Wilfred Owen: Truth of War Essay

Wilfred Owen uses similes to challenge the readers to look at war in a fresh, new way, in order to expose the reality of war to the readers. ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ is so different to the poems around the time of World War One. The difference lies in his perspective and purpose. He wrote to expose the brutality, and truth of war. In the poem Owen uses simile in ‘bent double, like old beggars under sacks’ and ‘knock-kneed, coughing like hags’ to describe the once young and strong soldiers being extremely worn out and beaten down by war that they become ‘old beggars’ and ‘hags.’ He not only showed the impoverished conditions of the soldiers – through the vivid comparisons – but also the truth of war. These soldiers, who people respected for their noble sacrifice, are compared to the least respected ragged, dirty ‘beggars’ and ‘hags.’ The negative simile helps to awake the readers from the illusions of war propaganda, that war is noble, and dying for your country is sweet and glorious, and to accentuate that war is nothing but despair and futility. To emphasize the realities of war; death, madness and mutilation, Owen uses ‘His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin,’ a powerful simile in the sense of its irony. Devil lives for sin. If a devil is sick of sin, he is questioning everything that has so far been done, and his face expresses the extent of disillusion as he realizes his whole life, and everything he was, is now nothing. Owen conveys to the readers that, in the same way, the soldiers were questioning ‘The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori’ in the moment of their death. Like a sinless devil in hell, the dying soldiers witnessed their futile existence in war, and war itself. This allows the readers to experience the environment Owen served in; where thousands of men were slaughtered, which helps us to have a more in-depth understanding of why his subject is war, and the pity of war. Clearly, Owen rejected ‘The old Lie’ and condemned the traditional view of war. He challenge the readers to look at the intensity and horror of war, however, contemporary readers like us isn’t challenged as we have already been exposed to the gruesomeness of war due to media coverage. So, Owen is mainly challenging the readers in the years of the World War.

These soldiers, who people respected for their noble sacrifice, are compared to the least respected ragged, dirty ‘beggars’ and ‘hags.’ Owen wants us to understand that the war was not about the soldiers; it was about a service to a larger community which corrupted morals through illusions of war propaganda, that war is noble, and dying for your country is sweet and glorious. War is nothing but despair and futility. By reading the poem we understand how war has warped these young soldiers, and that Owen is convincing the society how can we expect the soldiers to return in the same mental state as when they left, when war itself is immoral and not honourable.  

In comparison to Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est,’ Kevin Powers’ contemporary war poem ‘Death, Mother and Child’ doesn't challenge contemporary readers to look at modern warfare in a fresh, new way as we are already exposed to the horrors through media coverage. However, it does reinforce the brutality of war through sound devices. To give an example Powers uses plosives in ‘brutalized by bullets’ to appeal the sound of machine guns to our sense of hearing. It is through the harsh, spasmodic ‘b’ sounds that we understand the intense mood of holding guns, and the fear of firing guns, relating to Wilfred Owen’s belief of that war is intense and horrific. ‘Brutalized by bullets’ is also an alliteration which makes ‘brutalized’ and ‘bullets’ hang together and flow better, again, emphasizing the suddenness and quickness of gun shots. Powers wants the reader to experience the harsh and merciless environment of war in order to challenge us to question the real meaning of war.