Fourth Corrupted Lungs Wilfred Owen Analysis

goes back to when Owen discussed the soldier dying from the gas attack therefore the phrase “fourth-corrupted lungs”. This is in relation to the gas that caused his lungs to fill with blood which ultimately cost him his life. The word “gargling” is an onomatopoeia used to show the pain and despair the solider was in before he died. Similes are used in the next line to convey just how evil and un necessary war is. The first one is “Obscene as cancer”, here he is comparing war to cancer and stating how the harmful and brutal both are and how they shouldn’t be. He also compares “bitter” and “cud of vile”, he is comparing a not so sweet taste to vomit. Essentially he is saying war is not sweet but gory. The last phrase of that section is “incurable …show more content…
This is in reference to the soldiers, the ones who have died can not be brought back to life and those that have been psychologically damaged can’t get cured. “Innocent tongues” is used for the analogy that these young people can not be cured from this disease. Which translates back to these soldiers, whom most of which are young men. It also points out that they are not to blame for their deaths and it was unjust that they had to die for their country. From the phrase “If you could hear…” to “…innocent tongues” Owen uses gory imagery. The reason behind this lies in the phrase “My friend you would not tell with such high zest”. He wants people back at home to put themselves in these soldier shoes. He wants them t experience what they have experienced, like seeing men die all around them or fearing for theirs lives. He believes if they learned first hand what war was about they would no longer glorify it and continues with this into the next line, “To children adherent for some desperate glory”. He used children in this sentence because children are very naive and impressionable. If they see hear something from an adult that glorifies something like war they remember