Research Paper On Wilfred Owen

While Wilfred Owen may seem like the heroic soldier who embarked on a great journey to come back with great tales of World War 1, Wilfred Owen did completely the opposite of what is believed in a true hero. In order to successfully fight a war, a country would need soldiers who are capable of carrying out the demands of the country. Nowadays, soldiers are only understood as the men and women who fought and defended their nation; instead, soldiers are more complex than what they are known for. Through his poems, Wilfred Owen writes about his experiences that he encountered during the war. With his works of writing Wilfred Owen shows emotional backing to the many different situations that are shown. Wilfred Owen highlights how during times of …show more content…
However, the soldier’s optimism quickly diminished and turned into hate resulting from the death of many companions. In his poems, Wilfred Owen highlights how soldiers realize that they are not “Brother in Arms” but are just temporary companions who end up separated because of the war. In Anthem for Doomed Youth, Owen writes about the loss of innocence that the soldiers endure. To set the tone of his poem, Wilfred Owen begins with, “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” (Owen, 1). This text demonstrates a literary device of a metaphor where the tenor is implied as “the people” or “these” while the vehicle is “die as cattle”. The connection formed in the metaphor depicts soldiers being rapidly annihilated by the weapons of the 19th century, corresponding to how expeditiously cattle are slaughtered in slaughterhouses. Based on the information that is learned from the tenor and vehicle, Wilfred Owen implies that friendships are destroyed during times of war. The loss of companionship between the soldiers presents the loss of innocence within the military. In the course of warfare, combatants show no mercy when killing others just to live. The act of attempting to survive presents the fact that the emotion coming from the loss of a companion drives the soldier to remain standing. The demise of many combatants leaves many corpses lying …show more content…
Throughout his poems, Wilfred Owen draws attention to the fears of the soldiers. Anthem for Doomed Youth highlights the fears in which the militants face due to the loss and suffering of many comrades. Owen writes, “Only the monstrous anger of the guns” (Owen, 2). In this text, Owen mentions the soldiers’ anxieties with the usage of a metaphor where the tenor of the metaphor is “the gun” while the vehicle of the metaphor is “the monstrous anger”. The connection formed within this text illustrates how the thunderous sounds of gun shots strikes fear in everyone. Based on the information that is learned from the tenor and vehicle, Wilfred Owen implies that the soldiers might not even want to fight each other but are compelled to fight in opposition to their will. The act of enforcing militants to fight demonstrates a social tendency where people express agitation because they are forced to do something they don’t want to do. By being forced to use a weapon against their will, the people assert irritation by shooting the gun correspondingly to how the combatants express their fear of death by shooting the gun just to survive. As demonstrated in the text, the fear of death in which the soldiers obtain aspires them to do whatever it takes to survive. To further support his point on the soldiers’ concerns, Wilfred Owen writes, “ Only the stuttering