Owen is renowned throughout history as a poet who wouldn’t steer shy of the truth. This is evident throughout his work as he tells the truth about the utter barbarism of war, without holding back. He is therefore not consequently influenced by propaganda nor the past. The theme of the brutality of war is further enhanced throughout Mental Cases with the use of several uses of rhetorical questions in the first six lines. The first question “who are these?” shows us that the state of the soldiers was so harrowing that they’re almost inhuman and therefore not recognised as people by Owen. The utter thought of the young soldiers being almost inhuman is then further backed up with Owen referring to them as “purgatorial shadows”. Owen is portraying
