“ But that was war. Just about all one could happen in its favour was that it paid good and liberated kids from the baneful influence of their parents ” ( Joseph Heller ) . Heller ‘s statement demonstrates the point that there are few grounds to contend for one ‘s state, and the fear of soldiers overlooks the atrociousnesss that they commit. The verse form “ Dulce et Decorum Est ” , by Wilfred Owen, and Randall Jarrell ‘s “ The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner ” pigment a gruesome and dismaying scene of the world of war from a soldier ‘s position. Through the application of literary devices and nonliteral linguistic communication, Owen and Jarrell illuminate that the glory of soldiers and war is far from rough, bloodcurdling world.

Owen and Jarrell illustrate that the impersonal nature of war has a dehumanising consequence on soldiers. The talker in “ The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner ” plaints that when he “ died they washed [ him ] out of the turret with a hosiery ” ( Jarrell 5 ) . The talker assumes a prosaic tone when depicting the mortifying act of rinsing out his cadaver to stress how undistinguished he is in the expansive strategy of the war. For the authorities, one casualty is merely one more organic structure added to the sum, and his full life is reduced to blow washed from inside the plane. There is a cold indifference to his decease ; it does non intend anything to anyone. The use of powerful imagination in “ Dulce et Decorum Est ” depicts the dehumanisation of the soldiers while they are walking to battle. “ Bent double, like old mendicants under pokes / Knock-kneed, coughing like beldams, we cursed through sludge ” ( Owen 1-2 ) . The work forces are no longer portrayed as valorous soldiers who march in lock-step like a parade ; their organic structures are contorted and twisted until they are no longer seen as soldiers. The image of the work forces “ doubled ” imposes the thought that the soldiers have are two different people: those before the war and inhuman animals they have become. Owen subsequently recounts a adult male he encounters after being gassed, with “ white eyes wrestling in his face / His hanging face, like a Satan ‘s sick of wickedness ” ( 17-18 ) . The soldier described is barely viewed as homo, where his face represents snake pit on Earth, merely like war itself. The simile employed underscores the ferociousness of war, whereas even the Satan himself is ill of wickedness, the soldier has experienced excessively much combat. Owen and Jarrell ‘s poetic techniques highlight how atrocious war truly is, and one time a soldier experiences so much, they about lose the qualities that make them human.

In combat, soldiers are trapped in a province of weakness where they become victims even if they are non killed. The ball turret artilleryman of Jarrell ‘s verse form is incapacitated as he loses his artlessness, life, and individuality. In one minute, the artilleryman travels from the heat of his “ female parent ‘s slumber ” to the impersonal, cold environment of “ the State ” ( Jarrell 1 ) . Ironically, the transmutation from birth to nightmare happens “ six stat mis from Earth ” in the bomber ‘s turret, like how he is merely released from the uterus, or his “ female parent ‘s slumber ” ( 3 ) . In the heads of the leaders of war, hardware holds a greater value than human flesh. In the terminal no 1 could salvage

him ; he is reduced to being merely another victim to the war machine. “ As under a green sea, I saw him submerging / In all my dreams, before my helpless sight / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, submerging ” ( Owen 14-16 ) . The repeat of the word “ drowning ” brings out its importance, where the soldier is submerging both literally and metaphorically. He flounders like a fish, and the talker is unable to salvage the adult male, while besides sing a submerging esthesis from the gas. The mention to “ helpless sight ” is about a paradox, as the talker can see the adult male death, but he describes himself as the 1 who is incapacitated. Soldiers can non but go incapacitated as they partake in war ; they are used as pawns or unable to protect themselves from the atrocious world.

patria mori ” ( Owen 25-28 ) . Owen decries that this old expression is merely a prevarication to flim-flam immature work forces to enlist, and the “ zest ” for glorification and nationalism is overshadowed by the gruesome horrors earlier in the verse form. Owen implies that one time “ male childs ” measure into combat, they lose their artlessness everlastingly. Jarrell and Owen demonstrate that the abomination of war outweighs the loyal cliches espoused by those who glorify war. In world, seldom does a soldier dice nobly ; he is washed out and replaced.

The two verse forms bemoan the agony of war and the weakness and insignificance of soldiers. The world of combat in the trenches and on the battleground is immensely different than how the authorities glamorizes it ; many do non recognize the full deduction of contending for one ‘s state.