Ideas in Wilfred Owen’s War Poems

Retaliation of Nature/Weapons: - Exposure, Last Laugh

Nature - Exposure

Owen reveals the horrors of war through personifying elements of the natural world as tormenting forces that attribute to the soldiers loss of humanity. He emphasizes the retaliation of nature in response to battle through vividly describing its merciless behavior. Owen’s subversion of the traditional views of war are exemplified as he imposes the idea that even nature, an element of the world meant to nurture and bring life, can turn into cruel opponent as a result of battle. In Owen’s poem ‘Exposure’, the soldiers are degraded as they fall victim to the ‘merciless…winds that knife [them].’ The connotations of knifing characterize the soldiers as animals, as the wind forces them to ‘cringe in holes’, resulting in a degraded state of being.

Owen juxtaposes the traditional meaning of elements with what those objects mean only to a soldier, a distinct division between the home line and the front line made, as well as enhancing the soldiers helpless and changed state. For example in ‘Exposure’, a new day is characterized as the ‘misery of dawn.’ The juxtaposition of the initial meaning of dawn as a new beginning classifies daybreak as a never-ending cycle to the tortured soldier’s journey.

Owen emphasizes the active presence nature has on the boys as the dawn ‘attacks once more’, the break of morning personified to show the relentless torture the soldiers are under.

Weapons – Last Laugh

Owen addresses the cruel mockery and entitlement that weapons of war have over the soldier’s humanity, through the personification of machinery and the use of onomatopoeia. The idea that weapons were once statured as a protection device is contrasted with the over powering presence of machinery that literally and metaphorically governs the soldiers lives. Owen’s personification of weapons in his poem ‘The Last Laugh’, makes them appear as a lethal and diabolical force, illustrated as the ‘…bullets chirped…’ A tone of ironic mockery is present as the machine guns seemingly state ‘Tut-tut! Tut-tut!’ Owen is evidently criticizing societies allowance at the naivety of a lot of soldiers, who were carelessly persuaded to go to battle by propaganda and lies. The onomatopoeic phrase ‘Tut-tut!’ presents a graphic description of who holds the power, epitomizing the state of the soldiers as these uncontrollable forces dominate them. As Owen presents the machine guns ‘chuckl[ing]’, the guns ‘guffaw[ing]’ and the bayonets ‘long toothed [grin]’, he frightfully exposes the hostile monstrosity that is continuous on the frontline. A heightened sense of despair is presented as the ‘sudden successive flights of bullets streak the silence’. Alliteration and sibilance are incorporated to emphasize the constant struggle and torment the ‘helpless’ soldiers endure. Owen’s use of onomatopoeia and alliteration in his description of weapons allows readers to vividly hear what is being described, bringing to life the reality of the battlefield.

Reality of the Battlefield – Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce et Decorum Est, The Next War

Owen’s initial aim to explore the ‘pity of war’ and expose the harrowing bitterness of battle is achieved through his incorporation of confronting poetic techniques and vivid description. To warn and expose the reality of battle to strangers of war, who he perceives as everyone but those who fought, Owen relentlessly depicts ‘hellish’ circumstances, as well as the lifelong effects of existing in such conditions. Owen establishes an immediate loss of innocence in ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’ as the naive soldiers are faced with ‘stuttering rifles.’ The sound of ‘wailing shells’ echoes the deafening sounds of the rifles, illustrating a complete suffocation and infiltration of the soldier’s minds. In describing the relentless sounds and chilling atmosphere of the battlefield, Owen captivates the reader into a world of ‘merciless suffering.’

Owen presents the collective cruel reality of battle in his poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, as the soldiers are described as ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks…’ ‘This establishes a sense of ‘knock kneed’ movement, a restrictive image placed upon the soldiers as the rhythm of the poem enforces their crippling state. Owen opens the poem with a clear indication that war is not worthy of celebration through the impaired state of the soldiers, subtly critiquing those who believe otherwise. The vivid description of the soldiers ‘…fumbling…stumbling...flound’ring…[and] drowning’ enhances the grueling terror of war, the actions presenting the boys in a sense of despair and hopelessness. This sense of loss and desolation is contrasted with Owen’s idea that society will never understand the immense suffering the soldiers endured as a result of battle. The heroic image of a man on the frontline would never be associated with these actions of vulnerability that are unique to terrible suffering such as ‘guttering [and] choking...’ in the mind of someone that has yet experienced the reality of war.

Owen’s constant anecdotes associated with death portray the nature of this confronting intimacy as a regular encounter and customary interaction. In his poem ‘The Next War’, death is portrayed as an acquaintance as it ‘Sat down and ate beside him…’ highlighting the common presence of death in the daily routines of the soldiers. Death is also posed as an opportunity of escape from the brutality of battle and inevitable torture of their conditions, ‘Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!’

Owen explores the extent of extreme loneliness and isolation that war evokes; regarding the soldier’s journeys as unimaginable, yet vividly recreating their experiences and depicting the alienated souls as a result of lost hope. In ‘Futility’, Owen explores the meaning of existence, pointlessness of war and inevitably of death. The ‘half-sown’ fields that the dying soldier dreams of is a metaphor for the half lived existence these young boys have been dealt, enhancing the idea that they will never have the opportunity to experience a full existence due to the inevitability of death. Owen depicts a dying young soldier ‘whispering’ about a life that could have been, exemplifying his extreme state of isolation both physically and mentally, as he tries to transcend into another realm that in reality, that he will never get to experience.

Loss of Religion – Anthem for Doomed Youth, Disabled, The Last Laugh

Owen’s experiences in war led him further to challenge religious beliefs, illustrating the divorce between the glory and pretentiousness of the traditional Christian church and the realities of war it wished to endorse. In ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, Owen reveals his cynical stance in regards to the churches involvement in war. He questions as to ‘What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?’ arguing that the Church has no place on the fields or trenches and that it can say nothing of comfort to those whom it sends to be massacred beyond conventional responses. Owen’s comparison of the soldiers to ‘cattle’ highlights his critical attitude toward the church as he presents the men’s deaths as slaughter. Owen suggests that they died with little significance in the eyes of the church and can easily be replaced.

Owen’s rejection of the Church’s faith and his detached state from God as a result of the immense death and incomprehensible surroundings, is evident in ‘Exposure’ as God is presented as an unwilling aid for the soldiers in times of despair. The idea of rejection is shown as the ‘doors are closed’ on the soldiers who are forced to ‘turn back to [their] dying.’ A tone of dejected isolation is evident as the absence of God causes the soldiers to succumb to their reality, with little hope of survival as the ‘love of God seems dying.’

The ironic use of religious terms in ‘The Last Laugh’ heightens Owen’s idea that although God is in existence, he fails to be present on the battle field, resulting in a loss of faith in the one figure who is meant to bring hope and support. ‘The Last Laugh’ was written a few months before Owen’s death, as his time of service was coming to an end. He had been enduring the horrors of war for some time now, the presence of religion now portrayed through blasphemy, ‘Oh! Jesus Christ! I’m hit’ rather than as an element of optimism and hope.

Through his poetry, Owen presents the ongoing torture the soldiers have to live with, questioning the motives of religious groups, and expressing displeasure at the lack of comfort and support they provided. The desertion of the men upon return is illustrated in ‘Disabled’, as Owen instills a sense of sympathetic guilt into readers by questioning ‘Why don’t they come and put him to bed? Why don’t they come?’ The desolate and distant voice of the speaker enhances their isolated state and the failed care of society.

Owen questions the validity and presence of God by exploring his creation of pointless death. The speaker questions the sun’s ability, which stands as a metaphor of God, to create human life by ‘[waking] once the clays of a cold star’ but not resurrect. The rhetorical questions are incredulous and demand an answer, positioning readers to question as to why ‘…limbs [are]…too hard to stir’, but not the ‘clay’ make up of humans God created. A tone of frustration is evident as Owen exposes his attitude to the futile nature of war, by questioning why we develop as humans if death and destruction is the result, ‘Was it for this the clay grew tall?’

Purgatory – Mental Cases, Strange Meeting

The constant effects of war, which successfully ‘torment’ the youthful soldiers, impact them physically; show through Owen’s intense imagery, and spiritually. The personal alienation and disconnected state of the soldiers as a result of the journey of war, results in a purgatorial state depicted by Owen in ‘Mental Cases’. The soldier’s constant state of displacement due to their existence between living and dying is often associated with ‘twilight’ and shades of grey, illuminating the continuous position at which their souls are unable to rest. The ‘purgatorial shadows’ that forever hang off the soldiers give a sense of infinite pain, as although they have physically escaped the battlefield, their souls are still haunted by the pain they endured. The grim nature of the frontline, exposes the ‘shatter of flying muscles’ that seem ‘incomparable’ to most, the multisyllabic structure of incomparable causing the reader to digest the unique suffering of the soldiers nobody else will ever feel. The continuous exposure to ‘multitudinous murders’ that Owen presents in this poem links the grueling frontline survivors to the ongoing emotional purgatorial battle. The purgatorial state is enhanced through the soldiers death infected view of the world, shown as to them ‘Sunlight seems a blood smear...’ whereas to those unaffected by war sunlight is associated with joy and delight.

The ultimatum of death is presented as a more appealing choice over existence in Owen’s ‘Strange Meeting’. The purgatorial warfare that cannot be escaped is revealed in this poem as the speaker acknowledges that ‘…we stood in hell.’ The poem demonstrates the hellish state of the soldiers as they live, exemplifying the extent of their agony and torment as they pleadingly state ‘Let us sleep now…’ Owens incorporation of purgatory into his insight of war creates a sense of division between those who fought and those who could never experience such events, as he emphasizes the carnage and horror that devour these innocent minds.