Poetry Unit 2--Wilfred Owen and A.E. Housman

It was very difficult choosing a poem to explore for this post as I really enjoyed the ones we had to read for the week. The poem that I really was struck by was Wilfred Owens’s Dulce et Decorum Est. The theme is made quite clear by Owen’s use of imagery and tone from the opening line “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks…we cursed through sludge.” His language is so vivid that he creates the entire scene for the reader and it’s not a pretty one, we can SEE all of the horror he had to endure. “Behind the wagon that we flung him in, and watch the white eyes writhing in his face” is a line that rather stayed with me as I read. He very bravely puts forth the idea that war is not beautiful or courageous because of his experiences. “To children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country).” I think this poem should be read more often because of the all of the on-going wars in the world—we don’t learn do we?

I think this poem might just be imperative for our times with the ever constant Iraq War conflict. I think that some of this years films have been great in highlighting the idiocy of what we are NOT achieving in the Middle East. I actually don't understand how we FAIL to look to the past to help us with the future. I mean did no one learn anything from the last century that was dominated by war?

Here is the trailer for Kathryn Bigelow's 2010 Oscar winning film, The Hurt Locker



And now to change tones completely, I was particularly fond of A.E. Housman’s To An Athlete Dying Young. When I read this beautiful poem I kept thinking: Where have I heard that before? And of course if anyone has seen the 1985 Oscar winning epic Out of Africa one might remember it being read by Meryl Streep. I hold Karen Blixen's book and this film completely resonsible for my decision to go to Africa. For once it is in your blood you can't ever get it out. Here is the scene from Out of Africa, directed by the late Sydney Pollack.