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Dulce Et Decorum Est

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Analysis of Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen

The First World War saw the introduction of many new warfare technologies across its theatres due to industrial competition between rival nations. One of the most feared weapons amongst soldiers on both sides was gas. The usage of chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas caused the death of thousands of men by suffocation. Wilfred Owens poem 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' gives a detailed description of a soldier dying from a gas attack. It was to show his opposition to war and to show that the war was contrary to what it was being portrayed as in Britain at the time - rightful and fitting.

The poem was written with a harsh, blunt word choice and style that …show more content…

" All went lame, all blind" does not literally mean that all the men were lame and blind but shows they are mentally as well as physically fatigued. This is again effective in showing some of the truths of the war.

There is a contrasting style of word choice in the start of the second stanza to that of the first:

"Gas! Gas! Quick boys - an ecstasy of fumbling."

The soldiers are no longer limping, lame and blind but are in a rushed, confused state. The word "ecstasy" above all emphasises the scene. However, the poem then returns to a more solemn mood:

"But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And floundering like a man in fire or lime."

The words "fire" and "lime" convey a similar idea of burning - a property of mustard and chlorine gas. Having inhaled the green gas the man's lungs would be dissolving and he would effectively be drowning in his own body fluids:

"As under a green sea, I saw him drowning."

"He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning."

The harsh, almost un-poetic use of words is very effective in emphasising the horrors of the war.

In the last stanza the word choice remains sombre, blunt and realistic:

"His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gurgling from the froth-corrupted lungs."

This usage

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