Art, Literature, and Music in 20th Century Essay

Art, Literature, and Music in 20th Century - Essay Example I feel that the best example of a poet’s response to the devastation of war comes from Owen (1921) who wrote a poem titled Dulce et Decorum Est. The poem shows the horror of war and how useless a death can be if it is based on a lie that death which comes by fighting for one’s homeland is sweet. The First World War was death caused by mechanised warfare where machines and the number of bullets fired became more important than anything else. Owen’s poem is written from the viewpoint of a man who was involved in real battle and saw his friends die around him from gas warfare.The poem begins with a group of soldiers walking away from the battlefield who are attacked with chlorine gas. As try to quickly put on their gas masks, one of them is not quick enough and the poet sees him die a very horrible death (Owen, 1921). Owen writes blank verse with loose iambic pentameter which gives his poem the feel of being disjointed. This is most evident in the ending of the poem where he describes the death of the soldier to the reader using imagery such as lungs filled with blood and lifeless bodies.