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Essay on Wilfred Owen and His Poems

In: English and Literature

Submitted By farhan110
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Wilfred Owen essay draft.

The First World War rained havoc on the population of Great Britain and Europe between the years 1914 and 1918, causing catastrophe to the soldiers and their families. As well as many other European countries, Britain used propaganda as a tool and to make life on the front line sound more appealing to the average man. Propaganda posters were used to lure people into fight and to make those who decided not to fight appear as cowards among the other men that signed up. The propaganda worked and caused a positive opinion towards men going out to fight; which made more men go out to war and hope to come back as heroes.

Many poets wrote about the things that occurred in World War One, such as, Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, who was one of the leading poets of the First World War. Born on the 18th March 1893, Owen was drafted into the army and he fought for Great Britain, which lead to his shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare, which are mentioned in poems such as, ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, ‘Futility’ and ‘The Sentry’. His presence in the fighting for his country led him into being able to capture the life of the people on the front line and how it wasn’t glamorous as promoted to be and in reality it was a constant battle to stay alive even when not at front line.

In addition to this, poets such as: Jessie Pope also wrote about World War One, Pope never was on the front line like Owen, or even been in a trench. Also her poetry can be described as ‘lies’ due to her only hearing about the events of the First World War and not actually witnessing what she wrote about. Through out Wilfred Owens poetry we see his perspective of war, his view on propaganda and how he thought war was unnecessary or ‘Futile’. Although his disagreement of his country going to war; he still went to fight.

The poem ‘Dulce et

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