FREE ESSAY ON WAR POEMS

WAR POEMS

Question: In what specific ways do Wilfred Owens' poems attempt to dispel the illusions
about the war represented in the art on pages 367-368?
As the First World War raged through Europe many of the countries involved used posters
to draw people to the cause. The posters located in the Human Record showed scenes of
happiness and patriotism. People were seeing these posters and assuming that war was
similar to them. But, on the other hand, Wilfred Owens was writing poetry that truly
portrayed the war how it actually was.
The war poster by B. Hennerberg showed young soldiers in a train getting ready to leave.
Everyone is smiling and excited in the picture, even though they are going off to a
bloody battle in which many of them will not make it home. The poem by Wilfred Owens that
contradicts this poster is called Disabled. This poem tells the story of a young Scottish
soldier that was wounded in the war and lost his legs. The young man just sits in his
wheelchair all day listening to the voices of the people in the park, silently wishing
that he could once again join in the fun and games. But, because of the war and the
posters used to encourage enlistment, the soldier will never again be able to live like
the happy people in the park. Owen makes reference to the fact that when the soldier left
there was big deal about the young boys going off to war. But, as the legless soldier
returned home, only a few people welcomed him. The poem also told of how the young
soldier fought for his country's freedom and only one man actually thanked him for his
bravery and courage. The Scottish soldier lost his legs in the war and the only thing his
got was a gray suit and a wheelchair that will never leave the institution in which it
sits now. The boy lost everything and most people didn't realize that he would have to
give it up.
In the second poem of Wilfred Owens' is titled Dulce Et Decorum Est . The title means how
sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country. This poem tells the story of a poison
gas attack. Unlike the war posters, the poems portray the unhappy and painful story of
the gas attack that fatally injured a man. The poison gas tears up the lungs causing the
person that inhales it to literally drown in the blood in the lungs, "...the blood come
gargling from the froth corrupted lungs..." The only thing the other soldiers could do
was watch as this man gasped for air and choked on his own blood. The dying soldier was
taken away in a wagon and that was the last time the other soldiers saw him. Owens knew
that no poster was going to show the real truth behind the war. He wrote from first hand
experiences because he was a soldier for the British army. 
Wilfred Owens' poems painted a mental picture for the people who read the poems that
looked nothing like the posters. The posters showed of happy times and smiles while the
poems showed the dark side of the war with the gas attacks and the disabled going home.
Every country involved lost many men and young boys, but maybe if people had portrayed
the war as it actually was - bloody, horrified, dirty, and dark - so many young boys
wouldn't have thought it was brave to enlist. Almost 60 million soldiers were killed in
the First World War, including Wilfred Owens. He was killed one week before the armistice
on November 4, 1918. His poems told the truth without the glamour.