StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Poem by Owen - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
 This essay explores the poem about the theme of war in different perspectives. It is based on the incidences of the gas attack that took the real world to insanity. The main aim of the poem is to explain the context of the war that results in very devastating scenes and loss of property and lives. …
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.7% of users find it useful
The Poem by Owen
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Poem by Owen"

The Poem by Owen The poem expounds largely on the theme of warfare during the World War One. Owen experienced the devastating effects of the war that caused massive suffering. It also resulted into death of people who were ready to offer their lives for the sake of the country and the king. The kind of the war that is expressed is very ironical in the sense that it doesn’t show the exact situation on the ground. The poem tries to explore the theme of war in different perspectives. It is based on the incidences of the gas attack that took the real world to insanity. The main aim of the poem is to explain the context of war that results to very devastating scenes and loss of property and lives. (Bloom 20). Suffering and Patriotism The poem captures the theme of suffering in the battle field that many soldiers faced. There was physical torture and psychological torture that many soldiers faced in the battle field. Very many soldiers struggled in the battle field to stay alive. The author speaks of a fatal gas attack that makes him imagine vividly of the pain that he underwent in the past and also in the present. The way the governments view war is directly opposite the way people in the battle field face it. Soldiers suffer and die to protect their countries, people may think that it is fun but the real truth is that soldiers pay heavy prices to get their countries pride (Bloom 26). Another part of the war theme that the poem tries to bring in clear picture is the sense of patriotism that soldiers always tend to have when in the battle field. The battle field is very ghastly and many soldiers loose life for the sake of the countries. Everyone may seem lost in the events of the war, but the governments will have the opportunity of making sure that every youth is sacrificed for the sake of the national interest. The movie Dulce et Decorum Est gives a real situation how the people who never take part in the battle fields tend to organize how the real war will be fought by soldiers who take it to the battle ground (Bloom 19). Vision of Reality The theme of version of reality is brought in this context of war in a very ironical way; people who plan for the real war never take part in the battle field. The planners and soldiers never understand each other when it comes to the purpose of such real wars. The soldiers always find it very difficult to inform those who are left behind on the kinds of the trauma and difficulties that they face. There is communication barrier between the soldiers and the planners especially when it comes to stopping wars. It is the soldiers who face the harsh environment and the trauma that the battle fields come with and they make sure that the honor that the country deserves is found. The theme of warfare in this poem is categorically given in two perspectives. It tackles the losses and sufferings that soldiers find in the battle field (Bloom 21). These are the tragedies that soldiers find very irreconcilable. It also capture war as never ending nightmares that always revolve around unforeseen enemies that lead to bitterness which creates the kind of the destruction that is always associated with war. The soldiers fight people whom they perceive to be enemies because they have been given orders. The kind of agony that many soldiers and civilians underwent in the real terms is not always guaranteed and it left much the kind of the old real lies that exist during the times of war Fear of Shame as Motivation There is a big contrast between the Owens’s poem and that one that is explored by O’Brien. In the poem The things they carried, the theme of Fear of Shame as Motivation is extensively explored. Nobody wants to fight in a war that has no reason, a war that is considered unjust, but because he never wants to be taken as a coward, he engages in the fight. There is no patriotism in O’Brien’s poem as seen in the poem by Owen. He is merely engaging in the fight to disapprove his family and community that he is not a coward and that is why he took his time to go to Canada. The disapproval of the family members made so many people to participate in the Vietnam War. They wanted social acceptance and nobody was willing to be ashamed and these made so many youths to cross into the battle fields. The use of the fear of shame misguided many youths to participate in the war as shown by Jimmy Cross who went to war because his friend had become so confused by the events in the battle field and was endangering the lives of his fellow soldiers (Bloom 21). Ambiguous Morality, Loneliness and Isolation Another important theme that O’Brien explores in this poem is the kind of ambiguous morality that exists in the battle field. He explains that there is no morality in the battle field because during the war times people have to make both ends meet since they are forced to the extremities that have no solution but war only. In this poem it contradicts the Owens’s perception that the kind of the ammunitions used in war causes massive losses of life and property when he explores the theme of loneliness and isolation. The author tries to explain that it is isolation and loneliness that destroys soldiers in the battle field (Bloom 25). Conclusion War is a real pity. The real truth is that those who are left behind at home may not actually know what the real battle fields look like and the most ironical part of it is that soldiers themselves may not even be aware of the reasons why they are in war. What holds them together is the kind of patriotism that they have for their countries. The shun politics in strongest terms possible. Work cited Bloom, Harold. Tim O'Brien's The things they carried. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005. Print. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Poem by Owen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1620146-choose-the-topic-from-the-instructions
(The Poem by Owen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
https://studentshare.org/literature/1620146-choose-the-topic-from-the-instructions.
“The Poem by Owen Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1620146-choose-the-topic-from-the-instructions.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Poem by Owen

On the Ripeness of Life - Analysis of John Keats to Autumn

Moving to the poem's second stanza, autumn is now given a concrete form of a woman who works both as gleaner and reaper in the field.... At this time, the speaker of the poem encourages autumn to listen around her surrounding “on the soft-dying day” and hear the “wailful choir of small gnats” and “full-grown lambs bleat”....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Childs First Step, as Awesome as an Earthquake

In the paper “The Child's First Step, as Awesome as an Earthquake” the author analyzes the poem 'Courage' by Anne Sexton.... The poet uses figurative language in order to make the poem interesting and its themes reverberate with the readers as they are taken through many of life's instances.... What the Metaphor adds to the poem: Here the poet is comparing life to a crystal stairway.... Poem Title: 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost Personification: The woods are lovely, dark and deep (Line 13) What the Personification adds to the poem: Frost's poetry is known for its natural themes, yet there are invariably two meanings attached to it....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

A Discussion, Comparison and Contrasting of the Poems Grass and The Mist by Carl Sandburg

In the poem “Grass” Sandburg uses the form of free verse, eschewing any rhyme scheme or meter.... By this, the author aims to make the poem simple and not too intense and achieves this subjective to a great extent.... The images portrayed in the poem, while being poignant are horrifying.... First of all, the poem begins with the image already there, unlike some poems where the image gradually builds up.... The tone that the poet conveys through the protagonist, the grass, is indifference towards the dead, which is reflected throughout the poem....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

The Theme of War in the Works by W. Owen and T. OBrien

There is no patriotism in O'Brien's poem as seen in The Poem by Owen.... the poem tries to explore the theme of war from different perspectives.... O'Brien the poem expounds largely on the theme of warfare during the World War One.... The main aim of the poem is to explain the context of war that results in very devastating scenes and a loss of property and lives.... the poem captures the theme of suffering in the battle field that many soldiers faced....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Eating Poetry by Mark Strand

Intricate, yet symbolic in expression, and so much complex that often general human comprehension fails to perceive the actual thought process operating behind the lines of the poem, engulfed by striking metaphors and paradoxes, which deviates those poems from simple laws and conventions of poetry.... However, an in-depth analysis of the poem or a tryst of reading between the lines of the poem, ‘Eating Poetry' opens up latest dimensions and innovative vistas of thoughts, sensibilities and sentiments associated with the faculty of writing poetry, each time it is being read (Slaughter, “Eating Poetry”....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Old Lie, The Young Die

The very first line of the poem, "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks," is significant because the poet is writing about men of his own age or younger.... The final stanza of the poem addresses itself to the reader, who, without any direct experience of war, might feel the need to recite, with "high zest" the "Old Lie" to "children" who might swallow it as Owen himself had done, just months ago.... Wilfred owen, who died in action in his twenty-sixth year, towards the end of the First World War, is one of the best known of the War Poets....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Literature and Politics

This poem is still a great deal subtler than most other war poems by owen.... hellip; the poem can be called a propaganda poem because it speaks against politicians and war politics.... In the poem one soldier finds himself in hell with another solider that he had killed.... The Poetry is in the pity"the poem is thus concerned with pity and sheer pointlessness of war.... Wilfred owen's poem are a combination of all this but still maintain a subtle touch....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Allen Ginsbergs poem A Supermarket in California

People were becoming more engaged in their jobs as opposed to building relationships amongst themselves. the poem uses many images to pass its point across.... The first image used in the Allen Ginsberg's poem “A Supermarket in California” Allen Ginsberg's poem “A Supermarket in California” the poem ridicules two main vices in American society that were prevalent in the American society in the 20th century.... The first image used in the poem is the evocation of names of other renowned poets (Burns, 2002)....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us