Wilfred Owen Poetry Analysis

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During the Great War, Owen’s work was not looked upon in the best ways, but it was only after his death that society took a real interest in his work. To this day he has been classified as one of the most popular WWI poets. The Great War was said and expected to be a war to end all wars, thus this increased the number of men wanting to take part in it. War was said to be glorious, honourable and heroic yet it was not after the first couple of months that the truth behind it reached individuals like Owen. It was only over time that he became interested in war and only after his experience at it that he decided to write about the pity of war and attack society with truth. The early 20th century, promoted war through propaganda which is what…show more content…
Propaganda was not always obvious, for instance the young generation of men were easily manipulated and influenced as they knew little or nothing better than what they were exposed to. This though, was only realized too late during the war and even more after it was over. Owen was one of the lucky men who had experienced war and survived it. The war changed his perspective of life and it is in his poetry that he conveyed the reality of society. Unfortunately at his time his poetry was not looked upon at in the same views and it was only after his death and after The Great War that populations realized his talent in conveying such messages through poetry. Owen was constantly angry at society and constantly attacked it in his poetry. In “The Send Off” there is no direct attack but he does make men look like fools and mocks their ceremony. On the contrary, in “Anthem for Doomed Youth” Owen attacks society directly by portraying truth. This poem is an elegy for the dead, pitying youth as no one else did, yet it is his only sonnet. Though it was losing its values at the time, in both poems Owen makes a lot of references to religion and never in positive terms: flowers, wreath, bells, candles and

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