Poetry is one of the most powerful ways to convey an idea or opinion. Through vivid imagery and compelling metaphors, a well written poem allows the author to instill the feelings he or she feels in the reader. The poem "Dulce et Decorum Est," an anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen, makes great use of these devices. This poem is very effective because of its excellent manipulation of the mechanical and emotional parts of poetry. Owen's use of exact diction and vivid figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is terrible and devastating. Furthermore, the utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument.
The poem's use of excellent diction helps to more clearly define what the author is saying. Words like "guttering", "choking", and "drowning" not only show how the man is suffering, but that he is in terrible pain that no human being should endure.
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Poetry is an...
English: Portrait of Wilfred Owen, found in a coll...Other words like writhing and froth-corrupted say precisely how the man is being tormented. Moreover, the phrase "blood shod" shows how the troops have been on their feet for days, never resting. Also, the fact that the gassed man was "flung" into the wagon reveals the utter lack of dignity or glory as poems such as Soldier spoke of. The only thing they can do is toss him into a wagon. The fact one word can add to the meaning so much shows how the diction of this poem adds greatly to its effectiveness.
Likewise, the use of figurative language in this poem also helps to emphasize the points that are being made. Owen capitalizes greatly on this by using strong metaphors and similes. Right off in the first...
Good Start
This is a good start to an A paper. The ideas and the way they are presented in your essay represent a more than competent understanding of the text. Besides being almost free of mechanical errors, the paper delivers substantial information and makes cogent, fresh arguments - that is, in both quality and interest-value. Its specific points are logically ordered, somewhat developed, and supported, and unified around a clear organizing scheme that is apparent early in the paper. Your thesis, "Through the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument," is underdeveloped and lacks the specificity of a strong, more concise idea. You demonstrate a strong, varied, and sophisticated literary vocabulary (diction, figurative language, metaphors, similies and imagery). The paper's relatively few syntactic, usage, and mechanical errors do not seriously detract from the main focus, but the language, while neither trite nor bureaucratic, lacks the candor and precision of the most memorable writing. Its transitions, while appropriate ("The poem's use of excellent diction helps to ...", "Likewise, the use of figurative language in this poem also ...", "The most important means of developing the effectiveness of the poem is ..."), emphasize the logical turnings of the writer's mind, making the reader occasionally more aware of the efforts taken to unify and control an idea than of the idea itself. Directly quoted lines are integrated into the text with appropriate attribution and commentary. By commentary, I mean a discussion of how the appropriate textual support provides meaning ("Words like "guttering", "choking", and "drowning" not only show how the man is suffering, but that he is in terrible pain that no human being should endure"). This paper, although adequately analyzing the brutality of war and its repercussions, lapses in analysis or in sufficient commentary - those cogent comments that connect proof to meaning and support of the thesis. Overall, this paper provides enough support and analysis worthy of a B. This essay is of a good quality, but with more improvement on word choice, syntax and commentary, this essay will be of excellent quality. Well done.
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