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Dulce Et Decorum Est Irony

Decent Essays

War is like a toxic relationship, there is pain and suffering, but also that occasional sense that everything will be okay that is soon to be crushed. Some whom have made it back from war write about their experiences, but for what reason? For many generations writers have been drawn to the topic of war. Using the tactics of imagery, irony, and structure writers have protested, conveyed ideas about, and educated people on war. Writers Stephen Crane, Wilfred Owen, Kevin Powers, and Tim O'Brien often used imagery, irony, and structure in their works to voice their opinions on war. Imagery is a technique that most writers use to give detail of the setting or characters. In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” strong descriptive words to create pictures in the reader's head, also known as imagery, was used to protest and portray the horrors of being in war. “Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light / As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” (Owen). In that excerpt of his poem he is explaining how he saw his friend “drowning” in the gas. How is Owen protesting war in this piece? By giving detail to one of many gruesome images of war, and the suffering soldiers had to endure. …show more content…

In the poem “War Is Kind” by Stephen Crane irony is used to protest and show how “kind” war is. In this poem Crane used irony and glorification to protest and show how bad war is. By using the oxymoron “war is kind” it gets the reader thinking about how unkind and unforgiving war actually is. In stanza three it is said “Do not weep, babe, for war is kind / Because your father tumbles in the yellow trenches, / Raged at his breast, gulped and died, / Do not weep. / War is kind.” (Crane). Irony is used to show how war is not kind for killing the child’s

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