Wilfed Owen :: biographies bio biography

My essay is about Wilfred Owen and his astounding ability of communicating the horrors of war. Wilfred Owen was born in Oswestry on 18th March 1883. Although he had previously thought of himself as a pacifist he enlisted in the artists Rifles and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant joining the Manchester regiment in France 1917. Whilst "serving his duty" in France he began to write poetically about his experiences and perceptions of war and its consequences. The creative aspect of his work is engendered from the intense personal experiences he was subject to during the war and are masterfully portrayed with brilliance through his poems. He has the ability to reach out and grab the reader and bring them back to his world, let them feel the atmosphere of how it was in no-mans land when the men where slowly dieing in ?exposure?. Or have their heart rate increase as they realize the panic of a gas attack in ?Dulce Et Decorum Est?. This is one of the techniques that show his brilliance as a poet, just one of the many ways he communicates the horrors of the First World War. Upon his arrival in France one of Owens first tasks was to hold a dugout in no-mans land ? an ordeal that is later described in poems ?The Sentry? and ?exposure?. These experiences I think add realism and emotion to his poems but further most an artistic licence and obligation to express his anger and disgust at poets and authors glorifying war. He shows with ease the reality of war, giving us a perception of its barbaric nature not available in a text book, an honest insight into futility at its best. One of the main purposes of my essay is to focus on four different poems of the author Wilfred Owen. One of his most famous poems ?Dulce Et Decorum Est? is a personal insight into the futility of war Owen endured. It is an ironic reminiscence unto a moment of chaos, to which a life is lost due to a gas attack. The poem tells how Owen and his men were walking back to a trench when a gas attack is brought upon them. ?Exposure? explains how the men are situated in a trench and just waiting for the weather to kill them. In this poem we are observing the process of dieing. The next poem I am analysing is