Dulce Decorum Est Tone

In the first stanza of ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, the reader is instantly drawn in with “Bent double”. This gives the poem a feeling of immediacy which is then followed up by a detailed description of what is to come. “Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs/ Men marched asleep/ Many had lost their boots but limped on.” The reader is yet again, drawn into the graphic scene of war. The alliteration “Knock-kneed” emphasises the battle weariness of the soldiers and intensifies the way they depicted war. Owen creates rhythm throughout the stanza by littering the poem with pauses. He uses this technique in the line “All went blind; Drunk with fatigue; death even to the hoots Of tired”. Owen makes the scene more vivid by bringing in his own involvement to war with “we cursed through the sludge”, he uses the term “sludge” to help capture the agony which was being experienced by the soldiers.

Owen uses Imagery as another method to convey the brutality of war and also as a means of contrast to show his life before and after. In the third stanza he creates a picture of blood being poured away; “poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry” and he uses metaphorical language to emphasis the point that he nearly bled to death as you cannot literally pour the blood out of your veins.

    Through vivid imagery and compelling metaphors "Dulce et Decorum Est" gives the reader the exact feeling the author wanted. The poem is an anti-war poem by Wilfred Owen and makes great use of these devices. This poem is very effective because of its excellent manipulation of the mechanical and emotional parts of poetry. Owen's use of exact diction and vivid figurative language emphasizes his point, showing that war is terrible and devastating. Furthermore, the utilization of extremely graphic imagery adds even more to his argument. Through the effective use of all three of these tools, this poem conveys a strong meaning and persuasive argument.

In the first stanza, Owen describes a regiment marching through sludge, something not unusual for soldiers at the time. In the second stanza, however, he introduces a new threat, mustard gas. The speaker exclaims: “Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!” (Owen L9). As most of the soldiers are putting on their gas masks, one fails to do so. The speaker is left watching the man struggle: “flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…guttering, choking, drowning.” (Owen L12-16). After watching his fellow soldier succumb to the hellish effects of the gas, the speaker could not erase the images from his memory. In the last stanza, he chastised the people at home who romanticize war and challenged them to think about how admirable it is to watch a man die: “the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin” (Owen L19-20).

Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” makes the reader acutely aware of the impact of war. The speaker’s experiences with war are vivid and terrible. Through the themes of the poem, his language choices, and contrasting the pleasant title preceding the disturbing content of the poem, he brings attention to his views on war while during the midst of one himself. Owen uses symbolism in form and language to illustrate the horrors the speaker and his comrades go through; and the way he describes the soldiers, as though they are distorted and damaged, parallels how the speaker’s mind is violated and haunted by war.

“Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem written by English soldier and a poet, Wilfred Owen. He has not only written this poem, but many more. Such as “Insensibility”, “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, “Futility”, “Exposure”, and “Strange Meeting” are all his war poems. (Poets.org) His poetry shows the horror of the war and uncovers the hidden truths of the past century. Among with his other poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” is one of the best known and popular WWI poem. This poem is very shocking as well as thought provoking showing the true experience of a soldiers in trenches during war. He proves the theme suffering by sharing soldiers’ physical pain and psychological trauma in the battlefield. To him that was more than just fighting for owns country. In this poem, Owen uses logos, ethos, and pathos to proves that war was nothing more than hell.

The tone that Owen uses is of a negative outlook on war & bitterness that was directed at the people who were involved in the rallying of troops to take up the fight (via propaganda) which he felt was not a truthful portrayal of the reality & horrors of the war that would greet them on the Western front. Stanza 2 and 3 describe the death of his mask less comrade in the gas attack & represents a prime example of his tone. "In all my dreams, before my helpless sight. He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning." (Owen15-16).

In his poem, “Dulce Et Decorum Est” poet Wilfred Owen utilizes horrific imagery, angry and disgusted tones, and a contrasting title to engage readers.

<br>There are several image groups used in this poem, two of which I will be reviewing. The first image group is "Sleep or Dreams". Owen often refers to many subconscious states like the afore mentioned one, the reason why he uses these references so frequently is that war is made apparent to the

Owen recalls his group being physically and mentally overwhelmed by the toil of battle in the first stanza of the poem using illustrative similes and alliteration, “Bent Double, like old beggars under sacks, / Knock-Kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge,” that presents a scene to the reader of soldiers who had gone to war with a strong nationalist idea, but ended up facing the horrible reality with induced shell shock (Owen 1-2). The language of the first stanza may surprise the reader, as it is barely appropriate for the glory of the battlefield where heroes are supposed to be found. As the soldiers lethargically persevere, or “marched asleep” through the blood that surrounded them, the slow rhythm of stanza allows the reader to somewhat empathize with the rugged troops to the point to where both sides may not have quickly grasped the grave calamity that is soon to occur, especially with the use of “softly” in “gas-shells dropping softly behind,” to prove that point (Owen

The poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a famous World War I anti-war poem written by the British poet and soldier, Wilfred Owen. It touched on the brutal the conditions of World War I. More specifically, the horrifying and gruesome events that occur in the trenches. The purpose is to express Owen’s feelings towards war. The tones of this poem are exhaustion and suffering.

War is cruel and devastating. In the poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est” the author, Wilfred Owen, gives an inside look at the horror of fighting. Ironically, “Dulce et Decorum Est” translates to “It is sweet and honorable.” The poem’s structure, and the author's tone and use of imagery give a vivid picture of the war experience. “Dulce et Decorum Est” does not follow a set stanza structure.

The poems “Dulce et Decorum Est” and “Done with Bonaparte” show what war is like. “Dulce et Decorum Est” written by Wilfred Owen, is based on his experience during World War I. Owen was born March 18, 1893 in Shropshire, England. In 1915, he decided to enlist in the Artists’ Rifles group. He was then commissioned as second lieutenant. In 1917, he was diagnosed with shell shock after he became injured during battle.

There are several image groups used in this poem, two of which I will be reviewing. The first image group is “Sleep or Dreams”. Owen often refers to many subconscious states like the afore mentioned one, the reason why he uses these references so frequently is that war is made apparent to the reader as being a subconscious state as the realities often seem to be too hard to except, an example which backs up my opinion is: “Men marched asleep”. The poet often refers to dreams. I believe part of the reason for this is that by dreaming you are escaping from the physical reality and surroundings and due to the horror and constant threat of death the soldiers would constantly be dreaming of home and their loved ones. However,

In majority of Owen’s poem, he demonstrates the true image of war and the impact it has on the soldiers rather than masking it with the lies of pride