Dulce et Decorum Est :: English Literature

Dulce et decorousness EstWilfred OwenOwens poem Dulce et Decorum Est is a passionate expression of snipeat the mutual exclusivenesss of war and of sympathize with for the young soldiers sacrificed init.From the title of this poem pile back bag would have expected an checking poem, helping to overcome their grief at the loss of aloved one, instead what they got was a poem expressing outrage at thelies surrounding the Great War.The quote by Horace translates as It is clean and right to die forones country, but the poem is about proving to people at domicil thatthis isnt a sweet and honourable elan to die (if there is any). Itgoes through the worst parts of the war and describes them in detail.The horrors in these descriptions contradict the glorification of thewarThe poem consists of four stanzas, the first-year describes the soldiers,the second a gas attack, the third Owens nightm atomic number 18s and last an armorial bearing to the people back home.Owens poems are suffused with the horror of battle, and yet very wellstructured and innovative.The first stanza sets the scene as it describes the conditions the work forcefought in and their feelings.Owen this instant shocks the readers by describing the young soldiersas bent double emphasising their exhaustion and the office they slumpalong, deformed by fatigue, I think this is an efficacious fablebecause no one back home will be expecting their dashing soldiersdescribed as beggars. The simile coughing like hags was usedbecause the men who went into battle were relatively young, yet afterbattle they looked old and ugly, and so hags. With this one sentenceOwen implies health conditions that no one at home would ever dreamof. Words like Hags, Cursed and Haunting are used as they all haveconnotations of evil to emphasise the mishap and hardship of the frontlines. Owen chooses his word carefully using ones the readers willunderstand to describe processes they cant, Drunk with fatigue(Line 7), compari ng the effects of macrocosm drunk to being overly tired,for example the wavering walk, tripping and stumbling. This iseffective because everyone reading would know what its like to bedrunk. The tired, outstripped Five-Nines being a type of gun, butalso the soldiers being sent from the trenches for some breathe andrelaxation. He uses words like We, Our to show that he is part ofthis mayhem. He seems almost detached as if he has seen this sooften, that to him it has lost the horror value that we feel.In the second stanza there is a dramatic interpolate in pace to demonstrate