• An Examination of First World War Poetry from British Author Wilfred Owen

     

    Essays3 Literature

Evaluation:
Published: 07.10.2003.
Language: English
Level: Secondary school
Literature: n/a
References: Not used
  • Essays 'An Examination of First World War Poetry from British Author Wilfred Owen', 1.
  • Essays 'An Examination of First World War Poetry from British Author Wilfred Owen', 2.
Extract

"My subject is war and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity." - Wilfred Owen.
Owen wrote his poetry to suit many different purposes. It's speculated that before joining the war he, like many others including Rupert Brooke, wrote propaganda poetry to maybe celebrate the event. However, the purpose of his poetry undergoes a drastic change when faced with reality as portrayed in various poems, and it is for this that he is best known.
In October 1917, Wilfred Owen wrote to his mother from Craiglockhart, "Here is a gas poem, done yesterday." Owen himself put his ironically titled poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est into the generic title: 'Indifference at home'. The poetry holds no compassion and so you are not meant to feel for the soldier, but the emotion that does rise from the verses is anger.

Atlants