Summary:

The speaker: Wilfred Owen or a soldier just come back from war.

In this poem, Owen is speaking on the not so glamorous aspects of war and gives multiple reasons why we should not advocating for it. He shines light on the not so sweet aspects of it, and doesn’t want people to be lying to the youth when so many are dying, for the purpose of fighting for their country.

In the first stanza he talks about the condition the soldiers are in, comparing them to lifeless zombies. The situation only gets worse in stanza two as they are returning home and the temperament of the war becomes even worse. The images of war still haunt him in his dreams and therefor after the battle, he addresses the people at home, to stop advocating for the push towards going to war, for there is nothing glorious or humorous about it.

Change:

1. Glimmering to haunting
   1. It changes the sentence all together making it very somber and sets the tone for the rest of the stanza, amplifying just how against everything war related the speaker is.
2. Removed: whew ..top..top..top..
   1. I think it is good that the speaker took this out because it makes the script at bit comical and probably would not as effectively get his point across. There is a subtle sarcastic tone to some of the lines but these onomatopoeia words do not carry the point home, as just “Gas! Gas! Quick boys!” It’s quick and straight to the points, once again portraying the harshness of war.