Owen's Poem example essay topic

Wilfred Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est" and Richard Lovelace's "To Lucasta", the same subject matter is dealt with by both author's, but from an entirely different perspective. Owen chooses to portray war as a horror not to be experienced, even it may be portrayed that war is honorable and to fight for one's country is glorious. Lovelace on the other hand takes the viewpoint of a young man leaving his woman in the hopes of becoming a hero, ignorant to what awaits him. Both authors represent their arguments well. Their choice of diction, their particular setting pertaining to the method of warfare, and their poetic device usage allow them to create the desired effect. Owen's attitude is very sarcastic towards the idea of it being honourable to die for one's country.

He reinforces this with a series of horrific images. It is quite possible that his poem has been written in response to the conscription drive, trying to crush the myth of valour. Owen believes it is torturous to be a soldier during the type of warfare and it is arduous the amount of cruelty that soldiers had to sustain. To Owen dying for one's country and going to war is by no means hour able, and a lie shoved down the throats of the youth.

He chooses his words carefully to leave the reader with a gruesome, dreary, wearing and saddening sensation. He puts the reader in the mood to embrace the horrors the soldiers are going through. These include bent-double, coughing, cursed, haunting, trudge, fatigue, thick and drowning, smothering dreams, writhing in his face, and froth-corrupted lungs among others. The form is also an aide to Owen's effort.

His poem is unorganized and mangle much like the soldiers in his story which embody chaos. Lovelace bring's an attitude of ignorance towards war to the table. The character believes he is doing a glorious thing by going off to war. To him, war is the ultimate sacrifice of which will bring him nobility. It is his destiny. In his relationship, it is of necessity for him to be the man, a throw back to an error of chauvinism.

He is very eager and willing to be a hero. His ignorance is breed from his lack of wartime experience. The diction used is one of a haughty man, inexperienced, and unprepared in the horrors of life at war. We see this in 'foe', 'chaste breast', 'mistress', 'I am unkind', 'I could not love thee. ' This man is a lover, not a fighter, a poet, not a soldier.

The form of the poem, rigid and precise, also illustrates his belief in the military machine. The soldier's of "Dulce et Decorum Est" are experiencing tragedy of war at its worst. Allied forces have taken many casualties and the troops are suffering from fatigue and exhaustion. Owen is in the midst of the battle experiencing everything first hand. He experiences bullets whizzing by his ears, and a fallen comrade dying in his arms as he gasps his last breath while his lungs fill with blood. On the battle grounds in the first world war, the expected time frame of this poem, combat was at its most gruesome.

The hellish battles in the trenches were a result of increasing technology of small arms, bringing grenades and automatic carbines in to play. Often soldiers were in throwing distance of hand grenades from the enemy while merely sitting in the trench. Men died face down in the mud as bullets filled the air around the heads of the soldiers still fighting for the 'just cause'. This was the filthiest and most brutal form of warfare by far, totally coinciding with how the author is illustrating his perception of war. He is experiencing the horrors of battle in its most hellish and gruesome form. He does not perceive war as honourable.

He believes the reader will take up the same view as him. On the other hand, the other of "To Lucasta" finds himself bidding farewell to his woman. It is obvious that in the near future he will be stepping forth on the battle grounds to fill what he believes is a noble and honorable calling. Bidding farewell to his woman he acts as if he is going to save the world. "To War and arms I fly" (line 4). War in the mid 1600's is not what it was in the trenches of "Dulce et decorum Est".

Instead of the muddy battles, Men fought in the field and woods in neatly uniformed units with all the glory of the con questing countries riding behind them. Death came from the sword or musket. Battle was considered of honorable nature and it was rated on 'divide and Conquer; . The greenhorn, leaving his woman, carries the perception of the honorable fighting mentality. Though warfare was a little more cut and dried, his lack of experiences shows and he does not realize the fact that he could die and tough death.

Wilfred Owen wished to crush the myth of the glory of war. Often political leaders wish that people believe this myth, about the valour of fighting for one's country. These tactics were often used alongside conscription and many recruiting propaganda schemes. He wishes to persuade the reader not to impose upon the Youth's of our nation the idea that to fight is to be a hero.

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desparate glory, The old lie; Owen uses the devastating experiences of one soldier and the sights he has seen to relay his message. On the other hand, Lovelace wrote his poem at a time when it was the most glorious thing a man could do was to fight for one's country. The problem with this is he has never tasted the bitter sting of steel on flesh and is caught up with the idea of being a hero and the romantic notion of war. Both author's accomplish their intended message, and desired effect through a serious of simile's, metaphor's, and personification. In "Dulce et Decorum Est" there are such similes as "And floundering like a man in fire or lime", "As under a green sea,"like a devil's suck if sin"; and "Bitter as the cud". In "To Lucasta", a metaphor is used in comparing the comfort of her breasts to a nunnery.

"That from the nunnery of thy chaste breast". Metaphors in Wilfred Owen's Poem include "An ecstasy of fumbling" as well as "incurable sores on innocent tongues". Personification also is evident in both poems, "And watch the white eyes writhing in his face", and "Time, a new mistress, now I chase, the first foe in the field". War is attacked by both poets with different arguments. Owen wishes to present the reader with the 'baloney' of the age old myth dying for one's country is the honorable thing to do. He utilizes gruesome images to achieve the desired effect.

Lovelace, on the other hand, presents the view of one ignorant to the horrors of war, eager to rush out and fight for glory and to be a hero for his woman. Though war can be looked at with different discerning views, it is a necessary evil.