4.1.3

Themes

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Bleak Imagery

Owen uses bleak imagery to highlight the misery of the soldiers in war. Here are some examples:

Pointlessness of War

The pointlessness of war is emphasised throughout the poem. The speaker seems to have lost sight of what he is fighting for. Owen uses these techniques to emphasise the boredom:

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Repetition

  • Repetition of “but nothing happens” throughout the poem gives the readers a sense of the boredom caused by waiting.
  • It hints at the pointlessness of war.
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Rhetorical questions

  • Rhetorical questions suggest the pointlessness of war.
  • They make the reader question why we allow soldiers to be exposed to such suffering:
    • “What are we doing here?”
    • “Is it that we are dying?”

Loss of Humanity: Metaphors

Owen uses different metaphors to suggest that the men lose their humanity and dignity in war. This depiction is the antithesis (opposite) to images of heroism soldiers would have seen before the war. The metaphors are:

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“Slowly, our ghosts drag home”

  • This metaphor suggests that war has sucked all the life out of the soldiers.
  • It also reminds readers that they are on the brink of death.
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“All their eyes are ice”

  • This metaphor describes the extreme effects of the weather.
  • It implies the soldiers have lost their humanity and are close to breaking point.

Jump to other topics

1Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

2London - William Blake (1757-1827)

3Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

4Exposure - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

5War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955)

6My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

7The Prelude - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

8Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson

9Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes (1930-1998)

10Poppies - Jane Weir (Born 1963)

11Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)

12The Emigree - Carol Rumens (Born 1944)

13Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland (Born 1938)

14Checking Out Me History - John Agard (Born 1949)

15Remains - Simon Armitage (Born 1963)

16Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

16.1Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons

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