Est The Sentry by Wilfred Owen was written in 1917 and is Owen's account of seeing a man on sentry duty injured by a shell that has exploded near him. The man has his eyes mutilated and is blinded by his injuries but at the end claims to see a light again. Dulce et Decorum Est also by Wilfred Owen at a similar time to The Sentry and is Owen's account of seeing a man die from poison gas because he didn't get his mask on in time. In both The Sentry and Dulce et Decorum Est, Owen is trying to demythologise war by portraying horrific examples of the effects of war. In The Sentry, Owen accounts how he saw a man have his face disfigured by a shell. He uses gruesome imagery and descriptions of the man, "Eyeballs, huge-bulged like squids" which puts a dreadful image in the readers mind. Owen uses similar techniques in Dulce et Decorum est when the man is choking from the poison gas, "the blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs" which again conjures up grotesque images in the readers mind. By using these techniques Owen is showing how war is not glamorous and there is no real glory in war, just death and destruction. The first paragraph in both poems sets the scene for what is about to come, "We'd found an old Boche dug-out". Nothing particularly eventful happens in these paragraphs but they are needed as they help the reader

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 818
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Analysis of "Futility" by Wilfred Owen

Futility The poem Futility is based in World War 1. The first stanza it is about a soldier who has just passed away, and how now nothing can wake him, not even the sunlight which supposedly is meant to give life. The second stanza then talks about the sunlight, the earth and life, and how it is unfair and pointless if all this beauty is created, to just be destroyed by war and death. This poem is told by another soldier, who witnesses the whole event, and then whom speaks his views about it and other subjects. The title is 'Futility' which means something is pointless, this is so called because he talks about how war and all the effort is meaningless as because the outcomes are always terrible. The structure of the poem is two stanza's both with 7 lines, but the same amount of lines as a sonnet. I think the two stanza's represent the different stages that come with grief; the first being the denial as he is hopeful the light will wake him, and the second showing the realisation, despair and then anger. The first stanza is more of a descriptive one, as it describes the death and uses the past as an example; the next is more reflective, as it reflects his views about his grief and what he compares it too. By using enjambment, it creates a continuum in the piece, it also creates a lack of control onto the reader, which makes them read on, this also could be like the lack of

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 485
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Summarise and explain the key elements of Futility by Wilfred Owen

Summarise and explain the key elements of Futility by Wilfred Owen The front line on a bright winter morning. A soldier has recently died though we don't know precisely how or when. Owen appears to have known him and something of his background and he ponders nature's power to create life, setting it against the futility of extinction. Only five of his poems were published in Wilfred Owen's lifetime. FUTILITY was one of them. It appeared, together with HOSPITAL BARGE, in "The Nation" on 15th June 1918, shortly after being written - at Ripon probably - although Scarborough is a possibility. At about this time Owen categorised his poems, FUTILITY coming under the heading "Grief". It takes the form of a short elegiac lyric the length of a sonnet though not structured as one, being divided into seven-line stanzas. Owen uses the sun as a metaphorical framework on which to hang his thoughts. The sun wakes us (lines 2 & 4), stimulates us to activity (3), holds the key of knowledge (7), gives life to the soil (8), gave life from the beginning, yet (13) in the end the "fatuous" sunbeams are powerless. "Move him into the sun". "Move" is an inexact word yet we feel the movement has to be gentle, just as the command has been quietly spoken. (What a contrast with the body "flung" into the wagon in DULCE ET DECORUM EST.) Of course, we may have been influenced by "gently" in line 2

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 751
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Describe an important theme and why it was important in 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen.

Describe an important theme and why it was important. In 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen an important theme that interested me was the lie. That it is not glorious and it is not "sweet and honourable to die for your country." Through the use of vivid figurative language and effective poetic techniques such as rhyme, rhythm and alliteration Owen conveys a memorable experience creating horrific graphic imagery which develops his anti war theme. Through the use of personal pronouns, Owens expresses his own experience, detailing how the soldiers were mislead into believing fighting for your country was rewarding. This is important as Owen vividly expressed the opposite idea. In the first line, "Bent doubled like old beggars under sacks", gives you a snap shot of what is not expected of a soldier, while comparing them to "old beggars", uncomfortable and undesirable. Then Owen goes onto describe the flares as haunting to the soldiers. This suggests that they are sick of war and despise the constant reminders of it. The rhyming pattern of AB, AB, CD, CD reflects the organisation and the vigorous marching of the soldiers. This image of strong and repetitive steps is contradicted by the use of alliteration on the deep 'M' sound. "Men marched asleep." The message of strength is contradicted by the lack of rhythm. This indicates confusion, tiredness and portrays the soldiers as

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 518
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Write about the similarities and differences in style and content in Rupert Brooke's 'The Soldier' andWilfred Owen's 'Anthem For Doomed Youth'

Describe How War Poetry Changed As WWI Progressed In The 20th Century Write about the similarities and differences in style and content in Rupert Brooke's 'The Soldier' and Wilfred Owen's 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' By Omar Omar Y9C If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be The Soldier- Rupert Brooke If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home. And think, this heart, all evil shed away, A pulse in the eternal mind, no less Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given; Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness, In hearts at peace, under an English heaven. y By Anthem For Doomed Youth- Wilfred Owen What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? - Only the monstruous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, - The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 2106
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay