AS 91098
Analyse specified aspect(s) of studied written text(s), supported
by evidence [external, 4 credits]
AS 91101
Produce a selection of crafted and controlled writing [internal, 6 credits]
Student (full name):
What do I have to do?
1. Read at least two of Wilfred Owen’s poems.
2. Write an essay that explains his use of language features (LFs).
How do I know if I’ve been successful or not?
• I understand Owen’s views about war.
• I can remember at least three quotes from his poems and can provide a convincing analysis
of one language feature in each quote.
• I can organise my analyses into a coherent essay.
What do I basically need to know about Owen?
• Owen went through an existential crisis [see explanation in course outline]
• He is not a modernist poet; rather, his poetry is a precursor to modernist literature.*
1. Owen was brought
up by his devoutly
religious mother, but
– after he became
an assistant to the
Vicar of Dunsden –
he developed a
critical view of how
the church treated
the poor.
2. When Owen fought in the trenches, he was
struck by the horrors of war. He described the
terrible conditions soldiers endured in a letter to
his mother. Some of his first-hand
experiences have been documented in poems
such as: Dulce et Decorum est and The Sentry.
As with modernist artists like Pablo Picasso,
Owen rejected a long held belief that advances in
technology saw civilisation progress towards
becoming something truly grand and noble.
3. Owen became disillusioned
about the rhetoric
(arguments) for finding glory
and honour on the battlefield.
He became bitter, cynical &
disenchanted with religion.
When he ironically uses the
title Dulce et Decorum est, he
is mocking the sentiments of
an ode by Horace – ridiculing
a cornerstone of western
civilisation.
* You have the option later in the year to research the historical / literary background of Owen’s poems and modernism.
 TONE = the implied attitude of the writer/director, or the mood set. For example, “The tone of Million
Dollar Baby is very dark because it deals with suicide.”
 It usually pays to write about the imagery or impression created through use of LFs. For example,
“This metaphor creates the nightmarish imagery of dissolving flesh and people screaming in pain,
where gas attack victims become zombies through agony”.
Dulce Et Decorum Est [pro patria mori] – by Wilfred Owen
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
1 DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from
an ode by Horace. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the
poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for
your country.
Anthem for Doomed Youth – by Wilfred Owen.
What passing bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.*
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –
The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.
*orisons = prayers
an·them [ánthəm]
(plural an·thems)
1. song of allegiance: a song praising and declaring loyalty to something, for
example, country, cause or organization
• a rock anthem
2. CHRISTIANITY short hymn for choir: a short hymn with words from the
Bible, sung by a choir as part of a church service
3. CHRISTIANITY religious song with parts: a religious song with parts for
different singers or groups, especially a church hymn with parts sung by
different members of the congregation, for example, a responsorial psalm
Notes & Tasks
Dulce et Decorum est [pro patria mori]
•
The poem is arranged in three stanzas (sections)
o 1st stanza = tired and broken soldiers marching.
o 2nd stanza = soldiers panicking because of
lethal gas attack.
o 3rd stanza = soldiers go back to dreary marching but now following a wagon of
suffering comrades.
•
You have to analyse this poem by identifying and evaluating the effects of language
features AND THEN offer an interpretation of how each LF gives this poem meaning.
•
Breaking it down – so how do you make notes on LFs to use in analytical SEXC
paragraphs?
1. Identify the stanza and a main idea in the stanza.
2. Identify a quote that helps express the main idea
3. Name at least one LF in the quote.
4. Briefly explain the general effect of using this LF [optional]
5. Explain the effects of using this LF in your quote. Link your explanation to the main idea.
For example:
1. Stanza: 1
Main idea: The horrors of war
2. Quote: “drunk with fatigue”
3. Name of LF: metaphor
4. General effect of using this LF: treats something as something else without using the
words ‘like’ or ‘as’, relies on poetic imagery, symbolic truth rather than literal truth.
5. Explanation of LF in your quote, linked to main idea: Owen is treating tiredness as
drunkenness. He is creating the imagery of tired soldiers stumbling around in mud as if
they were drunken oafs, which hardly lives up to the heroic images created by the patriotic
rhetoric for going to war. Instead of scenes where the bravest of the brave sacrifice their
lives for the love of their country, readers are offered a glimpse of the actual mundane
drudgery in a soldier’s life. Owen’s account here is quite sobering, considering many
giddy and gullible young men enlisted to fight in WWI for the adventure.
Turning your notes into analytical SEXC paragraphs in an essay
•
All you have to do is compress the 5 steps for taking notes into a SEXC paragraph. All
you have to do is squeeze the first 3 steps into the Statement and then add the
Explanation from your notes. You will have a greater chance of getting better grades if
you write a lot in the Comment part of your paragraph (although it would pay to critically
comment throughout the whole paragraph).
For example
[S] In the first stanza of Dulce et Decorum est, Wilfred Owen uses a metaphor to
symbolically (not literally) convey the idea that war is not an exciting adventure. [E + X]
Owen says the marching soldiers were “drunk with fatigue”, which is not literally true but
the metaphor does accurately create imagery of tired soldiers stumbling around in mud
as if they were drunken oafs. Owen treats tiredness and the drudgery of marching as
drunken stumbling. [C] This hardly lives up to the heroic images created by the patriotic
rhetoric for going to war. Readers are instead offered a glimpse of the actual mundane
chores in a soldier’s life and not gung-ho scenes where the bravest of the brave
sacrifice their lives for the love of their country. Owen’s account here is quite sobering,
considering many giddy and gullible young men enlisted to fight in WWI for just for an
overseas adventure.
[136 words – analysis of ONE LF]
Now it’s your turn to make notes on Language Features
Remember to follow through all five steps.
You must make notes on both poems
TASK ONE – taking notes on Dulce et Decorum est
1. Stanza:
Main idea: The horrors of war
2. Quote:
3. Type of LF:
4. General effect of using this LF:
5. Explanation of LF in your quote, linked to main idea:
TASK ONE – taking notes on Dulce et Decorum est
6. Stanza:
Main idea: The horrors of war
7. Quote:
8. Type of LF:
9. General effect of using this LF :
10. Explanation of LF in your quote, linked to main idea:
TASK ONE – taking notes on Dulce et Decorum est
11. Stanza:
Main idea: The horrors of war
12. Quote:
13. Type of LF:
14. General effect of using this LF :
15. Explanation of LF in your quote, linked to main idea:
Notes & Tasks
Anthem for Doomed Youth
•
The poem is arranged in two stanzas (sections)
o 1st stanza = the horrors of war, on the battlefield
o 2nd stanza = the pathos (pity) of war, at home
TASK TWO – taking notes on Anthem for Doomed Youth
1. Stanza:
Main idea: The horrors of war
2. Quote:
3. Type of LF:
4. General effect of using this LF :
5. Explanation of LF in your quote, linked to main idea:
TASK TWO – making notes on Anthem for Doomed Youth
6. Stanza:
Main idea: The horrors of war
7. Quote:
8. Name of LF:
9. General effect of using this LF:
10. Explanation of LF in your quote, linked to main idea:
TASK TWO – making notes on Anthem for Doomed Youth
11. Stanza:
Main idea: The horrors of war
12. Quote:
13. Name of LF:
14. General effect of using this LF:
15. Explanation of LF in your quote, linked to main idea:
Final Task – essay
•
The essay topics and marking criteria will be handed out after you have finish making
notes in this workbook.
•
You should make extra notes on refill.
•
You may take this workbook home but all work for internal assessments must take place in
class.
•
If you take the workbook home, you will not be allowed to use the notes in it for the
assessment.
USE THIS SECTION TO PLAN YOUR ESSAY
Introduction:
Paragraph 1:
Paragraph 2:
Paragraph 3:
Paragraph 4:
Paragraph 5:
Conclusion: