The Negatively Conotated Imagery in Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen - Essay Example

The Negatively Conotated Imagery in Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

The poem Dulce et Decorum Est includes the unique vision of the terrible stress and suffering that Owen has to experience within the settings of the War. It depicts how one of the soldiers died from the gas attack with the imagery of the negative connotations and pessimistic ironic version of reality. Owen voluntarily joined the army. Shortly afterward, the poet had made his way to Craiglockharts Hospital near Edinburghs in Scotland for medical treatment for PTSD. During Owens stay away there, he met Sassoon there, the young British poet. Both made friends. Sassoon was already a well-known writer at that time and had a lasting influence on Owen's further development as a poet. He introduced Owens to Robert Graves, among others, in the military hospital, who, in turn, brought the poet into contact with other writers and soldiers after his stay in Craiglockharts Hospital. The implying negative connotation in the visually appealing poem Dulce is astonishing and rich in literary devices. Hence, the poem written long ago by Owen is the masterpiece of the great author Owens. In the "Decorum" poetic work, the author uses it in his own way to adapt the quote from Horace. This first poetic line is used for the war propaganda to highlight the essence and the meaning of obedience for every participant party of the conflict, so all issues should be understood correctly. The negatively conotated imagery in Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen is represented in both allusions and bitter, ironic phrases that the author uses to highlight the settings of blood and the growing sorrow of the War. With Owen, however, this quote is not meant to be heroic; he uses it ironically, even sarcastically. This becomes clear in the concluding words of the poem. The oldest dated version of the poem derives its way from October 16, 1917, from a letter Owen wrote to his mother. This included the new poem with the note. The poem Dulce comprises 28 lines arranged in four stanzas of different verse numbers (8–6–2–12). In his poem, Owen uses negative connotations and colorful images to highlight how several soldiers stagger through the combat area more than they march at the end of their physical and psychological powers away from the crowd. Suddenly there is a poison gas attack. In a panic, the soldiers try to put on their gas masks. One does not make it in time and dies painfully in front of Owen's eyes. The poem Dulce et Decorum Est includes the versatile war imagery that is slightly different in different manuscript versions. Two of them are today kept in the British Library and the English Faculty Library at Oxford University. Some have a dedication under the title, which was later changed for reasons of the overall impression and finally removed. However, Owens "dedication" is not really because it is to be understood as an indictment. In another manuscript of the poem, the poet uses the powerful war images that let the reader develop a unique opinion on the role of soldiers. Owen uses the imagery of this manuscript in his own way, and every change in it is devoted to Jessie Pope. Jessie Pope (1868-1941) was a well-known British writer and journalist. They worked during the First World War and became known through poems of hooray-patriotic content, with which she tried to "motivate" young men or put moral pressure on them to volunteer for military service. One of her best-known heroic poems at the time was entitled "Who's for the game?" ("Who wants to join in?" Or "Who wants to be there?"). Others bore titles such as "The Call," or "Who's for the Trench" ("Who wants to go to the trenches - you, my boy?"). In the first version, Owen "dedicated" the poem to Pope because he liked her war poems as responsible for the fact that so many young soldiers died on the fronts. With the last three lines of the poem, he addressed the way he represents the imagery to her "directly." With the increasing duration of the conflict and increasing reports of the horror of what happened in France, the influence of war authors such as Owen, Sassoon, and others grew as they suggested the rich flowing imagery. As their popularity grew among soldiers, so did that of authors like Jessie Pope. Pope is almost forgotten today. Wilfred Owen died at the age of 25 on November 4, 1918, exactly one week before the end of the War, in fighting on the Canal de la Sambre à l'Oise, near the small French town of Joncourt in the Aisne department. Posthumously he was awarded the Military Cross for bravery in front of the enemy soldiers.

In addition to Rupert Brooke, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, and Charles Sorley, Owen is one of the most outstanding representatives of the English war poets ("war poets"). Most of them died in the First World War. His most important works include the poem Dulce et Decorum est, the work from the cycle "Anthem for Doomed Youth" ("Hymn for doomed youth"). Some imagery of his words has found their way into common usage, e.g., "Dulce" poem puts away the ironic allusion or of the War, and the pity of particularly the First World War. And, the imagery is in the pity ("poetry is compassionate."). The last two quotes come from Owens own foreword for a book of poems that he wanted to publish in 1919 dedicated to his fellow soldiers. The English composer Benjamin Britten uses nine of Owen's poems in his "War Requiem," which began in 1961 and was completed in 1962. Owen's words and imagery of negative connotations can be found on the title page of the score.

Owen's poetic work is away from the mainstream of British literature. The author implies the negative connotation in the imagery to highlight the background of patriotism and stay away from the crowd while suggesting the pessimistic irony for the title of the literary work.