Wilfred Owen

I want to share one of my favorite poets with all of you. I am not big on reading poetry, really, so there are a few select poets I’m crazy about. Wilfred Owen is one of those poets. He was an English soldier who served during World War I. During that era, most British soldiers had college educations. There was loads of propaganda about WWI. One common British WWI poster was the silhouette of a soldier, standing guard on a hilltop with the statement, “HALT! Who goes there? If you are a friend join the British ranks and help the brave lads AT THE FRONT.” Another, appealing to the support of women at home, depicts a mother, her young daughter and even younger son, longingly gazing out an open window. The strong message here is, “Women of Britain say- GO!” Wilfred Owen was distressed by this popularization of war.

He addressed the propaganda with his poetry. There was a lot of hero poetry and work that supported the propaganda. Owen’s poems were vastly different from other works because he addressed the side of war that you only see at the front. The graphic imagery dashes the pretty pictures people had formed in their minds of the glorious, uniformed British soldier marching bravely into battle and returning without a scratch. His descriptions of mustard gas in Dulce et Decorum Est and of death on the battlefield in Anthem for Doomed Youth shocked many readers who were under the viel of propaganda.

In this day and age of so many wars raging around the world, I think that we need more Wilfred Owen’s. There has been incredible art in the form of poetry, music, painting, novels, blogs, videos, etc. coming out of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them less shocking than others, but all incredible in their own rite.

This link has great explanatory notes along with Dulce et Decorum Est. Here is another deep look at the poem.

Dulce et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, –
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Anthem For Doomed Youth
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Here is some great info on Anthem. If you’d like to read more of Wilfred Owen’s work, go here. I highly recommend it.

A note about WO-type work:A friend recently recommended Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green: A Year in the Desert with Team America. He told me that if I liked My War by Colby Buzzel, I would like this one even more. I think it may rank up there with some of the more graphic works that has come out of Iraq. When I manage to buy it, I will review it here.