Et Cetera

line from a Latin Ode written by Horace: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”(W. Owen,”Dulce et decorum est.”), which translated means “It is sweet and right to die for your country”(Roberts). The phrase used so often in propaganda to urge people to fight and be content with dying for their country. It’s ironic that Owen decides to compare a horrible death to something sweet and right. Wilfred hated that they could say this “old lie”(Owen, “Dulce et decorum est.”) when they knew the…

One of Owen's talents is to convey his complex messages very proficiently and demonstrates that here because without the use of the emotive language, the scene could not be set. In the fourth stanza, it reads, " If in some smothering dreams you could pace/behind the wagon that the we flung him in", here Owen is suggesting that the horror of the scene that he has witnessed, is forever eternalised into his dreams. Although this soldier died an innocent, the war allowed no time to give his…

only example of “inarticulate expression”. The combination of short sentences, imperatives and exclamation marks create a sense of frantic urgency as Owen describes how the soldiers rush to save their own lives and their comrades’. Owen wrote “Dulce et Decorum est” in response to Jessie Pope’s poem “Who’s for the Game” that uses an upbeat rhythm, mimicking a sporting chant, to encourage soldiers to enlist. Surrounded with eloquence, Owen’s “inarticulate expression” reminds us of the individual…

Both the authors, William Golding and William Shakespeare highlight severe human weakness in the novel Lord of the Flies and the play Macbeth respectively. This was deliberately done in response to their profound yet interesting lives that they had experienced as a human. This is evident as; Lord of the Flies was portrayed as an allegorical microcosm of the world Golding was involved in, which included real-life violence and brutality of the World War II. Perhaps, it was intended by the author…

“One does not use poetry for its major purposes, as a means to organize oneself and the world, until one’s world somehow gets out of hand.” This was Richard Wilbur’s response when someone asked him about fighting in World War II and how it changed him. Richard Wilbur is a famous modern day poet who won two Pulitzer Prizes for two of his collections of poems. He was the second poet laureate of the United States. Richard Wilbur fought as a combat soldier in World War II which changed his outlook…

Throughout Storm of Steel, his memoir recollecting his experiences during World War I, Ernst Jünger employs the use of simplistic language to express the immediacy of the war. Instead of using a more stylistic and grandiose approach to his writing, the former soldier conveys his feelings through short and plain-spoken statements. Jünger’s style reflects the aloof mindset that fighting in war can produce. Jünger keeps his sentences simple and short. Grammatically, these sentences are proper…

The implications of Yeats’ inner perspective on World War I resonates with an air of prophecy regarding the negative undertones of future humankind on both a local and universal scale. The ramifications of conflict emerge as concepts in poems such as An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, which examines destiny and the meaning of giving our life to a greater cause. Furthermore, The Second Coming highlights Yeats’s opinion on the apocalyptic cycle of nature while The Wild Swans at Coole delves into…

Ian McEwan’s Atonement explores the highly enthralling themes of war and the subsequent horrors, corruption, and the power of language and story-telling, a theme prevalent internationally or otherwise in every piece of literature. McEwan utilises and vast plethora of techniques and literary conventions in order to allow a deeper insight into these predominant themes. McEwan uses techniques including imagery and pathos to powerfully illustrate his Realist view of war. Within part II and III,…

War is like a photograph. It’s beautiful and fascinating until you realize it’s completely staged and not what your eyes made it out to be. Wilfred Owen’s poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, is a piece of art written during World War I. He shows us the truths about war using imagery to make our minds run free and find the pictures he is trying to show us. There are parts of the poem that show us a “brought to life” side of the poem and a side that unsuccessfully shows the audience the life of World War…

Intro Today I have been challenged to write a blog answering the question that both text and context do exist in literature. WW1 was a bloodbath there's no doubt and such awful things happened to the most innocent of lives, during the times of war however it shone a light on the poets who wrote both anti and pro war poems. Each with a different meaning, from Jessie Pope the women who encouraged young men to risk their lives for their country and honor to Owen Wilfred who’s words reached out to…