“Anthem for Doomed Youth” by Owen Wilson.

From this poem we can figure out a bit more about the author himself. In the first paragraph, we can see that, they are in a battlefield; “Only the stuttering rifles”. He talks about the soldiers themselves as cattle”for these who die as cattle?”, doomed to die. He talks about the sounds and emotions the weapons being used; “Only the monstrous anger of the guns”, and then goes onto say how the soldiers won’t be able to hear any other sounds from outside the battlefield; “No prayers nor bells;”. We can take this to mean that he most likely saw some young people die in the war. And then realizing that these young people will never get to hear the sounds of normal life again. And so he would of wanted to try and get this out of his system, this idea that all these young people are dying, and how regrettable it all is.
The next paragraph describes the aftereffects of their deaths. That being the funerals, and the sadness everyone feels; “The pallor of girls’ brows”. Everyday being one where a funeral is held; “And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds”, and so everyday people just get sadder and sadder. This also tells everyone that too many people have died; wondering how you are supposed to mourn for them all; “What candles may be held to speed them all?”.
What we can take from all this is he has suffered through a war where everyone is dying, and their deaths mean nothing. Many emotions being in the battlefield, while only sadness is left in their own communities. So basically just a not-good experience, that he wants to point out to everyone, and just make sure everyone understands just how terrible that war is. 

What has been included.”Dulce et Decorum Est” Wilfred Owen

What images are presented in the text?
“Bent double,” This image gets the reader to see someone tired, kind of slouching from. About at that point of falling over yet still standing up. We can think this is from an earlier battle, leaving them exhausted and hurt. Or it could be about how they have been walking for quite a while, leaving them barely able to walk anymore. What it tells us is that they aren’t giving up yet, they don’t want to die, but feeling this way is difficult as they have been so close to death. The atmosphere generated from this is one of tiredness, and the want to just give up, and yet also one of determination, in the way that they haven’t given up.

“”As under a green sea,” this image gets the reader to see a large mass of green, surrounding everything. What the reader understands is that death is now surrounding them, there is no escape. The reader understands that the soldiers could end up dying, and knows the soldiers realize this too. This creates an idea that even after going through battles, getting injured, and still walking afterwards, death still comes after them. And after this, if anyone survives, their will to live will either be destroyed, or strengthened.

“If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood come gargling from froth corrupted lungs”
This image creates an idea of a person lying down in a carriage, while it trundle along. And as it moves, that person has blood start pooling up, with their chest and body writhing. What the reader understands from this is that death by that green gas is terrible. It leaves you in a state of certain death, with pain coursing through if you move even slightly. It also leaves you knowing that even after all this stuff has happened, they still won’t live behind their friend. Even if death is assured. This creates the sort of atmosphere that living is torture, and yet they still will live. Not that they particularly want to, they just don’t want to waste the lives of their comrades.

What specific vocabulary has been chosen to add meaning to the text?
“An ecstasy of fumbling” This word “ecstasy” makes the reader think that these soldiers are happy to finally be able to do something that can let them live for a while longer. It could also mean that when they are putting on the helmets, they aren’t really focusing on it, like their minds are in a different state and nearly completely unaware of what is happening. The atmosphere generated from this is one of being either happy to be able to do something, or a general feeling of “it doesn’t even matter anymore.” The reason this is included is so that the reader gains even more insight to how tired the soldiers are, and how difficult the fight had so far been.

“If in some smothering dreams” from the word smothering, the reader knows that what he is going to talk about isn’t a pleasant dream. Instead it would be more like a nightmare, one that completely wraps over a persons mind, and makes them fill the full force of the nightmare. Basically, they will be terrified. This tells the reader that what happens next is both serious and terrifying. By doing this, the reader also knows that this part can be described as dreamlike, while also having a good deal of reality.

“All want lame; all blind” What the reader gathers from this is that everyone is hurt, and everyone is tired. nobody can properly continue. This includes the author. Why this was included would be so as to get the reader to understand just how much hardship they have been through to leave them all injured so much. Everyone is losing the ability to live, and yet they continue. The atmosphere generated from this is one of death and not quite giving up.

Language techniques:

  1. Allusion:”Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori”. By including this in the poem, the very reason for the poem comes to light. That is, it isn’t sweet and fitting to die for ones country. By including this here, it sounds far better than just saying “It is wrong to think that dying for ones country is good.” The reason for this being the way in which people’s minds work. That is, people believe words that sound scientific, which is pretty much Latin, to be more real. Basically, saying it in Latin will convince people that what he says is the truth, while using English the entire time won’t create any special impact at all. It also reaches back into his past where he would of taught Latin. The impact on the readers understanding however is that now they won’t understand the true meaning of the poem unless they know where it comes from.
  2. Repetition:”All went lame; all blind” By using this in the poem, it will drag the reader more into the poem, while also setting up the scenery and attitude of the soldiers. With this one sentence, the reader understands that the soldiers ability to move and process what is happening around them is practically gone. Without this, the reader wouldn’t of understood just how bad the situation the soldiers were in when the gas bombs dropped, and might of gotten confused at the point of saying “An ecstasy of fumbling,” as it could’ve also had a happy feeling to it.
  3. Emotive language:”His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;” By using this in the poem, the author can help describe just how nasty the gas is. It affects the readers in the way of telling them that this soldier, fighting for you and your country, is looking about as good as a pile of sin filled sick. So it will create large amounts of the feeling horror in the reader. Without it there is still plenty more emotive language to describe the situation, but each sentence builds up on another to describe an image of how bad the soldier is looking.

 

“Dulce et decorum est” by Wilfred Owen

Who was Wilfred Owen? 
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, was an English poet and soldier in world war one. He fought as as English soldier. On 4 June 1916, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Manchester Regiment.
He then went through a few traumatic experiences, which where basically him falling into a shell hole, getting blown up by a trench mortar, then laying nice to the blown up bodies of his fellow officers. After this, he is diagnosed as having neurasthenia or shell shock. A good part of all this is that he met another poet, who goes by the name Siegfried Sassoon. Basically, this guy was a good friend to him.
In the end, he died one week before the armistice. His mother learnt of his death on armistice day. So, not particularly lucky in this case.

Why he wrote the poem?
It seems he wrote the poems so as to talk about the war, and what it was like. His friend Siegfried Sassoon, had a great effect on his poetry, as he showed him what it could be like. He took the realism of Siegfried Sassoon, and his own romantic inclinations into his poems, creating some new kinds of poems. The reason the poem was written in the first place was to show how war isn’t glorious, or good, and in actual fact that no one will want to stay for long.
Oh, and as a form of catharsis, which is to get out emotions over the words you said. He was suffering from mental problems, and so by writing these poems he can release poems.
That and he saw this happen just the day before. So he might have wanted to let out his feelings of that day. Interestingly enough, this poem was for his mum, so it could have also been demanding that you shouldn’t of told anyone that war is a good thing. Which also could mean his mum told him that war is good. That and maybe he wanted to try and get a message out there to go against all the propaganda.

Where and when was it written?
The poem was written 

What does this poem mean to the readers?
It tells the reader

How is the poem interpreted?
We think of it like

 

It is yet to be finished, but I want other people to read my answers to the first two questions. I will probably finish it soon.

bibliography:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Owen

https://www.enotes.com/topics/dulce-et-decorum-est