Owen

Owen displays the reality of war, atypically shown in 20th century literature. By divulging the secrecies and terrors of brutal warfare, he exposes the superficiality of valor and false heroism; through his vivid writing, he opens the eyelids of his readers and discloses, "the old lie (Owen, Dulce et Decorum est, 25). Owen breaks idealism, replacing it with illness, physical injuries, exhaustion, fatigue and personal hells. Contrasting the Hemingway code hero, Owen displays the reality of war, which diverges from the epic and heroic displays of war displayed through classic characters like the code hero.

The dead beat soldier symbolizes classic 20th century anti-war sentiments. Flesh torn and maggot eaten, skin writhing, crack and molested from heat; the dead beat soldier is presumably one of the most wretched people, and one with the most deathlike traits. Death written in his eyes, he walks fruitlessly with no aim; for one who walks with no purpose is the living dead. Both mind and spirit have been broken, the pieces of body that seem to drop off fall in line with what is already lost; this is the result of war. The soldier can be looked at as the living dead because although he is alive, he is dead in mind and spirit and heart. "He dropped,- more sullenly that wearily, lay stupid like a cod, heavy like meat (Owen, The Deadbeat soldier, 1-2)." "Just blinker at my revolver, blearily; didn't appear to know a war was on (3-4)." The deadbeat soldier reverts to a fetal like mental state, incapable of noticing or responding to the world around them. This state is not so much a rupture in brutish nature, but a reversion back to nothingness and unknowingness for protection; rather both mind and body shut down from weariness. The dead beat soldier no longer responds to their environment; it's as if their reality no longer exists. They are not worn from war, but rather circumstance and loss of hope, lives and chance. "It's Blighty, 'praps, he sees; his pluck's all gone, dreaming of all the valiant, they aren't dead: Bold uncles, smiling ministerially (10-12)." "Maybe his brave young wife, getting her fun. In some new home, improved materially. It's not these stiffs have crazed him, nor the Hun (13-15)."

Dreams are the only escape for the deadbeat soldier. Reality equals death. Pain is in existence and the pangs of murder rip up the throats of the prayer-less men, like toxic acid from Satan's belly. Life is but a savage beast and its harpoon is sleep. In consciousness they have to deal with the bitter realities of war; pain and memories, the latter being the strongest. In this eternal dream all is at peace and harsh memories are discarded. A soldier becomes godlike granting life or death, " a creature of benevolence bestowing rest on the exhausted soldier, a blessed relief after the stresses of war( Musil, 256)." "First sleep took him by the brow then the second took him by the heart(257)." The death is a momentary disturbance to the forgiving REM cycle and then life "ebbs away and stillness ensues (256)." "Asleep.......sleep......sleeping.........sleepy(256)," the repetition magnifies a sense of peace. "Men marched asleep (Dulce et Decorum est, 7)," the idea of sleep and fatigue are very prevalent in Owen's works. Owen talks of "in all my dreams"/"smothering dreams (15)." The men are clumsy and fumbling. They "turned their backs (3)" against the sheets of shelled rain. They become blink, dead, in helpless sight. Consciousness equals pain and reality equals realization; the realization of lost lives, unfaithful wives and fleeting youths.

Owen questions the sizing up of men through courage and bravery. In Dulce et Decorum est Owen questions, "pro propane mori, dulce et decorum est (Dulce et Decorum est, 26-28)" is it right to die for honor? He displays brutal images of scenes of war as an antithesis to patriotism.

One of the things Owen does is try to conquer the unrealistic and ideological philosophy of war efforts. Promise and honor unsteadily drags men into war, as they carry their crosses they are shown promised images of glory and lush rewards. Contradicting the less novelty joblessness upon return to home and gangrenous deaths. The idea of people cheering the soldiers, upon their arrival pulls them into unconscious desires. Instead of glory they find no praise and no shouts of congregatio! In The Send Off Owen describes this. There is a sinister atmosphere and, "the lanes are dark and claustrophobic (W.O. Association 260)." The sending off was cheerful and dear; cheering crowds, bells, drums, and flowers being given by strangers. The sheds that contain the soldiers, however represent the soldiers death and ultimate slaughter. The men's departure in the night is deathly clandestine, like something terribly wrong being covered up-of these; many of these men will die. The send off song is cheerful, yet should be sung- oh woe to the dead. No prayers, nor bells, nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, " the choir of shells that will shower upon their heads (Musil 256)." There is no heroes burial, just lowly bloody graves.

Owen paints this vile image of the dead walking. He talks about the overwhelming sense of emptiness and despair. Vivid images of gas filling the lungs of the still living and men succumbing to oceans filled with dead bodies. He instills these images into the young men looking to enter the war, the descriptions are vulgar and revolting.

The soldiers Owen describes are, "bent double and knock-kneed (Dulce et Decorum est, 1-2)." "Cursing," and "coughing like hags of beggars (2)." Owen questions if Horace's idealism of bravery when saying, "It is sweet and honorable to die for one's country (Anthology 456)." Owen forces these young men to take a second look at war and to essentially first-hand encounter the gruesome death of an American soldier. This poem "attacks upon the ignorant belligerence of civilian noncombatants (Musil 359)." It seeks to degrade the "old lie (Dulce et Decorum est, 28)" ;that it is proper to die for one's country. It rejects the philosophy of bravery and unwarranted patriotism.

To unmask the "old lie (28)," Wilfred Owen vividly describes the hash realities of war, through his poems like Dulce et Decorum est. He portrays the cursory and machine like qualities of the men, and impersonality of a solider. "Bent-double, knock-kneed (1-2)," they are all together all uniform and lifeless. He describes horrid scenes of men drowning in seas of gas. The men are "floundering, guttering, choking, drowning (12-16)." Thick green light emanates from this vast and overpowering