"Smile, Smile, Smile" by Wilfred Owen

What caught my attention in Owen's "Smile, Smile, Smile" was how the sound of the poem as it is read out loud elevates the meaning of the poem. I thought i sounded bouncy, like a song, since all of the lines are decasyllables. The rhyme scheme was somewhat confusing to me, because it does not follow a specific pattern. For example, the first eight lines follow and ABBA CDDC pattern. Lines 9-12 follow an EFEF pattern, while 13-16 follow a GGGG pattern. I think both the rhyme scheme and the syllable count add to the slightly jovial way the poem sounds when it is read out loud, which in turns contributes to the sarcasm Owen uses while trying to point out the ignorance of the people and paper.

I find that these patterns empower Owen's poem since the sarcasm is his way of approaching the public's view of war. The newspaper focuses on the superficial things such as the "Vast Booty", while undermining "the casualties" which are "typed small" (2, 3). It speaks lightly about the "dead" and how "Victory" is the only thing "worthy" for the ones "who fought" (9, 13, 16). The soldiers also know that when the newspaper speaks of the "integrity" of the "nations" that it is simply for the public and that they know the real "secret" - all of the England's "integrity" "had fled to France" (17, 20, 22). The last three lines also demonstrate the superficiality of the newspaper and its readers, while it prints "pictures of...broad smiles...each", and the people who say "How they smile!" (24, 26.) Owen uses the rhyme scheme and the syllable count to make the poem sound cheerful, just as the civilians who read the newspaper feel towards the veterans - "They're happy now, poor things" (26.)