Owen and Metallica: Worlds Apart but Message The Same
             For my paper, I chose to compare and contrast Wilfred Owen's poem, "Dulce Et Decorum Est" and Metallica's song "One." Although Owen died before the members of Metallica were even born, they both share the same message in these two poems. That message is a simple but important one: War isn't glorious; it's dirty and vicious. They go about getting the point across very differently, but that doesn't take away from the similarities that they share.
             Owen was a twenty year old when he was fighting in World War I. He was twice wounded in battle and he wrote his poems, not to be a good poet, but instead to show the world war through his eyes. His poems opened the eyes indeed; the violence depicted in his poems shocked the public to attention. It wasn't till after his death in battle that most of his poems were published, along with his book of poems, "Lives of the Poets."
             Metallica is a rock group made up of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted. This song was written in regards to the Vietnam War, or should I say in protest of it. It uses metaphysical conceits to address the mental anguish a Vietnam Veteran is experiencing after coming home from the war: injuries and all. This was Metallica's first "big" hit in rock music.
             In Owen's poem it starts with a scene of some soldiers who are on their way back to camp after being on the front for who knows how long. "Bent double, like old beggars under sacks." He describes the young boys as old beggars to show how the war had prematurely aged them to adulthood. As they are marching away from the battle field, away from the fight, they are beaten and bloody; some even walk on a stub, because they have lost a foot. "Drunk with fatigue;" the soldiers were so tired they couldn't even walk straight, they walked like drunkards. Then out of seemingly nowhere...