Essays on Wilfred Owen

In the war poem ‘Exposure’, Wilfred Owen’s choice of words helps to describe the extremes to which he and his men were exposed to during the war, and how the First World War affected soldiers both mentally and physically. Through his use of alliteration and...

The poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen is about a soldier’s experience during World War I. Owen enlisted in the Army and served during WW1, which is when he wrote the poem. “Dulce et Decorum est” was conveyed by a narrator taking part...

Using a plethora of poetic techniques, Wilfred Owen portrays suffering in his poems ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ and ‘Exposure’. Both poems agree that war should be displayed truthfully and negatively but have different rationales and purposes. ‘Exposure’ expresses war as a disorganised, chaotic injustice, with...

As Owen instigates the poem ‘strange meeting’ he initially expresses the tone as ‘dreamlike’ and distant. There is an almost heroic feel to the opening which becomes eerie as the realisation of hell dawns close for our narrative voice. The sombre tone used to describe...

Furthermore, the poem’s very short third stanza suddenly plunges into the speaker’s own present mindset. In doing so the poem reveals yet another terrifying consequence of war: that even if one survives, they will face ceaseless torment by their memories. Owen, being a survivor himself,...

Dulce et decorum est is a famous anti-war poet written by Wilfred Owen in 1917, during the WWI. It portrays war as a brutal and dehumanizing experience by utilizing a number of horrific, gruesome imageries effectively. This poem is based on a quotation from a...

A recurring theme of ‘loss’ is prominently presented through the narratives of the poems ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen and ‘Out, Out-’ by Robert Frost. In ‘Disabled’, Owen expresses his generally negative attitude towards WW1 and how it had affected him. His use of juxtaposition regret...

When choosing two poems, I was immediately captivated by ‘Disabled’ because I was fascinated how Owen created drama and how he scrutinised the substantial effect of war on young, naive adolescents; therefore, as a child myself, I felt even more affected from what he chose...

Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Exposure’ and Alfred Tennyson’s poem ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ both explore the theme of loss but in different ways. Owen’s ‘Exposure’ is a misery-filled, first person account of a soldier fighting in WW1; he suggests that all the men with him...

Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” and Carol Ann Duffy’s “War Photographer” are poems that, through the use of language and structural techniques, emphasize the suffering experienced in war and more specifically, both highlight the triviality of a soldier’s life in the context of war....