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Anguish, Torment and the Unseen Scars of War Are Depicted in Many of ‘The War Poems’ to Emphasise the Extent of Suffering and Damage the War Had on the Soldiers

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Anguish, Torment and the Unseen Scars of War Are Depicted in Many of ‘The War Poems’ to Emphasise the Extent of Suffering and Damage the War Had on the Soldiers Owen’s poetry is about suffering. Is this how you see Owen’s poetry? Anguish, torment and the unseen scars of war are depicted in many of ‘The War Poems’ to emphasise the extent of suffering and damage the war had on the soldiers. However this is not all his poems are about. Owen’s poetry delves into ideas more profound than the portrayal of suffering seen on the surface, and rather, they portray the universal tragedy of human existence. Owen expresses his anger towards the disturbing reality that all humans are worthy of is to lie, cheat and be used for the gain of others. Furthermore, the notion of pity is a fundamental theme in his poems and is illustrated through the abyss between what humans potentially could have been and what they ultimately have become. This pity is further emphasised through the poignant portrayal of the soldier’s mentality, having to rid themselves of all sense and emotion in able to survive in the battlefield. Owen’s poetry is not entirely about suffering, however to an extent, this theme alongside others is apparent in many of his works. Suffering is depicted through the distress, torment and anguish experienced with soldiers at war as well as those who have come home. Owen emphasises the fact that these men are forever mentally and physically traumatised by the war. ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’ makes use of vivid imagery to shock, disgust and reveal to readers the ‘old lie’, thereby exposing the truth of suffering that goes on at war. The sickening image of the dying man’s “white eyes writhing in his face” and his “blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs” portray the horror and torment, not only of the dying man, but also for his fellow soldiers watching him suffer in front of their eyes. ‘Mental cases’ on the other hand, explores the idea that suffering at war never stops. Owen is trying to tell readers that war cannot ever be forgotten and the trauma and anguish that were experienced on the battlefield will forever live inside the minds of the soldiers. The omission of human reference towards the soldiers for words such as “these” and “they” emphasise the dehumanised nature of the men who have come home from war, thus reiterating that the extent of suffering these men have gone through has led to soldiers becoming mentally unstable and unable to return to their former life. Owen’s poetry explores ideas that are much more profound than the suffering of the soldiers seen on the surface of his poems. His poetry expresses a sense of resentment towards leaders and civilians back home, not only in Britain, but towards humans as a whole. The universal tragedy of human existence is significantly explored; stating that lying, cheating and using others for personal gain is all humans are made to be. This not only applies to war and can even be seen through our society today. ‘The parable of the old man and the young’ portrays this tragedy through the ‘old man’, representing the leaders and father figures, being unwilling to “offer the ram of pride”. This outlines the selfish/egocentric attitude the country leaders and civilians possess, to the extent where they would rather sacrifice human life than their own ego. Although there is a sense of suffering for the young man being bound with ‘belts and straps’, the overriding aim of the poem is to depict the anger and disgust Owen feels towards people back home. Owen further expresses his frustration towards the ideals of humanity through ‘Anthem for doomed youth’ with the use of animal imagery. It is evident through the men being depicted as ‘cattle’ that Owen reveals a sense of hatred towards leaders for breeding them with the ultimate purpose of being ‘slaughtered’. The use of animal imagery allows readers to connote them to something that is believed to be less than human, and bred only to satisfy the needs of the civilians and leaders at home. This concept is not only about war, but about human existence as a whole. Owen uses war as a symbol and metaphor to show the disastrous and tragic ideals of humanity. This is seen through society today, where it is evident that people live under a lying, cheating and selfish system with those in power hiring people to do the jobs they don’t want to do and getting rid of them when they are ill, old or no longer of use. As well as pointing to the more obvious physical and mental forms of suffering caused by being a soldier at war, Owen also wants readers to recognise the pity within war. A fundamental theme in Owen’s poetry is pity. In his preface Owen states “My subject is war and the pity of war, the poetry is in the pity”. The helplessness, grief and distanced sympathy are reflected in Owen’s poems to portray the waste of human life and potential. Owen compares what could have been and what is through ‘Strange meeting’ with the purpose of portraying the sadness within the loss of hope and potential for the young men at war. In a dream with an ‘enemy’ soldier, he shows that the two soldiers are not enemies with each other, but with their countries. Owen explores that the men are in actual fact very similar to each other, “whatever hope is yours/Was my life also” demonstrating the piteous situation by recognising that two opposing soldiers may have the same hopes and dreams and perhaps in another world, they would be friends. To an extent however, Owen depicts a sense of suffering for other soldiers as he notes that down in hell “encumbered sleepers groaned”. This is not the central focus of the poem; rather, it acts as a way for Owen to say “here is no cause to mourn” as being hell is essentially a better, more peaceful place than living in a world full of death and trauma. This allows readers to feel piteous about the portrayal of hell, a dark, sinful and deadly place being better than life on earth. Owen further exemplifies the waste of human potential through highlighting that the soldiers are conscious of “the truth untold, the pity of war, the pity of war distilled”. He states that these soldiers have the answer to humanity’s problems; they are aware of the old lie “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and through their experiences know the harsh truth about war. The pity is in the divide between what is and what humans could become if they knew the truth, however it is unlikely that people back home will understand as these soldiers are dead. The waste of human life and potential is explored through the way soldiers at war approach death casually in “insensibility”. These soldiers are not essentially suffering as such as they have deliberately freed themselves from the emotions which make them suffer. Owen explores the pity in men dehumanising themselves in order to survive in the battlefield. There is also a sense of pity in the fact that “Happy are these who lose imagination” as soldiers have rid themselves of all emotion and sense, turning human life and human emotions into something inhumane and almost robotic. Wilfred Owen’s war poems not only reveal the horror, suffering and torment experienced by both men at war and men who have come home from war. They also expose the tragedy of human life and human existence as a whole, relating this calamity to human ideals outside the concept of war. Through the poems acting as a symbol and metaphor for this tragedy, Owen portrays his anger and frustration towards the lying, cheating and selfish ideals of humanity. Furthermore, Owen’s poems can also be seen to depict the pity of war. It is evident Owen feels a sense of grief for the waste of human life and human potential. The divide between what humans are, and what they potentially could be is pitied as only the soldiers have knowledge of the ‘truth untold’ and most don’t go on to pass on this truth. .
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