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The overall structure of ‘The Last Laugh’ is in three stanzas, each with five lines. Each stanza tells the story of a different soldiers last words before his death and the ridicule of the weapons who killed him.
*Rhythm
Each of the opening couplets have iambic pentameter, which sets the scene for each death. Each last line of the stanza is a brief spurt of the weapons response to the soldier they have just killed, showing their cruelty as well as a sense of finality.
*Rhyme
There aren’t any perfect rhymes in any of the stanzas. However, Owen cleverly pararhymes the ends of the opening couplets to convey further meaning. ‘Died’ and ‘Indeed’ shows the sureness of the many deaths that occurred in the war. ‘Dad’ and ‘dead’ show the need for family and parental love as death approaches. ‘mood’ and ‘mud’ shows how pathetic and seemingly embarrassing the ends of so many of the soldiers were.
*Personification
The bullets 'chirped'- comparing them to birds because of the similarities in the sense of speed and size, creating an ironic, if not distrubing image of falsity.
The machine huns 'Chuckle' as if finding the events of war amusing.
The gas 'Hissed' to end the poem with a sense of evil.
- Altogether the sounds of machinery form a humanly figure, or a villain. Thus the machinery and weapons of warfare are shown to be the villains.
*Onomatopoea
'Tut-tut' represents the sound of the machine guns, but also sounds like a scowling parent, which takes away the severity of the situation.
'Vain-Vain' brings the idea of bullets flying overhead and ricoheting off metallic objects, thus involving the reader in the conflict of war.
*Derisive and cynical
The tone of the all the weapons as they seem to heartlessly ridicule the soldiers and their fate. ‘chriped’ ‘chuckled’ ‘guffawed’ ‘leisurely gestures- Fool!’ ‘tittered’ ‘grinned’.
*Ironic
The soldiers are the ones who created these weapons of destruction and pain, and they are now the ones who are being overpowered and killed by them. Also ironic that the weapons are personified, to become human-like and perform such inhuman actions of ruthless killing.
*(There is also the cruel irony of the soldier who cries out to his love, ‘My love!’, and then ‘his whole face kissed the mud’.)
The overall message is to show the vulnerability of men, when they come against the powerful and destructive weapons of war, who are depicted to find the efforts of the soldiers almost humouress and trifle in a villainous demeanor.
*There are similarities with 'The Letter' from the opening line; 'Oh! Jesus Christ! I'm hit' and 'Guh! Christ! I'm hit.' Where the use of Christ is for cursing as opposed to prayer- quite blasphemous.
*The strong sense of Irony, seen in the personification of the weapons, links back to 'Wild With All Regrets' when he wanted to teach his sons 'all the arts of hurting.'
The language Owen uses is blunt and to the point, expressing the state of the soldiers both physically and emotioinally.
*Diction of the Dying
'Oh! Jesus Christ!'- the expression of agony is seen in the 'Oh!', followed by the curse in the God reference, which could also be seen as a cry for help.
'O Mother'- in this case, the 'O' represents longing for his parental figure, bringing out the vulnerability of the boys.
'My Love' the possessive use of 'my' conveys the initmacy of the soldier with his Lover, which creates the sense of loss amd traged.
*The irony!
The superficial use of 'chuckeled'; 'chirped' and 'guffawed' created a false and ironice impression of the weapons.
The longevity of the phrase 'leisurely gesture', which is pronounced with emphasis on the 'E' sound, create a sense of flase compassion, which is ridiculed by the sharp sounding words of 'harsh' and 'tittered'.
*Lament
All three of the soldiers’ deaths are described in a state of extreme sorrow and grief. They are all literally silenced by the weapons, whether they are expressing their last thoughts to God, their parents, or their loved ones.
*Horror and suffering
The emotional suffering as well as the physical suffering of death that the soldiers have to experience. “ ‘My Love!’ one moaned.” conveys an expression of emotional suffering.
*Cries For Help
The soldiers are all calling out and crying for help, but to no avail as all of their attempts end in death.
*The power and Cruelty of the Weaponry
The inanimate weapons are all personified, and the men are overpowered and killed by them. The weapons laughing at the fate of the men show their cruel nature. ‘the bullets chirped’, ‘machine-guns guffawed’.
Imy & Shannon
Wilfred Owen