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This poem was written by Wilfred Owen and is based on his situation in the trenches during World War One. I wish to discuss how Owen effectively portrays the suffering of the soldiers using various writing techniques. In this poem Wilfred Owen describes the agony these men are put through after a hard day of fighting, gas attacks and the excruciating pain of watching a fellow soldier die a gruesome death. In the first stanza the poet shocks us by using an image of tired defenceless men, and uses the unexpected simile, bent double, like old beggars. This gives an idea of weakness, vulnerability and despair which is ironic because of the supposed strength we associate with soldiers.
In the second stanza I found the last line particularly disturbing. The quote I have chosen is gas shells dropping softly behind. I find this particularly moving because the noise of gas shells dropping is usually quite a loud noise, but compared to artillery noises the soldiers have been accustomed to, gas shells dropping may sound quieter or perhaps the hearing of the men is now so badly impaired because of the constant high noise level, that the gas shells dropping appears to be a softer noise. In the third stanza the pace of the poem changes entirely, when a gas attack strikes. The punctuation increases the drama of the attack where capitals are used for the full word, GAS!
This almost startled me because of the slow beginning the poem has, where all the men are trudging through the mud very depressed and all of a sudden things change because there has been gas thrown so everyone has to move fast. The fourth stanza is the shortest, consisting only of two lines. However four words in the stanza produce a very vivid image. The poet is watching a man chocking to death on the gas that has just been thrown at them and he uses the words, he plunges at me. After reading this short phrase I felt the desperation of the soldier drowning in the gas. It clearly paints a picture of how he knows he is going to die and how Owen who is watching him is completely helpless and unable to do anything to save him.
In the fifth stanza I found three rather striking expressions. The first being, the wagon we flung him in. I think in this line, Owen is trying to convey the normality of having men die before his eyes. The word flung shows hurriedly this man had to be forgotten about, there was no time to grieve for him, which is awful. The second phrase that affected me is his white eyes writhing in his face. This line made me imagine how horrifically this man was dying.
It suggests to me the sheer pain the man was put through and gives an idea of how seriously uncomfortable he must have been. The final quote I have chosen from this stanza is the alliterative line like devils sick of sin. Hearing this harsh tone imitates how the poet may be spitting out words so bitterly as hatred runs through him at the thought of this innocent mans death. Overall I found this poem extremely thought provoking and is difficult to try to feel the empathy for the pain, both mental and physical, that these soldiers went through.
The expressions used give strong, shocking images. I really like how Owen manages to end this poem, by saying the old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori which is him saying that it most definitely is not sweet and noble to die for your country. As after all, he has just given us a look in at how disturbing this experience would have been.
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Research essay sample on Wilfred Owen Gas Shells
