Dan Nolan S4MO

Compare how Owen presents death in Dulce et Decorum est and FutilityThe image of death is present in all but a minority of Owen s poems, but is portrayed differently throughout his works. This contrast can be seen clearly in Dulce et Decorum est and Futility. This stark contrast can be seen straight away in both poems. In futility, Owen presents death on a much more personal level, focusing on the death of a single man, and how his death affects those around him. Dulce et decorum est, however, death is presented much more graphically, focusing on the actual death of the soldier. Futility starts posthumously, and his fellow soldiers are attempting to wake him, Move him in to the sun gently its touch awoke him once This first line shows his the men around him trying to accept the reality that he is dead, they know he had died, but yet still try to wake him under the sun, knowing full well it won t do anything. On the other hand, Dulce et decorum est, doesn t start with death, but rather builds up to it, but when it does come, it s hellishly abrupt. Both poems use imagery abundantly, but in slightly different fashions; Dulce et decorum est s imagery is vividly graphic , His hanging face, like a devil sick of sin this quote paints a clear, yet awful, image of the dead man s face. It s ironic, as the devil can never be sick of sin by definition, yet here Owen uses it to show us the horror he witnessed. Conversely, Futility uses imagery in a more subtle fashion. Here Owen uses the image of the sun, or more specifically, the power of sun, to present the realness of the soldier s death. Always it woke him, even in France This truly shows the power of the sun that Owen is trying to portray, it can be read either literally, where the sun was what woke him up every day, even when he was on the western front, or more metaphorically, where the sun was what gave him life and something to live for. Either way, both ways of reading the line give the same message that however great the power of the sun is, it cannot conquer death. Another major difference between the two poems is the actual death of the soldier in each poem. In futility, death is not specifically mentioned, but the consequences of death are the focal point, and the fact that not even the sun can rouse him. Dulce et decorum est on the other hand takes several lines to describe the soldiers death vividly, and then uses a few more lines to graphically describe the state of the body of the soldier after his death such as the blood Come gargling from the froth corrupted lungs . Structurally, the pace of both poems varies greatly. Futility s pace is a steady and constant slow pace, perhaps giving the reader more time to ponder and reflect of the meaning of the poem as they read it, and it also presents death in a very sombre fashion, adding to the personal level which death is presented on in futility. The pace of Dulce et decorum est however, is not steady or constant and changes repeatedly throughout the poem speeding up as the death of the soldier is described, and slows down as the

Dan Nolan S4MOaftermath plays out. This shows that while the fighting (or the gas attack in the case of Dulce et decorum est) is actually happening, everything goes so fast, but the after that it goes painfully slowly, as the realisation that a fellow soldier has been killed dawns on everyone. Interestingly, it is as almost as Futility could have been written in the after the events of Dulce et decorum est, because the majority of the poem is spent reflected on the death of this one soldier, instead of describing his death as Dulce et decorum est does. Both poems portray the realness of death, but in different ways, Dulce et decorum est uses the vicious arsenal of graphic and vivid imagery and metaphors that Owen is so well known for, to bring to life the events of the poem with line like As under a green sea, I saw him drowning You can really picture what s happening in the line, a poor soldier, helpless and quite literally drowning in the gas that has enveloped him. Conversely, the realness of the death in Futility is presented in a complete different manner. With rhetorical questions abundant, Owen takes the power of the sun, and compares it power to that of death, and questions the reader with all these amazing things the sun can do, yet it can t perform a simple of act of kindness, in can t keep one innocent man alive. It may be able to wake the seeds amongst many other things, but even with help of the soldier s fellow soldiers, the sun cannot wake the dead man. Another way which death is presented differently is in Dulce et decorum est where Owen uses part of the last stanza to place the blame for the death in the poem on someone, this person being Jessie pope. He uses sarcasm when addresses Jessie Pope as My friend to add a sense of hostility to the final lines of the poem. In Futility there is no such blaming, there is just an air of helplessness, as if Owen is saying there is problem someone to blame, but there is no point blaming them because it won t undo what has already been done. In conclusion, Both poems present death extremely effectively, both give the reader something to reflect upon about death during the war. Furthermore, they both contribute to give the reader a clearer image of death in WW1, as in they give a different aspect of the war, allowing the reader get a fuller image of death by reading both of them. Word count: 991 words.