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Meaning Use of Literary Techniques in Wilfred Owen's Poetry

Meaning and Use of Literary Techniques in Wilfred Owen's Poetry

Wilfred Owen’s poem, “Arms and the Boy,” is a subtle criticism of war that asks deeper questions about violence in human society. Man is born with little that could be used as a physical weapon of violence. His teeth “seem for laughing round and apple” and there “lurk no claws behind his fingers.” Despite this lack of natural weaponry, human beings create themselves powerful, destructive weapons of steel and zinc that are far more deadly than any natural teeth, claws, talons, or antlers. Owen makes use of vibrant imagery and articulate language to aid in both making the poem pleasurable to read and to better portray his meaning. He also makes frequent use poetic devices which appeal to the ear such as rhyme and alliteration.




To best understand Wilfred Owen’s poetry, you must understand Wilfred Owen. He was the son of a railway worker, born in 1893. Although he had previously regarded himself as a pacifist, Owen entered World War I, commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant. It was during the war that he wrote his poetry, so it should not be a surprise that he wrote serious, contemplative poems on war. Owens earned the Royal Military Cross in battle, an honor that was given to less than 3000 British soldiers. Wilfred Owen was killed by machine-gun fire in 1918, a week before armistice was signed. As a pacifist who fought in the “Great War” Owen was likely to have suffered from daunting moral questions and reservations. In fact at one point he suffered from Shell shock, siting for days in a bomb crater with the mangled corpse of a fellow officer. While recuperating at a war hospital, Wilfred Owen met people who encouraged him in his poetry and helped him publish it. In his poem, “Arms and the Boy,” Owen expresses himself with a reserved, but critical attitude towards the subject of weaponry and violence. This is evidenced by the quantity of harsh words that he uses, such as “malice,” “famishing,” “sharp,” “death,” and “talons.”




Wilfred Owen’s poem is unusual in that it makes use solely of slant rhyme. The final consonant sounds of the words at the end of the lines rhyme, but not the vowel sounds. The rhyme pattern is a simple a /a b /b c /c d /d e /e f /f. The poem would doubtless maintain its meaning...

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