earticle

영어

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the correlation between trauma and the sublime in Owen’ war poetry. Having experienced shell shock, Wilfred Owen leaves the front and all his traumatic memories are repressed into his unconscious. However, for the sake of truthfulness in his poetic portrayal of war, he intentionally recalls and faces his terrifying experiences. Unexpectedly, he confronts his negative identity, both being the source of others’ trauma as a commander and slaughter and also as one helplessly suffering within the traumatic scenes. His sense of self is seriously damaged. He reshapes all the painful memories to ones more positive and suitable to his existing world view. The war becomes a sublime spot and what was in reality terror becomes a feeling of exultation. Finally, all the negative elements of his character and experiences are sublimated into a new, triumphant identity. Despite managing to recover from mental wounds and emotional scars, war can never truly be a pleasing experience. Therefore, the more keenly he feels the terror of war, the more sublime war becomes in poems like “Apologia pro Poemate Meo.” The sublime is the psychological counterpart of Owen’s trauma because it reflects his desperate intention to dissociate himself from the horror of war after the intense delight of emerging alive.