In lines 5 and 7 there are other references to war as a game when Pope writes ‘Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘go!’, like the start of a race and asking who wants to take part in ‘the show’, glorifying killing through the comparison with entertainment. This poem, much like Pope’s other conscription poetry, plays on clichéd masculine concepts, presented in the first three lines of each verse, then the fourth acts as a reminder that if you don’t join the army, you are invariably a coward, for example ‘Who would rather come back with a crutch than lie low and be out of the fun?’ The cowardly alliteration of ‘lie low’ emphasises the inertia of those who do not want to fight.
She also tries to address men at their own level throughout the poem by using informal language and talking to the reader on a personal basis. For example in the fourth stanza she says that the people of Britain are “calling for you.” Her final technique used in the fourth stanza is that of the image of a female. Britain is portrayed almost as a damsel in distress when Pope says,” she’s looking and calling for you.” This gives the men a sense of duty to help her. Furthermore if it was a male poet that was telling you that you were a coward if you didn’t go to war you wouldn’t take it as seriously. It puts a lot more pressure on the men to enlist.
Arguably Owen’s most famous poem, 'Dulce est Decorum est' is an example of a poem written through his own eyes, based on his own experiences and views of the war. He uses vivid and graphic imagery to give the reader the exact feeling that he wanted. Exact diction emphasises his point, showing that war is devastating. Consequently, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument, using four stanzas and an alternate rhyming line scheme. During the First World War, countries made use of chemical warfare: mustard gas reacted with the water in the breather's lungs and effectively dissolved them. The effect of the use of these gasses was horrific. In this poem Owen discusses an incident in which a soldier dies because of gas.
In the first stanza the pace is very slow and a painstaking rhythm is established through Owen's use of heavy, long words. Heavy sound like k’s and d’s are used often in the first verse due to how difficult they are to get out. This makes the rhythm of the poem more long and arduous much unlike that of, “who’s for the game?” This represents how the soldier’s journey drags on and how tired they all are. An example of this is where he describes their condition:
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / knock kneed coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge”
The first clause 'Bent double,' is a hyperbole which creates the impression of extreme exhaustion and the image that is conveyed is that the soldiers have no energy left and are in excruciating agony. Additionally it suggests that the men are struggling with the extreme weight of their load. It highlights the point that they are much hunched over as they are so physically fatigued. 'Like old beggars under sacks' is a simile that illustrates that the men have no dignity left. The way that Owen captures the appearance of the soldiers as cripples makes them seem distant to us, and the disjointed, monotonous way they are seen echoes this group of men, their disorderly fashion and their dull, repetitive journey. It is also ironic these were once young men not so long ago when they sailed from England but here they are described as “hags”, which further disrupts the stereotype because it is a feminine image.
The terrible physical condition that faces these men is illustrated with the line 'Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge.' The alliterative 'Knock-kneed' slows and dulls down the tempo greatly. The simile compares the soldiers' physical condition to that of witches. The image created is of very old, wrinkled women slowly stumbling through the thick mud. It highlights the revolting, phlegm filled cough that the soldiers have as they are so critically ill. By using 'cursed', the image created is that the soldiers were struggling, desperately unhappy and exhausted.
The word 'trudge' is onomatopoeic used to emphasise the fact that the pace is tremendously slow, creating the impression that the men have little strength or stamina left. Additionally, it portrays the image that it takes a lot of effort for them to move. 'Men marched asleep, many had lost their boots,' uses both alliteration and a hyperbole to illustrate how immensely exhausted they were as they probably had not slept for months. Furthermore, it suggests that they are in a horrific condition and are facing extreme and excruciating pain. 'But limped on,' is a phrase that conveys the image that it is very slow moving and the reader gains the image that the men must be injured from previous traumatising experiences so are suffering pain.
'Drunk with fatigue,' is an expression that uses a metaphor to suggest that the men are mentally vacant and are staggering along. To be 'Drunk with fatigue,' these men must be so tired that they are no longer sane and can barely even think for themselves. You can almost imagine large numbers of people dragging their boots through the mud, tripping over their own shadow.
'Deaf even to the hoots of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind them,' advocates that the men are somewhat oblivious to the war that is continuing around them. It highlights the point that they have been forced to withstand war for such a long period of time that they have become 'deaf' as a consequence, their senses muted. It could also suggest that the soldiers are so familiar with war that it has no effect on them. Personification is used to describe the shells as 'tired,' which gives the impression that the author thinks that the war is pointless and has been occurring for so long that even the shells have become weary of it.
In the second stanza there is suddenly a massive contrast and the mood instantly changes. The pace rapidly speeds up and the difference between the sombre, slow mood that had been previously displayed to a much faster, more frantic pace is obvious.
'Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!' highlights the speed of this section and that there is urgency in what is happening. The graphic images displayed here are profoundly affecting and can never be forgotten. The word 'ecstasy,' is ironic as it gives the impression of extreme joy, yet the opposite emotion would be expected. Following this sudden opening to the stanza, words are frequently used to portray the frantic movements of the soldiers, such as 'clumsy,' and 'stumbling.' As a result, this gives the reader the impression that the whole scenario was chaotic and full of panic. There are a lot of verbs, in the past continuous tense, which are meant to involve the reader by making the past sound present. This technique is used to further involve the reader and interest them. It also does the job of increasing the chaos and drama of the situation. Examples of this are, ‘floundering,’ ‘stumbling,’ and ‘fumbling’. This chaos is in direct opposition with the organisation and honour of the soldiers in poems like ‘Who’s for the game?’ and ‘in Memoriam’.
'Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,' is used to create the image that the process is urgent, life threatening and dangerous and that it is really important that they manage to put their helmets on prior to the devastation and destruction that will follow. Also, the image created is that the soldiers suddenly move very quickly, despite their fatigue. Alliteration is then used in the next line to emphasise that there is just one person left, making hysterical movements. 'Someone still was yelling out and stumbling.' This creates the impression that the soldier is in a severe state of panic.
The writer then uses the simile 'As under a green sea I saw him drowning.' This portrays the image that the soldier is really suffering and struggling to a horrendous death that definitely isn't a 'sweet,' way to end one's life. The reader can imagine a man slowly sinking into thick, deep water as he violently moves about, but
nothing can be done. It also helps to create a surreal feel to the poem. This surreal feel is particularly established by Owen's continued use of metaphors when describing the atrocious scene. Also all of this is under a green light from the gas suggestive of an alien atmosphere.
The penultimate stanza is reflective, as if the writer has taken a step back and surveyed the situation. He describes his sight as being 'helpless,' and that he couldn’t help his comrade at all. Now he feels guilty that he couldn’t do anything and is haunted by the man’s final moments “in all [his] dreams.” Additionally, it creates the impression that the writer himself was in a dangerous situation. The image that is formed is that the scene is very chaotic, disorderly and confusing.
Owen then uses the word 'plunges,' to illustrate the image that the suffering soldier tries to make one final attempt to be saved. The sounds 'guttering, choking, drowning' are then used to highlight the point that the soldier truly is experiencing a ghastly death and he is in tremendous pain. These words, once again in the past continuous tense, are used to really emphasise the pain that he is suffering and that he was making these revolting sounds. They not only show how the man is suffering, but that he is in terrible pain that no human should endure. They show the repetitive,
prolonged anguish of the soldier as he 'plunges' towards his death.
In the final stanza the tempo quickly accelerates. This is achieved by the use of lines with fewer syllables. Personification is used to describe his dreams as 'smothering.' This portrays the image that the writer is unable to escape the frightening nightmares that occur so often. Additionally, it emphasises the fact that it was a devastating and unforgettable experience that was so tragic that he will never be able to forget or overcome. The gassed man was then 'flung,' into the wagon. This implies that the dying man has been dehumanised and the men no longer take time over him which starkly contrasts the heroism of the propaganda imagery. This once again contrasts Jessie Pope’s “who’s for the game?” It suggests they have seen so many comrades die they have now formed an immunity against it. The only thing that they can physically do or have time for is to toss him into a wagon.
The writer then describes in graphic detail how the physical look of the soldier had changed, obviously trying to shock the reader and get through to them how war is such a devastating business. 'Watch the white eyes writhing in his face,' uses alliteration to emphasise how grotesque the scenario was. Following this, the image that is portrayed is that the soldier's face had dropped and was now exceedingly unsightly. 'His face hanging like a devil's sick of sin,' is a simile that highlights this point. This comparison implies that his face was corrupted and baneful. The image created in the reader's mind is that the face has suddenly been transformed from a young, youthful face to a very old and aged face. Now the face is hideously ugly and revolting. You can imagine the face appearing twisted and stretched.
The rest of the description is just as graphic and frightening to the reader. The blood is described to have 'come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs.' This can be disturbing to think about. It shows troops being slaughtered vividly, evoking images in the reader's mind. At this point the reader should begin to understand the experience that the writer is explaining and start to realise how obscene it was. I think that the writer describes the death so graphically to try and get through to the reader how horrendous it really was. In the poem “In Memoriam” the poet describes a glorious death, quick and painless but this is in direct contrast to the death Owen displays.
A very effective metaphor compares 'vile, incurable sores' with the memories of the troops. It not only tells the reader how the troops will never forget the experience, but also how they are frightening tales, ones that the troops will never be able to tell without remembering the extremely painful experience. This comparison illustrates the point so vividly that it increases the effectiveness of this poem.
Finally, the writer implies that if the reader had experienced this disgustingly frightful situation themselves, then they wouldn't tell with such 'high zest to children ardent for some glory, The old Lie: Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori.' There is some irony in this concluding stanza, but Owen is also very serious. He uses the saying as a warning and a final attempt to persuade the reader that war is grotesque. He describes the saying as 'The old Lie,' implying that it is a trick. Owen counters the statement by providing such vivid imagery of the event that the falseness of the claim is exposed by the reality of the poem. This poem is extremely effective as an anti-war poem, making war seem absolutely horrid and revolting, just as the author wanted it to. The aim of this poem was to shock the reader-to let them feel the sense of disgust and frustration felt by all the soldiers as they witness the soldier's struggle to breathe. At no point in this poem does Owen make use of euphemisms. He is very clear about the horror of war. The fact that he writes this in Latin is also important seeing as Latin is a dead language which further suggests this is a dead idea.
“Mental cases,” by Wilfred Owen, describes the psychological condition of a number of soldiers who have shell shock. Owen describes their condition in detail outlining how war has ravaged their minds. The poem is split into three stanzas each outlining a different aspect of these men. The first, a section completely written in questions, describes the physical appearance of these men. Why they have been reduced to this is dealt with in the next stanza where the writer describes their horrific past. The final stanza is a return to their immediate appearance although it also talks about their mental pain.
Their apparent madness is clearly depicted throughout the poem as the men are described as almost bestial, with ‘drooping tongues’ and ‘fretted sockets’. These images give a very animal character about them and yet despite this gruesome portrayal of these men we do feel pity for them and, at the same time, repulsion. Owen wants us to imagine the pain and torment these men live through so as to never cause such a war again. All of the images used show a loss of control of their facial features as they now have ‘baring teeth’ and they ‘slob their relish’. They live every day filled with, ’stroke on stroke of pain’. This quote is suggestive of a punishment and torment they are receiving. Additionally, this is backed up when the poet writes that they are ’sleeping, and walk hell’. There condition is shown to pain them continuously in this line, whilst also showing how severe the hurt must be to haunt their every hour.
Owen uses a double meaning to show how deep their torture runs. Fretted means both, ‘wear away: to wear away or corrode the surface of something or to become worn away or corroded’ and to, ‘fretting state: a restless complaining state brought on by anxiety or irritation’. This shows that not only are the men in a restless state but they are also being physically marred by it. Owen further describes them of being in a state between life and death which is implied when he says that they are ‘purgatorial shadows’. This is an image of being between two circumstances which suggests that they are neither dead nor alive, ‘shadows’ of their former selves. By using the image of purgatory he links back to the theme of punishment and hell later on in the verse. The whole of the first stanza is written in questions, for example, ‘who are these? This suggests that they are now unrecognisable from their former selves. It also makes the reader want to read on and find out the answers to the questions.
The second verse talks about the war and the injustice of it; whilst describing the cause of the soldier’s madness. Owen says that memory fingers in their hair of murders’. This implies that Owen believes the war is criminal and unjust and that these innocent men are being sent to their death by their cold blooded leaders. Now they have seen this horror they can never be free because it is, ‘Rucked too thick for these men’s extrication’. Their minds have been ‘ravished’, a word that suggests a painful experience having their mind raped and stolen of their innocence. The idea of rape is key seeing as it is usually women to whom it is linked yet these are strong young men. Their sanity taken by the, ‘batter of guns and shatter of flying muscles’. Owen talks of how they must now live and remember the horrors they saw. He says that, ‘always they must see these things and hear them’. This links to Dulce et decorum est where Owen cannot forget the gassed man stumbling towards him.
Moreover the writer goes on to say, in the final stanza, ‘sunlight seems a blood smear, night comes blood black; dawn breaks open like a wound that bleeds afresh’. The repetition of blood suggests prolonged and continuous pain, without pause, they are always reliving their horrors, with no hope of healing. The men’s faces are permanently contorted into a, ‘hilarious, hideous’ grin, etched on their, ‘set smiling corpses’. First of all the oxymoron emphasises the madness of these men but Owen goes on to call them corpses, which implies that they are already half dead which links back to the first verse. Even now in life their, ‘eyeballs shrink tormented’, which is making them start to look like corpses. The wretchedness of their attempt to revenge themselves is clear when Owen says that they were, ‘snatching’ and ‘pawing’. It shows what they have been reduced to and their total weakness. He says that they are, ‘pawing us who dealt them war and madness’. He includes himself in the blame for making them what they are, for showing war in the glorious light to get men to sign up. They pick, ‘at the rope knouts of their scourging’ once again linking to the idea of punishment. These men are obsessed with riding themselves of there constant torture but they are trapped.
Owen's war is a passionate expression of outrage at the horrors of war and of pity for the young soldiers sacrificed in it. It is dramatic and memorable, whether describing physical horror, such as in ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ or the unseen, torment such as in ‘Mental cases’ or ‘disability’. His diverse use of instantly understandable imagery and technique is what makes him one of most memorable of the war poets. His evokes more from us than simple disgust and sympathy; issues previously unconsidered are brought to our attention.
One of Owen’s talents is to convey his complex messages very proficiently. In ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’–‘If in some smothering dreams you too could pace / Behind the wagon that we flung him in’ the of witnessing this event becomes eternal through dreams. Though this man died an innocent, war allowed no time to give his death dignity, which makes the horror so more poignant and haunting. This is touched on in‘ Mental Cases’–‘ Treading blood from lungs that had loved laughter / Always they must see these things and hear them’. Many of the sights which will haunt the surviving soldiers are not what the officials have ordered them to do, but what they have done to save their own lives. It is the tragedy of war that you are not able to stop to help a dying man. They then, not only physically scarred and mentally changed, carry guilt with them.
Owen sympathises profusely with the young men who have no idea of the horrors of war, who are ‘seduced’ by others and the recruiting posters. He bitterly rejects the patriotic reasoning for war in ‘Dulce et Decurum est’. That they eagerly join up for vanities make their situation all the more tragic– he ‘threw away his knees’. ‘Smiling they wrote his lie’ depicts officials who not only accept this under age boy, but smile knowingly while they do it. In ‘The Send Off’ a lack of support for these men is suggested. The young men are to give up their lives as a sacrifice for their country, but their leaving lacks passionate good byes as ‘they were not ours’. In ‘S.I.W’ the full impacts of social pressure are highlighted. Though the man’s clearly love him, they would ‘sooner him dead than in disgrace’, leaving him only suicide to escape. This notion of escaping into hell from war is also in ‘Strange Meeting’.
A recurring theme in Owen’s poetry is the notion of unseen scars. Though the soldier may return alive or uninjured, their lives will never be the same. In ‘Disabled’ the pain of the man’s life is not his injury, but how others react to him. He will never feel love or live life to the full again. Though sleep is relief from his tortuous life in ‘Disabled’, sleep becomes a hell for many of the poems. In ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’–‘In all my dreams . . . He plunges at me’ and in ‘The Sentry’ the persistent memories–‘I try not to remember these things now’.
The detail in Owen’s poetry puts forward his scenes horrifically and memorably. His poems are suffused with the horror of battle, yet finely structured and innovative. ‘His bleeding cough’– a scene unimaginable by us, something only a true witness would see and‘ puckering foreheads crisp’– more than frozen to death, Owen acutely describes the impact on the skin and face. The scene witnessed by Owen is so detailed we feel familiar to it ourselves. As with the unseen scars, Owen delves beneath the surface of cover ups and expectations. As in ‘Disabled’ and ‘S.I.W.’, the full horror behind these unemotional terms is described.
The particular techniques adopted by Owen in his poetry underline his messages. His use of and present tense give his poems urgency and directness. All the senses are utilised by Owen, a constant input of sound, smell, touch as well as sight increase the dimensions of his images and overwhelm us as he must have been. Owen's appliance of half-rhyme gives his poetry a dissonant, disturbing quality that amplifies his themes. His stanzas jar, as war does.
So many of Owen’s poems bring across poignant themes and images, which stay in the mind long after having read them. He tells his experiences and opinions with such clarity and beauty– adding to the poignancy as war is so ugly and confused. I love to read his poems over many times, because each time I notice some new cleverness or point unseen before. His ability to pin point certain images and moments makes the moments recognisable, even to those who have never experienced war. He attempts to connect war with other aspects of human suffering, making him much more than simply a war poet.