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¶ … personal perspectives create distinctive views challenges life" Wilfred Owen subject studied, His poems "Mental Cases" "Dulce Decorum est" assigned poems essay written. A speech 5 minutes duration.
Speech: The poetry of Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen is considered one of the greatest of the British 'war poets,' a group of writers who became esteemed for their often cynical views of World War I. Owen's life history as a writer is particularly extraordinary given that he wrote almost all of his poems in "slightly over a year, from August 1917 to September 1918. In November 1918 he was killed in action at the age of twenty-five, one week before the Armistice" (Wilfred Owen, 2013).
Perhaps Owen's most famous poem "Dulce et Decorum est" was directly inspired by an event he witnessed as a soldier. The cool, matter-of-fact poem describes Owen helplessly watching the death of a fellow soldier choking on poison gas. The Latin title, which is explained fully at the end of the poem, references the classical education so many of the young men who fought in the war had obtained before actually participating in combat. Unlike the sanitized and beautiful vision of Roman combat portrayed in antique literature, the reality is far different, particularly in the era of trench and technological warfare. However, the epitaph by Horace, which all British schoolboys would have learned, says that it is...
Unlike the quick, agile soldiers of one's imagination, these men are barely staying alive. "Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots / But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind." The fact that they are so ill-cared for also shows the lack of concern for the troop's welfare, despite the fine rhetoric about the war. The men resemble poor beggars and have been stripped of their dignity.
Suddenly, another voice intrudes into the poem, seemingly out of nowhere. "Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling, / Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time." This surprise insertion is deliberate, given that Owen and the rest of the soldiers were surprised themselves by the gas attack and the sudden urging of their commander to take action, put on their masks, and protect themselves. Suddenly, the poem shifts from straight description to a drama, as the soldiers try to protect themselves. However one man, perhaps because of fatigue, is not quick enough, and succumbs to the gas: "In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning." Not only does the man die: Owen himself is haunted by…
Bibliography
Owen, Wilson. Dulce et Decorum est. War Poetry. Available:
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html [13 Nov 2013]
Owen, Wilson. Mental Cases. Oxford. Available:
http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/education/tutorials/intro/owen/mental.html [13 Nov 2013]
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/wilfred-owen [13 Nov 2013]
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