Wednesday, June 20, 2007

WWI/ Wilfred Owen

The Great War: Confronting the Modern takes us into another dimension of art. It brings out “war poets”. These set of poets were writing on a different level to me. These selections were not about distinguishing the social classes. These writers were reflecting on their experiences throughout the war. I was most impressed with Wilfred Owen. Looking at his poetry, I felt I was back in the Romantic period but he kept my interest by writing about the war.

Wilfred Owen’s “Strange Meeting” was one of a kind. Where was the meeting place? Hell. Page 1101, “And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall, By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.” Hell is a strange place to meet but there are always two sides to a story. Soldiers are faced with a tough job. They are all in the battles to fight for their countries and the fellow citizens in them. The unfortunate part is that some of them have to die and others move on. A similar thought is on page 1101, “The pity of war, the pity war distilled. Now men will go content with what we spoiled, Or discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled”. The enemy considered him a friend in spite of the situation on page 1102, “I am the enemy you killed, my friend…Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.” In this case, at the end of the war whether friend or foe you could end up in the same place.

“Dulce Et Decorum Est” was also another war poem about death by Wilfred Owen. I felt that this poem gave me a more realistic picture of what was going on. It almost reminded me of the war scene in Forest Gump. “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,” These few lines put tears in my eyes because I couldn’t imagine seeing one of my soldiers dying right in front of my eyes. But the title of this poem is “Dulce Et Decorum Est” which means “sweet and fitting it is to die for your fatherland” page 1102 footnote 1. I feel that most soldiers understand that they have a mission to fulfill and it must be sweet and satisfying to them to die for their country.

In closing, I can not relate to soldiers personally, but I can only imagine what a loved one go through knowing that you will not see that person for a while due to war. In Owen’s case I interpreted the message as you reap what you sow. The solider had killed the enemy the day before and the next day he was killed. When I view the war on the news, I constantly wonder what is not being told. You never know what our soldiers are doing to the enemies and vice versa. I just feel like it is a continuing circle that keeps going round and round.

1 comment:

Jonathan.Glance said...

Mignon,

Very good exploration of Owen's war poems, which perceptive and sensitive reactions. You should note, though, that Owen calls the Latin phrase "dulce et decorum est" that "old lie"--he doesn't think dying for one's country has anything sweet or fitting about it.