7/29/2019 Wilfred Owen and t.s Elliot Poetry Essay

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Wilfred Owen and T.S Elliot poetry essay

Poems are often catalyzed by personal experiences, expressing the poets concerns about life and

encouraging audiences to embrace their unique perspectives. T.S Elliots The Love Song of J

Alfred Prufrock and Wilfred Owens poems Dulce et Decorum est and Insensibility, are examples

of modernist poetry through which both poets aimed to reflect the sense of disillusionment and

impotence they felt as the horrors of World War 1 mounted. Owen firmly rejects the idea of

heroism in war that had been created by these Romanticist poets, through the confrontational

images of its traumatizing effects on soldiers. Elliot similarly expresses his concerns by exploring

ones sense of futility and meaningless in society through the persona of a pessimistic J. Alfred

Prufrock, reflecting modern mans disillusionment with 19 th century values.

Owen contradicts societies deluded beliefs about the common idealistic and heroic views of war

by portraying its harsh and unimaginable conditions, as a response to the fruitless slaughter of

the First World War. This is evident in the opening stanza of Dulce et Decorum est through the

metaphor where once young and strong men are compared to old beggars under sacks which

implies their crude fighting conditions and portrays their physical and mental exhaustion. Owen

creates an immediate feeling of urgency engaging the audience and encouraging them to embrace

these views, through a series of short exclamations, Gas! Gas!His witness of the soldiers

sacrifice and suffering as he suffocates I saw him drowning shatters any illusion that war is

glorious and thus illustrates the brutal experiences faced by the soldiers effectively evoking

sympathy and awareness from those ignorant to these tragedies. Similarly, Elliot contradicts the

Romanticists view on life as ideal and beautiful in the Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock He describes

the cold hard reality of life as streets that follow a tedious argument covered in the yellow fog

that rubs it back upon window panes. The metaphor evokes imagery of the city described as

undeniably bleak and empty reflecting Elliots perspective of the sterility of the modern world.

His use of the simile compares the winding and twisting streets to a tedious argument that makes

one lost with confusion. His use of the objective correlative animates the fog, gives it animalistic

qualities of a cat, creating vivid imagery of the citys pollution and reflecting Elliots view of

modern society as being threatening and unpleasant. Though Elliot retains some romantic

features in his verse, these ironically comment on human suffering thus critiquing the

romanticists perspective on life.

In the midst of the tragedies of the war, Elliot critiques societies ignorance to the war, placing

greater concerns on the inconsequential aspects of life. This is evident within the love song of J.

Alfred Prufrockin the room women come and go and go talking of Michelangelo. The repetition

of this verse through the poem and the mocking tone highlights the superficiality of the

conversations of the people, expressing the facade that society has created for itself to cover up

its suffering. By contrasting these superficial issues with more complex issues such as Prufrocks

7/29/2019 Wilfred Owen and t.s Elliot Poetry Essay

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futility in answer the big overwhelming question of existence What is itdo I dare disturb the

universe? makes their superficiality more comical and shows how absurd the world has become

that life has lost meaning. His tone of voice expresses his confusion and highlights his incapability

to answer these questions in the superficial world around him. Elliot thus critiques societies

trivial and superficial concerns in the midst of war as absurd. Similarly within Insensibility Owen,

comments on societies unwariness and indifference to the war through the contradictory

structure of an ode, typically used by Romanticists. Owen critiques Romantic poets portrayal of

death as a romantic and a heroic end through the metaphor "The front line withers but they are

troops who fade, not flowers for poets tearful fooling." comparing the sentimental treatment of

flowers dying in Romantic verse to the inevitability of death. The ironic incongruity critiques the

Romanticists tearful fooling, grieving over the fading and withering of flowers and not over the

untimely deaths of young soldiers on battlefields, thus effectively informing individuals of the

greater issues of existence and encouraging them to sympathize to the experiences of the

soldiers.

Owen emphasizes the pain and the psychological effects of World War 1, which resulted in ones

sense of disillusionmentas shown in Eliots poetry. Within Insensibility he highlights the

psychological scars of war, which resulted in ones loss of senses and humanity within "Their

spirit drags no packsome cease feeling." The metaphorical representation of the soldiers

inability to feel emotion or pain expresses this as having experienced the tragedies of war they

are immunized against its further haunting. He expresses the insanity of the soldiers and the

extent to their loss ofhumanity Their senseslong since ironed can laugh among the dying

highlighting the horrifying dehumanizing effects of war through the ironic incongruity of their

ability to laugh at death. Similarly Elliot highlights his disillusionment through the persona of

Prufrock in The Love Song of J.Alred Prufrock, who acts as an alter ego exploring Eliots emotions

and concerns. He establishes a romantic atmosphere in the first few lines to enhance the

responders expectations when the evening is spread out against the sky, however this is then

shattered with the negative simile, Like a patient etherized upon a table. This highlights his

disillusionment with society around him in which he feels paralyzed and unable to act. His sense

of isolation is evident through Prufrockconstantly questioning himself, Do I dare? and how

should I presume? The rhetorical question highlights his insecure nature and his incapability to

devise a strategy to ameliorate his desolation. Elliots portrayal of Prufrock allows the responder

to sympathizes with the persona as the complications of his plight are universalized and

resemble our own.

It is through the expressive nature of poetry through which T.S Elliot and Wilfred Owen express

their strong concerns and critical judgments on their society and current position in life. While

While Owen successfully uses his firsthand experience on the battlefield to expose the myths of

war and focus on the miserable reality, Elliot critiques societies concerns with the futile aspects

of life rather than emphasis on the big overwhelming questions.