Wilfred war poems quotes and themes

About wilfred owen/the war poems

• Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) was an English soldier and poet.

• Wrote most of his war poems during World War I, between 1917–1918.

• Killed in action just one week before the Armistice in November 1918.

• His poetry exposes the horrors and futility of war, opposing patriotic propaganda.

• Stood for the truth of soldiers’ experiences, highlighting physical and emotional suffering.

the suffering of soldiers

Owen highlights both the physical and phycological suffering soldiers endure.

quotes for suffering of soldiers

Dulce et decorum est:

• “bent double, like old beggars under sacks” - a simile to compare soldiers to frail beggars, highlighting their extreme physical exhaustion. The imagery of being “bent double” emphasise the weight, pain, and dehumanising strain of war on their bodies.

• “Men marched asleep.” – A metaphor for the fatigue and suffering experienced by the soldiers as though they were physically ‘asleep’. When someone is asleep they are helpless, weak, unaware making this quote seem like the men are in this state in consciousness.

• “He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.” – This vivid depiction (imagery) of a soldier unable to withstand the gas attack not only emphasises the utter desperation felt, but the sounds of war being so innately human that the reader cannot help but hear these sounds in the poetry itself

Exposure:

• “Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us” - the soldiers brains are sore due to the personified cold winds that are so cold "they “stab” them.

• “Wearied we keep awake because the night is silent” - personifies the night as quiet, which gives them anxiety as they are scared of what will happens, showing their trauma.

• “But nothing happens” - this phrase is repeated at the end of multiple stanzas to show that soldiers are always waiting in anticipation and anxiety, scared of what will happen, showing mental anguish, and the futility of war.

The horror/pity of war

Owen seeks to convey war in all its brutality and degradation, in order to warn future generations.

quotes for The horror/pity of war

Mental cases:

• “Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish” – grotesque, zombie like imagery showing the result of soldiers who have experienced horror.

• “These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished” – personification of the Dead (the soldiers who have died in battle). The soldiers’ minds have been destroyed or violated by what they’ve seen in war.

• “Memory fingers in their hair of murder” – The soldiers are haunted by memories of the kis”lling they witnessed or were part of. memory is personified to be haunting them

Anthem for doomed youth:

• “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” – simile comparing soldiers to animals slaughtered.

• “The monstrous anger of the guns” – personification, guns replace church bells, showing the violence and horror of war.

• “No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells” - they die without proper mourning, emphasising pity (Imagery, Alliteration)

soldiers as innocent/victims

Owen depicts soldiers as victims of the Establishments who orchestrated the war, as well as emphasises the loss of youth and innocence faced by the soldiers due them being forced into enlisting.

quotes for soliders as innocent/victims

Disabled:

• “Now he will never feel again how slim Girls’ waists are” - loss of intimacy + love. irony showing how he survives but loses simple pleasures.

• “Legless, sewn short at the elbow” - uses Imagery to confront the harsh reality, shows the physical destruction of his body, emphasising how war victimises young soldiers.

• “He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark” - imagery to show his loss of dependence and quiet suffering of daily life after his injury.

Futility

• “Move him into the sun.” - Soldiers are helpless victims, relying on external forces (nature, comrades) to survive. personifies nature as a savior. 

• “Was it for this the clay grew tall?” - Questions the purpose of life when soldiers die young, using the meaphor of human life as clay

• “O what made fatuous sunbeams toil / To break earth’s sleep at all?” - The natural world is powerless to prevent pointless death, showing soldiers as innocent victims of circumstances beyond their control. Rhetorical question, Irony (life continues despite pointless suffering).

attitudes to war

Owen critiques the abundance of patriotism that veiled the realities of war.

quotes for attitudes to war

Dulce et Decorum Est

• “The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est / Pro patria mori.” → condemns false patriotism

• “My friend, you would not tell with such high zest / To children ardent for some desperate glory.” → criticises glorification of war

• “Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!” → chaos exposes brutal reality

Anthem for Doomed Youth

• “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?” → dehumanisation, senseless loss

• “No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells.” → absence of honour, forgotten dead

• “The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall.” → collective grief replaces ceremony

dehumanising elements of war 

War strips soldiers of their humanity, reducing them to physical and emotional shells, trapped in endless suffering and mechanical survival.

quotes for dehumanising elements of war 

Dulce et Decorum Est

• “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks.” → soldiers reduced to cripples

• “Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots / But limped on, blood-shod.” → robotic, lifeless movement

• “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.” → inhuman suffering

Exposure

• “Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us.” → nature as enemy, endless pain

• “All their eyes are ice.” → soldiers stripped of humanity

• “We only know war lasts, rain soaks, and clouds sag storm

condemnation of institutionalised religion

Owen condemns the hypocrisy of the Church for supporting war whilst simultaneously claiming to be followers of Christ.

quotes for condemnation of institutionalised religion

Exposure

• “For love of God seems dying.” → fading faith under suffering

• “Tonight, His frost will fasten on this mud and us.” → divine indifference

• “Is it that we are dying?” → questions God’s purpose

The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

• “Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps.” → blind obedience to authority

• “But the old man would not so, but slew his son.” → moral corruption, hypocrisy

• “Half the seed of Europe, one by one.” → criticises religious justification for war

poetic devices to use

Imagery - Vivid, often gruesome visual images to convey suffering

Similie - Comparisons to emphasise dehumanisation or suffering (like)

metaphor - to make the horrors of war tangible, so readers can feel the physical and emotional impact of war.]

irony/satire - Critique of patriotic propaganda or religion

personification - Nature, war, or objects acting with human qualities

Repetition / Alliteration - Creates rhythm, emphasises horror, or mimics sounds

juxtaposition / Contrast - Contrasts ideals vs reality to show futility or horror

rhetorical questions - to provoke thought and highlight futility

onomatopoeia - depicting sounds of weapons

diction-