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“How far is the usage of imagery in selected
poems written by Wilfred Owen shows the
futility of war?
NAME: MOHD, INTAN SURAYA
CANDIDATE NUMBER: 000592 223
WORD COUNT: 3767

“How far is the usage of imagery in selected poems
written by Wilfred Owen shows the futility of war?
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ABSTRACT
After the First World War, plethora of poets started to write about the horridness of war
and they are known as war poets. Some of them had the experience of being an army. This essay
analyses the poems written by Wilfred Owen who was the British army that involved during the
First World War. The analysis focuses on the imagery used; to see“How far is the usage of
imagery in selected poems written by Wilfred Owen shows the futility of war?In order to answer
the question, in depth analysis of the poems was required. Three poems written by Wilfred Owen
that was chosen were Dulce et Ducorum Est, Anthem for Doomed Youth and The Next War. All
the three poems differ from each other but they carry the same genre which is war poetry. Here,
the readers could see the words that the poets use to depict the army such as old beggar, and
cattle. Besides, the horrible, atrocious and awful conditions of the wars were also mention in
every poem. As the conclusion of the analysis, wars were depicted as futile in the poems because
they do not only involve the human being but also the surrounding such as the plantation,
building and crops. The use of imagery in the poems gave the big impact to the reader as they
could understand more the actual picture of the wars are. This impact will be discussed
throughout this essay.
(240 words)

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CONTENTS
I. ABSTRACT 2
II. INTRODUCTION 4
III. METHODOLOGY 6
IV. DULCE ET DECORUM EST ANALYSIS 7
V. ANTHEM FOR DOOMED YOUTH ANALYSIS 10
VI. THE NEXT WAR ANALYSIS 13
VII. POEMS’ COMPARISON 14
VIII. CONCLUSION 16
IX. BIBLIOGRAPHY 17
X. APPENDICES 19

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Introduction
The first war recorded on Earth was 2700 before century. It was the confrontation
between Sumer (current Iraq) and Elam (current Iran)1. Now, the wars still happen even though
the global situation is totally different from before. The latest conflict that has drawn global
attention is Arab Spring. The Arab Spring (al-Thawrāt al-ʻArabiyyah) is a revolutionary wave
of demonstrations, protests, and wars occurring in the Arab world that began on 18 December
20102 (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2013).The Arab Spring started in Tunisia and spread widely
to all the arab country. For most cases, the protest occurred because of the dissatisfaction
towards the rule of local government. This has result a lot of unnecessary death, habitat
destruction, infrastructure collapses and stops country’s development. Wilfred Owen once states:
“All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true Poets must be truthful.”3
That claim has sparked my mind to inquiry more about War poets. After the World
War I, a lot of poets started to write about it. “Those poets were called “war poets”, more of
whom had been soldiers.”4 One of them is Wilfred Owen. He was a Captain of the British
Army.5 He is one of the best poets that can describe war in the poems as he knew exactly what
happened during that time. He witnessed all the conditions in war and the war that he went
through might be the main source of his inspiration to write a poem. All this information has lead
1 ( Wikimedia Foundation,Inc.,,2012)
2 (Wikimedia Foundation,Inc,2013)
3 (F.Nielsen, 1970)
4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_poets
5http://www.helium.com/items/540899-literary-analysis-dulce-et-decorum-est-by-wilfred-owen (By Angela
Andonopoulos Created on: August 21, 2007 Last Updated: September 09, 2009)

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me to a research question which is “How far is the usage of imagery in selected poems written by
Wilfred Owen show the futility of war?”
There are many imageries in Wilfred Owen poems. These imageries suggest the futility
of war. Futility of war can be defined as the horridness, the uselessness, vainness, senselessness,
and ineffectiveness of the management of war towards individuals, society and the global
society. From the poems, people can know how bad is the war, the effect of war towards the
soldiers and their families, the totally disastrous of the country and great suffer to everyone that
involve in that wars.
I believe that Wilfred Owen really want to deliver the message of the futility of war to the
next generation. He wants us to realize that war brings nothing to us. He wants us to learn from
the past, from his experience via his poems. His poems can raise the sprit in of the readers to
maintain and sustain welfare and prosperity of our country. I really hope that people can
understand more Wilfred Owen’s poems when they read my Extended Essay.
Methodology

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The young soldier poets of the First World War such as Owen, Rosenberg and Sassoon
established war poetry as a literary genre. The poems usually tell about the issue during the war,
about identity, sympathy, life, death, responsibility towards country, honour and humanity. The
poems various among the poets as every poet have their own purpose to write the poem. The
poets which are also the soldier use poems to express their feeling towards war. The soldiers not
only suffered physically but also psychology impact of the wars. Even though they had survived
from the war, but still they felt the bitter memories of wars. As a result, their poems still can be
read by today generation.
Wilfred Owen is one of the greatest war poets. He expressed the horridness of the war in
his poems. The used imagery causes the reader to easily get his point in the poems. He attained
to get reader’s sympathy and make us realize the issue that we never think before. He also
managed to write the emotion of the soldiers as well as the physical condition of the army which
can make us felt the same as them.
I want to do a research on “How far is the usage of imagery in selected poems written by
Wilfred Owen able to show the futility of war?” I chose the poems of Dulce et Ducorum Est,
Anthem for Doomed Youth and The Next War. Both of the poems were written during First
World War by Wilfred Owen. The research will be conducted by look into the background and
meaning of the poems to understand more about them. His poems will be my primary data. Then,
the study will focused more to the literary aspect chosen which is imagery. Imagery is a word or
group of words in a literary work which appeal to one or more of the senses: sight, taste, touch,

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hearing, and smell.6 The use of images serves to intensify the impact of the work.7In order to find
the relationship between the poems, the poems will be compared and contrasted. Finally, the
conclusion will be made to answer the research question. In order to get accuracy for the poems’
meaning, I will use establish literature as my secondary data. All in all, I really hope to find the
answers on how far the usage of imagery really shows the futility of war.
Dulce et Decorum Est analysis
6 (Littauer)
7 ibid

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Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen carries the theme of futility of the war. In the
first and second stanzas, the poem tells the story of war while the third stanza is about the lessons
from the previous story in the first and two stanzas. It is about the situation at the battlefield
during First World War. The young armies willing sacrificed their family and friends in order to
protect the country. They believe that they have responsibility to protect their country and it is an
honour if you die for your country. Here, people can see how the writer tries to criticize the
young men that have of such mentality.
First of all, this essay will discuss the fact the war only causes the army’ life became useless and
joining war only a waste of time for army. This point can be supported by the using of visual
imagery from the first line which is
“Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”8
Here people can visualize the armies’ condition where they looked really exhausted
which make they became like a very old people that have sore back. Usually, the first impression
of people towards the army is smartly uniform person, but Owen tried to erase that image by
equalizing the army to the old beggars.A young man should have a lot of energy in order to
support his family, but when he joined the army, he was not able to help his family anymore as
he now is lack of energy.
8 (Owen,1920)

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This point became more convincing to suggest that the army were in a weak condition
when the speaker used knock-kneed (line 2) which is a visual imagery and auditory imagery that
is coughing like hags (line 2). These suggest that the soldiers were not as strong as before. The
situation at battlefield had changed the young men personalities. They are now becoming really
weak, fatigue and they were not able to fight for the country anymore. They were just waiting for
their death to come. The oxymoron phrase at the line 5; “marched asleep” shows their present
condition which they cannot do their responsibility like they used to do. The phrases lost their
boots (line 5), limped on (line 6), blood-shod (line 6), went lame (line 6) and all blind (line 6)
imply that the army were completely exhausted. To make it worst, the tiredness of soldiers were
overwhelmed by the powerful of 5.9 calibre explosive shells that dropped behind them.
This essay will move on to the imagery in Dulce et Decorum Est that prove war only
bring to the unnecessary death of young men. In the second stanza, the speaker stressed the
situation during the fatigue army were bombed. The chaotic and bedlam situations were
expressed by the used of auditory imagery with the shouted exclamations Gas!GAS!
Quick,boys!(line 9). During this circumstance, the military tried to save their life by wearing a
mask. But, there are some of them that do not have time to do that cause them to be trapped in
poisonous gases. The poisonous gas was slowly asphyxiating the army. They became unstable
and staggered in order to save their soul. The use of visual imagery thick green light (line 13)
gives the idea that the gas used at that particular time was chlorine since chlorine produce

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greenish gas.9 From the last line of the second stanza, we can see the speaker used the words
guttering, choking, and drowning to imply that the soldiers were suffering the difficulty in
breathing because of the gas. Hence, it is proven that the armies die without them being able to
able to protect themselves.
In the last stanza, the speaker wanted us to imagine the aftermath of the bomb towards
the army. Owen shows to us how the soldier suffered by using the visual imagery such as white
eyes writhing in his face(line 19) and also the auditory image which is the blood come
gargling(line 21 & 22). Here we can see the effect of the bomb on the soldiers like sore eyes,
vomiting, skin blistering, bleeding and even death. The most important part in this poem is the
three last lines. This is because here Owen stressed his main reason of writing this poem which is
to tell the young men that the phrases Dulce et Decorum Est pro patria mori (it is sweet and
fitting to die for one’s country) is only the old lie. So, here we can see that Wilfred Owen wants
us to realize that the war only brings futility not the honour.
In this poem, Wilfred Owen has used a lot of imagery so that the message that he tried to
convey can be understood easily by the reader. Almost every single line of the poem can be
imagined by the reader. Overall, people can see the chronology of the poem which is, first, the
persona tells the situation of the soldier, then what happened when they were attacked and lastly
the effect of the bomb. Only then he conveys his message that die in war do not bring any honour
to the soldiers. In the end, I believe the reader will absolutely agree that war bring nothing to us.
9 (SM, 2010)

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Anthem for Doomed Youth

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In this poem, Wilfred Owen wanted to express his dissapointment towards the unlucky
soldiers that die during the war. This is because there were no funeral ceremonies to honour them
for their sacrificed towards the country. This petrachan (octave and sestet) poem also uses a lot
of religious symbols. The title of the poem shows the conflict between two words which is
anthem and doomed youth. By referring to the dictionary,10 anthem is a special song for a certain
country and is sung only at certain ceremony, while doomed youth is the death of young man.
Anthem always correlated to the happiness while doomed youth refers to the sorrow and grief.
This contradicts title evokes the persona’s feeling towards the young man that die in war. The
poem started with the questions and followed by the answers. By having the theme of the wasted
of war, Wilfred Owen would like to ask the readers to feel the same as he did.
Die in wars meant nothing to the country. This statement can be verified when Owen
used the visual imagery of cattle to represent the army that die in the battlefields. Cattle were rear
for its meat, so here we can see that cattle’s life will end up being slaughtered. The same thing
happened to the soldiers. Their involvement in the war was like booking a death. Auditory
images such as monstrous anger of the guns (line 2), rifles rapid rattle (line 3), and bugles (line
8) also suggest that there were no funeral ceremonies for the soldiers because it shows that the
war still ongoing and the number of army died increases.
There were also the religious images like mockeries, prayers, mourning and choirs that
were really significant to the funeral ceremony for Christianity. The purpose of the funeral is to
10 (Hornby, 2000)

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give thanks for the life of the one who has passed away and learn from it valuable lessons.11 We
can see here, die in war is a futile death as nobody would conduct a ceremony for your death.
You will receive minimal attention from other people or perhaps they just ignore your corpse and
let it be the food for animals.
However, unlike the first stanza that shows the condition of the war, the second stanza
focuses on the other side of the war which is the soldier’s family. In this stanza, Owen shows
how the funeral is conducted virtually by the family of the dead army. We can see the eyes
represent the candles that will be the light to guide the believer in the darkness in their hereafter
life. It also represents the sign of goodbye or the last words from this world. Owen also describes
the sadness of the girl shown by her pale face because of the death of the army. In the last line,
Owen uses the visual imagery which is dusk to add more sorrowful element to the poem. Dusk
can be a symbol of lost hope because, after dusk, the night and the darkness will appear. Perhaps
Owen tries to evoke that the death of the soldiers gave a big impact to his surroundings
especially his family members.
As a conclusion, this poem is able to give the picture about the situation that happened
whenever there is a death among the soldiers and how it brings the impact to their families.
Although the country would not care about the army’s life, but every armies’ family always hope
11 (Mississippi,2007)

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that their son would come back to home alive not the telegram that told their child death. To
them, it is better if their sons can serve them rather than serve the country that can cause them to
lose him.
The Next War
Wilfred Owens’s “The Next War” exposes the waste of war. Owen tries to tell the people
how the army felt towards the death. Even though they know that they might die in the war, but

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they still willing to sacrifice their lives for the country. Thus, death is nothing to them. They
were proud if they can die for the country. The poem is started with the quote from Sassoon.
“Sassoon served as a mentor to the younger Owen, encouraging him and suggesting revisions to
some of his poems.”12 The quote evokes that Sassoon’s felt the war is an entertainment to the
army because they know that their dreams for the triumph and glorious of the country will
become true.
From this poem, the persona claimed that war is futile as it only bring death to the army.
The speaker used the kinaesthetic imagery in the first and second line to suggest that the death is
always clinging in the army life. Every single thing in their life like walking, eating and resting
were related to the death and after all, this situation became part of their life. Here, the reader can
see how close the death to the army. The speaker also uses the visual and olfactory image which
is green thick odour to evoke the use of chemical weapons that is chlorine gas in war. This is
because the chlorine gas is known to have a green colour of gas.13 Again, the speaker came up
with the visual image on how the chlorine gas has affected the army’s condition. The gas can
cause eye irritation to its victim. The eyes represent the condition of the army that never give up
fighting for the country although they need to bear the pain and torment.
Before ended the stanza one, the persona emphasized the auditory imagery like coughed
(line 8), chorused (line 9), sang(line 9) and whistled(line 10) to make the reader realized the
reality of the war where the soldiers need to be ready for all the time to avoid being killed. Here
we can see the death and the soldiers were playing hide and seek. If you failed to hide yourself at
12 (Cooper, 2011)
13 (SM, 2010)

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the safe place, people will find you. That’s why the army must know the strategy of war to avoid
death.
In the second stanza, the speaker shared the army point of view towards war. To them,
war was not an enemy; instead, war was like their old buddy which they can laugh at it or
leagued with it. The words laughed (line 12) and leagued (line 12) evoke the intimacy between
two people. We can assume that the speaker wanted to show to the world how close the death to
the army. Owen used the auditory image to evoke the confident feeling of the army that they
would win in this battlefield. They believed that the better men would come to defeat their
enemy. But the most important thing is their fight for their lives but not because their love their
live but because of the glory for the country. The flags images in the last line of the second
stanza suggest the symbol of the country.
On the whole, the poem “The Next War”, the speaker shows the futility of the war. The
reader could see how the soldiers are willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the country.
Owen accomplishes to catch the attention of the readers to learn on how wasting it is to die for
the country. You would not gain any benefit from it apart from the pain, hardship and suffering.
Comparing and Contrasting The Poem
All the poems written by Wilfred Owen that is Dulce et Ducorum Est, Anthem For
Doomed Youth And The Next War carry the same genre which is war. From analysis, we can

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see that Owen evokes the drawback of the war from a different point of view of soldiers, their
family and also friends’ perspective. Owen achieved to write the poems with the different story
but still able to maintain his main objective; to make people realize the futility of the war. The
poems will be compared with the three main points which is war only causes the army’ life
became useless, die in war meant nothing for the country, and war only bring to the unnecessary
death of young men.
In the Dulce et Decorum Est, the persona evokes that the army became weak and
exhausted after being in battlefield. This is shown when the persona uses the visual imagery
which is knock-kneed and auditory imagery which is coughing like hags. Similar to Dulce et
Decorum Est, Anthem For Doomed Youth also used visual imagery which is cattle that imply the
army life as we know that the cattle already knew that they would be slaughtered anytime. While
in The Next War, the speaker used the kinaesthetic imagery in the first and second line to suggest
that the death is always clinging in the army life. Every single thing in their life were relating to
the death. As a result, we can that the army live to die as their life became useless and pointless.
A lot of young men joined army to gain honour because they fight for their country. But,
the real thing is, they only die pointless. The country would not even care about their death. This
is shown in Dulce et Decorum Est in the phrase of The old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria
mori which mean it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. On the other hand, in Anthem for
doomed youth, the speaker used religious imagery to show that is no funeral ceremony for the
armies if they dead. In contrary, the soldier in The next war fight for their lives but not because

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their love their live but because of the glory for the country. The persona show it the last line that
is He wars on Death, for lives; not men, for flags. Conclusively, this means that their death
meant nothing to the country.
As a whole, all the poems point out the same things but in many different ways. The
various techniques particularly imagery used by the Wilfred Owen in conveying the message
help the reader to understand the reality of war from different point of view.
Conclusion
While examining my research question which is “How far is the used of imagery in
selected poems written by Wilfred Owen shows the futility of war”, it does show the messages
that Owen try to convey. He used his experience as a soldier to give the picture to the reader so
that we can visualize it and realize the actual situation during the war. It cannot be denied that
21st century do wrote the poem of senseless of war too but they are not as convincing as Wilfred

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Owen due to no experience in war. Certainly, the used of imagery make it more clearly for the
reader to understand that messages.
The futility of war can be seen from different views which are from soldiers’ view or the
outsider’s view such as friends or family. As shown in Dulce et Decorum Est, the soldier saw his
friends suffered the difficulty in breathing because of the gas and the death was pointless as his
friends died without able to fight back the enemy. While in Anthem for Doomed Youth, the
persona informs how the people treat the death of the army. The dead army received minimal
attention from the people around them like a cattle. The Next War tells the readers about the
closeness of them with the death, thus, tells us that they knew they would die instead they willing
to sacrifice their lives to get the honour for fighting for the country which we all know that they
would not get it.
As a conclusion, those poems show how futile the war is. Today generation should learn
from past. Wilfred Owen wrote the poems to warn us, to remind us so that we can avoid any
conflicts and confrontation. Thus, we should have initiative to solve this issue. War will never
end if the people in this world do not concern about it. The world should spread the love not war.
Problem still can be solved without weapons.

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Hornby,A. S.(2000). oxfordadvancedlearner'sdictionaryof currentenglish. oxford advanced learner's
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