V6 Wilfred Owen

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Wilfred Owen 1893 - 1918

Aim of this lesson:

• Repeat what we learnt about Owen's life and death
• Get a better understanding of the poem Mental Cases

Wilfred Owen

• Modest means, middle class
• Close to his mother, Susan Owen
• Became a lieutenant after visiting a hospital for the wounded
• Was a war hero, pleaded for his men
• Was an excellent shot
• Was treated for shellshock at Craiglockheart
• After the war, his poems were published with the help of Sassoon

Mental cases:
Which literary devices can you see?

Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight? In the first stanza we see

1. dead soldiers being described
2. questions being asked about soldiers suffering from shellshock
3. the reader's interest being raised
4. hell being described

"slow panic" can be considered

1. alliteration
2. assonance
3. hyperbole
4. oxymoron

The structure of the poem is:

1. introduction - middle part- conclusion
2. questions-answer-conclusion

Which words are usually used for objects and not for human beings, as is the case in this poem?

Examples of alliteration in the poem

The last stanza is a conclusion and an accusation

True

False

Owen died:

1. Just 26 years old
2. As a result of blood poisoning
3. When the war was over
4. In a machine gun attack just before the end of the war