Analysis of poetry techniques and interpretation

Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum est" describes the horrors of World War One. With rich imagery, the poet refers to the gory and horrid details of the "great war," such as "the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, / Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud," and "watch the white eyes writhing in his face, / His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin." Owen's commentary comes directly from personal experience, as the poet served as a soldier in World War One. Having witnessed the devastation and death he describes in "Dulce Decorum Est," the poet challenges the popular assumptions of war's glory, honor, and necessity. The title of the poem comes from a Latin phrase meaning "It is sweet and right." The phrase was often used in reference to the First World War, to promote morale among soldiers. Owen concludes that the phrase is truly an "old lie."

Written in 1926, William Butler Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium" focuses not on war but on aging, death, and immortality. Through colorful, almost mystical imagery, Yeats describes the city of Byzantium through its glorious works of art, paintings that will stand the test of time. Yeats contrasts the immortal beauty of the works of art with the mortal decay of human flesh: "An aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick."

The poem "Dinner Guest: Me" by Langston Hughes describes the racial divide in America, and Hughes writes from an African-American perspective. The poem takes place around a dinner table in which the white hosts entertain a black guest, bombarding him with questions, "the usual questions / That come to white mind / Which seeks demurely / To Probe in polite way / The why and wherewithal / Of darkness U.S.A." In spite of their high-minded intellectual probing, the narrator of the poem cannot help but notice that "Solutions to the Problem, / Of course, wait. In spite of well-meaning discourse on racial equality, the problems associated with racism still exist in America and the gap between white and black remains large.