'Marxist critics tend to believe that literature is the product of the writers own cultural values and that literary texts are themselves products of a particular ideology. 'Using ideas from the critical anthology and Wilfred Owens poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' to what extent do you agree with this view?
Dulce et Decorum est
'Old beggars'
'Coughing like hags'
•Reduced further into the bottom of the social hierarchy accepting their plight and following the orders of their higher class superiors. •Powerless.
•Considering Owen describes the soldiers as old and weakened, the reader will maybe begin to understand the horrific circumstances the soldiers had to face as it shows that war has broken the soldiers.
'All went lame; all went blind'
•War affects all men.
•No escape from the horrendous circumstances they find themselves in.
•Complete opposite to 'sweet and honourable.'
•Denying the trauma they have witnessed.
•Slowly loosing their will knowing they have to keep going, and if they stop they will no longer have the energy to carry on through the turmoil.
•The reader will see that no matter who the soldier is, they will not come out the war healthy, as war affects all men, due to its brutality.
'Like a devils sick sin'
•Negative
•Very religious during the time of the war.
•Direct address to the higher class; comparing them to the devil.
•War is the devils work.
•Having to deal with the hand they have dealt, with no choice.
•Due to the England's in the 1900's being extremely religious, the reader will see the direct address to the higher class superior being described as the devil, automatically this creates a negative imagery towards the bourgeoisie, due to the impressions created by Wilfred Owen.
'Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues'
•The higher class don't understand the effect that the war will have on the soldiers, the soldiers will always have the memories and stories to tell that will never be forgotten.
•The higher class aren't innocent, its the men that they are sacrificing in the name of the war that are suffering.
•Wilfred Owen emphasises the effects the war will have on each soldier by saying every sore is incurable and that every soldier is innocent, because of this the reader will feel sympathy towards the soldiers, as all the lies to the superior class has broadcasted to the public did not prepare the soldiers for the trauma they had to face.
'Obscene as cancer; bitter as cud'
•The word cancer at the time of the war was taboo, because of the destruction it comes with, and the fact that Owen uses the word in one of his poems shows the reader the catastrophic circumstances war can bring, in contrast to the higher classes views of war being 'sweet and honourable.'
•The word almost fails the reality of war.
•The word cancer emphasises to the reader the disastrous circumstances of the war, and the everlasting disease it will have in the soldiers mind.
'My friend, you would not tell with such high zest'
•Direct address to writer Jessica Pope, who glorifies war when writing.
•'If you were to have seen it yourself you would not describe it as glory'
•He sees war as brutal and wasteful of young lives.
•The Direct Address to another writer will highlight to the reader that even other writers are oblivious to the reality of war and they should listen to someone who spent their days fighting in it.
'To children arden for some desperate glory'
•Young men are almost lured to the war by the promise of 'desperate glory.'
•Higher class target the younger as they are easily persuaded and naïve.
•Young innocent lives are lost through a lie told by the superior.
•The use of the word children creates sympathy towards the soldiers as it emphasises the young lives the war takes, when they haven't had the chance to live.
'The old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'
• TRANSLATION: Sweet and honourable to die for ones country.
•Link to the title.
•Making it clear that by seeing the war ground himself the higher class is lying to people of England by saying that going to war is sweet and honourable, however, they should listen to the first hand account, as although he is from a lower class he seen the war first hand and as a result knows the truth.
•Overall message of the poem: what the higher class present about the war is all lies.
•Wilfred Owen overall shows the reader the truth about being a soldier, and if at the time the reader is reading the poem while the war is taking place, the reader may feel unsettled, as Owen describes all what is like to go to war, and society at the time does not recognise the torture and devastation the soldiers have to face.
SIW
STRUCTURE:
The Prologue: A prologue is that which goes before or leads to another event or action. In prologue Owen explains the background that will produce the events of the main action.
The Action: The dramatic heart of S.I.W is the boys suicide we only get to hear of the manner of his death, rather than being present at the moment when he puts the rifle in his mouth.
The Poem: Owen uses this unusual heading for his own reflection on the reason for his action.
The Epilogue: The opposite of the prologue is the epilogue- what happened afterwards, Owen simply and ironically tells us how the story ends- another death in war is not a shocking circumstance due to war being 'war'.
'SIW'
• Self inflicted wound. •Harming ones self.
•Foreshadowing end of the poem.
EPIGRAPH:
Short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme.
'I will to the King
And offer him consolation in his trouble,
For that man there has set his teeth to die, And being one that hates obedience,
Discipline, and orderliness of life,
I cannot mourn him."' W.B. YEATS
• "S.I.W. begins with an epigraph from a play by W. B. Yeats: The King’s Threshold. This tells the story of a poet once expelled from a King’s court. The poet is determined to make the King aware of the need for poetry and poets. In order to do this the poet goes on hunger strike. He ‘has set his teeth to die’ just as the young soldier in S.I.W. kissed the muzzle with his teeth." QUOTE FROM: http://crossref-it.info/textguide/wilfred-owen-selected-poems/36/2628
'Lad'
'See him going, aye and glad.'
•Colloquial language: voice of the working class.
•Giving working class a voice.
'Father would sooner him dead than in disgrace'
'Death sooner than dishonour that's the style!'
•Don't want his son to be seen as coward.
•War is more important than a family members life.
•'Owen emphasises the power of the father’s voice by telling us twice of his views on war and fighting' QUOTE FROM: http://crossref-it.info/textguide/wilfred-owen-selected-poems/36/2630
"Perhaps his mother whimpered oh how shed fret until he got a nice safe wound to nurse."
•Pressurising him to come home safely, with only 'safe wounds.'
'Girls to could shoot, charge, curse...'
•Feminist viewpoint: girls not being able to face wars.
•War written to the public as a honourable event.
•Pressurises brother to live up to expectations.
'Each week, month after month they wrote the same.'
•Owen is exaggerating the length and the repetition of the war.
•Not letting family know the devastation of the war.
'Where once an hour a bullet missed its aim'
•He suffers existence.
•He cannot escape.
'Courage leaked, as sand from the best sand-bags after years of rain'
•Emphasising the length of war.
•War destroys all courage, no matter how much courage one had.
'Untrapped the wretch'
•' It is this feeling of never being able to escape which drives the boy soldier to take events into his own hands and to escape the horrors of war by killing himself.' QUOTE FROM: http://crossref-it.info/textguide/wilfred-owen-selected-poems/36/2630
'At the pleasure of this world's Powers who'd run amok.'
•Ruling elite causes suffering to the lower class within the hierarchy.
•Lower class are alienated by being forced into the horrors of war.
'Death had not missed.'
•He died.
'Later they find an English ball.'
•English bullet: they knew it came from his side.
'And truthfully wrote to his mother, 'Tim died smiling'.'
•Killed himself to escaped the horrors of the war.
•He was truthfully happy due to him escaping the war scenes.
"
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