How was World War One Represented?
“There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.” (Tzu 6) The quotation from Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ holds true in this case as well. Within Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ the horror of war is clearly represented as it occured, with great calamity. A prime example of this is exemplified through Owen’s use of similes such as “If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud” (Owen, 2008, 2) where the detail of the suffering is prolonged to represent the scale of the suffering, and misery that people undertook. Furthermore, the quotation could also be interpreted as a representation of how long it has been going on for, and could be his instrument of portraying his opinion on the woe of the War to end all Wars. Moreover, the part of the quotation “If you could hear” develops symbolism for the actual experience of war, which mainstream propaganda at the time contrasted. The end-stopped line mentioning how the man before him was “guttering, choking, drowning.” is used to resounding effect, as it portrays the point that Owen is trying to get across to the reader, the truth of the tragedy, and how dying for your country isn’t so glorious.
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