-
Essay / Analysis of Frost and Owen's creation of a sense of pathos
Wilfred Owen's poem "Disabled" is about a young soldier who returns from the Great War suffering from terrible injuries. The title of the poem is significant because it creates a sense of pathos as it makes it clear that the theme of loss will be explored throughout. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get the original essay Robert Frost's poem "Out, Out" is about a young boy sawing lumber in the mountains of Vermont who Accidentally cuts his hand with the saw and dies. The title is an allusion to the Shakespearean tragedy where, upon learning of his wife's death, Macbeth says "extinguish, briefly extinguish the candle". The reader can infer from the title that the poem will be about the brevity and fragility of life. Owen and Frost use pathos as a focal point throughout these poems to describe the drastic emotional effects felt by both characters. By including linguistic and structural devices in both poems, the reader feels different levels of pity and compassion for the tragedy of each poem, which ensures a greater overall connection between reader and author. Frost includes various forms of personification in his poem "Out, Out." to provoke pathos. The circular saw is personified using animal imagery creating a deep sense of fear and a real awareness of the immense power the saw produces. “Buzz saw rumbled and shook, rumbled and shook.” The reader feels pity for the boy because the repeated use of the verb "groan" creates the image that the saw has a life of its own and the boy is not at fault when he loses his hand. Therefore, the use of personification emphasizes innocence. Similarly, Owen uses personification in the poem “Disabled” to express the horrible injuries suffered by the soldier. By personifying blood as "The Leap of Violet Spouted" and using a dynamic verb, a vivid image of a creature leaping from its war wound is created, provoking a painful emotional response from the reader. Sleep is also cleverly personified by a mother gathering her children together using the metaphor of "until sleep has mothered" the boys' voices. This emphasizes a sense of pain and physical isolation that helps the reader feel pity for the soldier who is cold and tired and yet unable to move until someone remembers that he needs to put him to bed. In both poems, the change in tone is used to create pathos. In “Disabled,” the author includes a shift in tone to create two separate and distinct time periods. You can infer that the change in location reflects the overall tone shifting from the dark and lonely present in the first stanza to the bright and luminous past of the town he lived in, in the second stanza. The reader can appreciate the feelings of nostalgia that the person has about their once vibrant and opportunity-filled life, which generates a sense of pathos about the severity of the war's impact on the soldier's life. The vibrancy of his old life has disappeared "into the shell holes", leaving his experience of life dark and worthless "in his horrible gray shirt", waiting only for death. Before going to war, he was the person people looked up to and admired, now "only a solemn man thanked him and inquired about his soul." The reader feels compassion for him because the war has exposed him to a huge set of fears that eventually engulf him. In “Out, Out,” Frost also includes a subtle shift in tone. He begins the poem withserene images of the landscape and the sensory stimulation of "a sweet, fragrant substance as the breeze passes through it" which symbolize the boy's innocence. These contrast ironically with the horrible encounter between the boy and the saw when “neither refused the encounter”. The author uses a very discreet change of tone describing the passage, in the evening, from an atmosphere of happiness, where the circular saw is considered completely insignificant, to a chaotic scene where a young boy dies under the frenzied hands of the saw. The contrast generates pity for the reader longing for the boy to return to the tranquility of the moments before the horrors he endures. Both poets use symbols to create pathos. The wounded soldier at the center of “Disabled” is a powerful symbol of the destruction and consequences of war. Before enlisting, he “liked to have a trace of blood on his leg” and “after football…he drank a peg,” implying his naivety and ignorance of the true realities of war. The football match and the bloodstain symbolize how men viewed war as a game to be won with honor and glory, but which ended in bloodshed and massacre. The circular saw in "Out, Out" symbolizes the insane power of machines that can destroy human life when they escape human control. It symbolizes the fragility of life and the danger of child labor. By using these symbols, both poets create a sense of compassion for the characters, who both suffer accidental amputation. The structure of “Out Out” does not include any verses. This creates a relentless experience, leaving little time for the reader to absorb what is happening. The structure emphasizes the brutality and unexpectedness of the boy's death as well as the brevity of life, both of which induce pathos. Whereas in “Disabled”, the stanzas are used to provide a brief overview of the different phases of the man's life. The contrast between the second stanza, which mainly includes the happy times when he was a brave young boy, and the final stanza, detailing the reality of his situation after the war, allows the reader to feel sadness about the life that now leads the soldier, even though he is also only a boy. Although authors use varying structures, they are both equally effective in creating pathos. The poems use punctuation to invoke compassion. “Out, Out” uses punctuation to express the panicked and frightening nature of the events. The pause after the words "So the boy has seen it all" as the boy understands that death is imminent, makes the reader feel like he is experiencing his chaotic thoughts and pain and there is a feeling that his life is slipping away slowly and the reader is powerless to prevent it. As they then listen to his heartbeat, more dashes in parentheses are used "A little less nothing!" - and it's over. "The momentary pause in the action induces the shock and confusion felt by both the boy and his family and creates a morbid awareness for the reader, inducing pathos. Rhetorical questions are used in the poem "Disabled" to make the reader think about how to interpret the poem He asks: "And put him to bed? Why won't anyone come or will this poor man be left alone?" Alternatively, does the soldier still have anything else to experience if he just waits? All of the readers' feelings and thoughts induced by the questions create an overwhelming sense of pity toward the character, because the reader longs for that. for someone to help him, knowing full well that it won't be The repetition is..