Wilfred Owen

A great topic for a literature research paper is

to do a poetry explication of Wilfred Owen's poem Dulce et Decorum Est. You will want to consider the historical timeframe of the poem, Owen's personal life and various other factors that often influence a writer's creation.

Here is how you may want to go about writing the explication:

1. The explication should follow this format: begin with the large issues and basic design of the poem and work through each line to the more specific details and patterns.
2. The first paragraph should present the large issues; it should inform the reader which conflicts are dramatized and should describe the dramatic situation of the speaker. The explication does not require a formal introductory paragraph; the writer should simply start explicating immediately. Begin the explication with the following sentence: "This poem dramatizes the conflict between...." Such a beginning ensures that you will introduce the major conflict or theme in the poem and organize your explication accordingly.
3. The next paragraphs should expand the discussion of the conflict by focusing on details of form, rhetoric, syntax, and vocabulary. In these paragraphs, the writer should explain the poem line by line in terms of these details, and he or she should incorporate important elements of rhyme, rhythm, and meter during this discussion.
4. The conclusion of the explication has no formal concluding paragraph: do not simply restate the main points of the introduction. The end of the explication should focus on sound effects or visual patterns as the final element of asserting an explanation.

Keep In Mind in Wilfred Owen Research Paper:

1. Refer to the speaking voice in the poem as the "speaker" or "the poet." For example do not write, "In this poem, Wordsworth says that London is beautiful in the morning." However, you can write, "In this poem, Wordsworth presents a speaker who..." We cannot absolutely identify Wordsworth with the speaker of the poem, so it is more accurate to talk about "the speaker" or "the poet" in an explication.
2. Use the present tense when writing the explication. The poem, as a work of literature, continues to exist.
3. To avoid unnecessary uses of the verb "to be" in compositions, the following list suggest some verbs which can be used when writing the explication:

• Dramatizes

• Presents

• Illustrates

• Characterizes

• Underlines

• Asserts

• Posits

• Enacts

• Connects

• Portrays

• Contrasts

• Juxtaposes

• Suggests

• Implies

• Shows

• Addresses

• Emphasizes

• Stresses

• Accentuates