Poetic techniques

Before tackling 'Dulce et decorum est' it is important that you have an understanding of the main poetic techniques that Owen uses in the poem. These being: metaphor and simile.

Below you will find a link to the poetic terms handout that you were given:
http://www.box.net/shared/rr4y43z3b0

In order to fully understand these terms in practice we had a look at that most prevalent form of poetry around in society today- song.

First of all we examined "Pretty like drugs" by the excellent band Queen Adreena:

"Pretty Like Drugs" - Queen Adreena


Before listening to the song and looking at the song lyrics I showed you a montage video that I had created on the subject of drugs, showing both sides of drug-taking: good and bad. We then discussed the simile in the song 'pretty like drugs' - we know that it is a simile since something is being described by comparing it to something else and saying that it is similar to it. In this case:

What was being described? the singer
What was it being compared to? drugs
What effect does this have/what does it tell us about the thing? It tells us that the singer is addictive and enthralling just like drugs are - that she has a certain attraction to her. However, it also tells us that she is dangerous, just like drugs are dangerous, that just as drugs destroy things so too does she.

We then went on to examine the use of metaphor in song. The first song being "Bullet with butterfly wings" by the Smashing Pumpkins:

"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" - Smashing Pumpkins



The first metaphor in the song is "The world is a vampire". We know that this is a metaphor as it compares two things by saying that the first thing is the second thing.

What is being described? The world
What is it being compared to? A vampire
What is the effect/what does it tell us about the thing? That the world sucks life from things, that it is draining.

The other metaphor in the song is "despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage". Can you analyse this metaphor for yourself? Use the formula above.

Have a look at this song "Butterfly" by Crazy Town.

"Butterfly" - Crazy Town


Can you find and explain the metaphor in this song?

WWI Poetry

You're now experts on life at the Front in World War 1 - you've written an imaginative journal from the point of view of a junior officer serving at the Western Front. Now we shall focus on a poem written by a poet who actually fought during WWI - Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et decorum est'.

This lesson I gave you a little bit of information about Wilfred Owen:

• Wilfred Owen 1893-1918


• He wanted to make ordinary civilians back home understand the realities of trench-warfare. He wrote about the horrors faced by soldiers fighting in the war.


• He did not want to write about the honour and glory of fighting for one's country, the truth of the war for him was in the suffering of the soldiers and his pity for them.


• In a letter he wrote “My subject is war and the pity of war”.


• He was killed in action during a dawn attack on 4/11/1918 - just one week before the end of the war.

I also told you a little bit about the poem "Dulce et decorum est", explaining that the title refers to a poem written by the Roman poet Horace that was published in about 23BCE. The last lines of the poem are:

"The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori"

Translated from the Latin these lines mean 'How sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country'.

As you can see from this image of the original manuscript the poem is dedicated to 'Jessie Pope etc.' - Jessie Pope being the name of a famous propagandist at the time who was ardent in her support of the war and who fervently urged men to join up and fight. This dedication is ironic since Owen himself disagreed with Pope's beliefs.

For Owen it was important that the"old lie" that it was good to die fighting for your country ha to be destroyed. He believed that civilians had to be told of the realities of war, that it was a dirty and painful business and that rather than being "glorious" death in battle was actually horrific and painful. In "Dulce et decorum est" he uses graphic imagery to convey the realities of war to his readers back home who would have been encouraging their sons/husbands/brothers to join up and fight.

"Vincent" - Narrative poems

Below you will find short films that have been made based on two narrative poems written by Tim Burton.



Who said poems had to be boring?

Nightmare Before Christmas