8/2/2019 Poetry Analysis Wilfred Owen

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Poetry Analysis

Charles Reis

Poem 11

Introduction:

- This poem seems to be referencing razor wire that could be found strewn about No mansland between trenches during WWI. In WWI the warfare tactics had not yet fully evolved

from the full army charges of the revolutionary war but technology had evolved. Machine

guns, artillery, longer range rifles, chemical weapons, andas alluded to on this poem

razor wire made a battlefield more deadly than the world had ever seen, especially with

outdated tactics like line charges which left men with a small chance of survival.

- Wilfred Owen seems to reference razor wire throughout this poem. He seems to be talkingof the surreal horror of no mans land and the treachery of the wire. Some devices he uses

are personification, diction, patterns, imagery, symbolism, simile, and metaphor.- This poem has an ominous and surreal feeling about it, grotesque in nature, due to the

authors use of personification, diction, imagery, simile, symbolism, and patterns.

Body:

- The use of certain diction in this poem adds to its surreal and ominous nature.o From glooms last dregs these long-strung creatures crept

The specific diction used hereglooms and crept has a very distinctmeaning. Gloom has the obvious meaning of being gloomy: a very sad aura.

Dregs is interesting too just as choice of word. Meaning rubbish or

something thrown away, trash, it is interesting that this particular word was

used. The most interesting use of diction in my opinion is the use of crept.

Crept has very ominous connotations and the use of this here adds a great

deal to overall tone of the poem; creatures crept is very scary.

- The use of symbolism allows for some horrifying comparisons.o There moved thin caterpillars, slowly uncoiled

Here the caterpillar is actually representing the razor wire. The descriptionof this creature throughout the poem supports that Owen is referring to

this coiled wire strewn about no mans land and in front of trenches to stop

oncoming forces. The razor wire itself also seems to be a symbol though, a

symbol of fear as can be concluded from the line terror what that sight

might mean

- The use of simile portrays a sense of hopelessness in the poemo I reeled and shivered earthward like a feather.

The author is clearly trying to appeal to the sympathetic nature of thereader. He describes a situation in which the speaker is so hopeless as to the

8/2/2019 Poetry Analysis Wilfred Owen

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outcome of events he wants to be as small as possible and just sink into the

ground. As a reader it is easy to sympathize for the speaker.

- Personification, in my opinion, is the integral component in the ominous nature of thispoem

o Of ditches, where they writhed and shriveled, killed. These verbs are describing razor wire, a weapon that does not move of its

own accord, thus it can assumed that this movement is used by the author

to create a surreal environment. Another way to look at this is the speaker

is experiencing so much fear from the environment he imagines the razor

wire moving in a serpentine fashion. The effect of all this is a horrifying

image for the reader.

- The patterns used in this poem are very sullen as well.o with death,killed,Death fell etc.

There were four distinct and significant patterns. As shown above, onepattern was death, another was sadness, the third was imagery of a

creature, and the last was terror. None of these patterns are very bright in

nature, thus they contribute to this poems gloom.

- The imagery creates a great mental image of the environment in which he speaker findshimself; a gruesome fog of war environment.

o Gray, cratered like the moon with hollow woe This descriptive imagery is used throughout the poem to provide a literal

sense of the landscape. This supports the typical view of no mans land as

being riddled with craters from artillery fire. Gray is a common component

in the imagery of this poem as gray is a color very empty of any positive

emotion and also a very good color to describe the fog of war.

Conclusion:

- This poems surreal, gloomy, and ominous tone is underscored by six main literary factors.These factors are personification, diction, imagery, simile, symbolism, and patterns. The

main purpose of these devices is to create an environment best describing the environment

the speaker is in. I see a gray landscape with razor wire creatures crawling from craters to

holes eating men and I can imagine the speaker shriveling into a crater trying to hide from

this horror. This is a very ominous and surreal image in my mind.