Dulce Et Decorum Est Figurative Language

In Wilfred Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” the speaker’s argument against whether there is true honor in dieing for ones country in World War I contradicts the old Latin saying, Dulce et Decorum Est, which translated means, “it is sweet and honorable to die for the fatherland”; which is exemplified through Owen’s use of title, diction, metaphor and simile, imagery, and structure throughout the entirety of the poem.

One is to think of war as one of the most honorable and noble services that a man can attend to for his country, it is seen as one of the most heroic ways to die for the best cause. The idea of this is stripped down and made a complete mockery of throughout both of Wilfred Owen’s poems “Dulce Et Decorum Est” and “Anthem for Doomed Youth”. Through his use of quickly shifting tones, horrific descriptive and emotive language and paradoxical metaphors, Owen contradicts the use of war and amount of glamour given towards the idea of it.

Owen successfully evokes the ideas of truth in the poem “Dulce et Decorum est” the line “You would not believe with such high zest, to children ardent for some desperate glory, the old lie” through the use of metaphors and personification Owen demonstrates that the reality of the individual’s experience in war meant that they ended up challenging their sense of duty, their blind patriotism and understood that the true meaning of war is futile. The unimaginable suffering they lived through further highlights this reality. Also in the poem “Anthem for doomed youth” Owen explores the truth of war in the quote “Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.” Owen uses the technique of symbolism to link the glimmers of goodbyes to a funeral. Many soldiers did not receive proper funeral rights and were just buried in mass graves. Owen also shows the truth of war through the mortality of war in his oxymoronic approach of the colossal loss of life. Essentially Owen explores the truth of war through the themes of psychological scars and the horrors of

Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” is a poem made of four stanzas in an a, b, a, b rhyme scheme. There is hardly any rhythm to the entire poem, although Owen makes it sound like it is in iambic pentameter in some lines. Every stanza has a different amount of lines, ranging from two to twelve. To convey the poem’s purpose, Owen uses an unconventional poem style and horrid, graphic images of the frontlines to convey the unbearable circumstances that many young soldiers went through in World War I. Not only did these men have to partake in such painful duties, but these duties contrasted with the view of the war made by the populace of the mainland country. Many of these people are pro-war and would never see the battlefield themselves. Owen’s use of word choice, imagery, metaphors, exaggeration, and the contrast between the young, war-deteriorated soldiers and populace’s favorable view of war creates Owen’s own unfavorable view of the war to readers.

Owen similarly guides the tone of his writing very carefully, choosing the perfect words and punctuation to emphasize or stress certain aspects that he had in mind to be expressed. Owen also tries to give the poem a serious tone to it by exclaiming, Gas! Gas! Quick boys! But someone still was yelling out and stumbling As under a green sea, I saw him drowning (Gioia 782). He wants the reader to understand what serious obstacles the soldiers had to suffer through. War really was a time of pain and grief, not of glory. This idea is seen in Owens overall style of writing. He is rather honest and blunt about wartime. Basically, he wants his audience to feel the pain of what soldiers of any war had to go through. His final words are, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est/ Pro patria mori. (Gioia 783). The translation of those words says, It is sweet and fitting to die for ones country. He just wants everyone to know that it is in deed a lie to believe that war and dying for ones country should be rewarded and glorified.

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.

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).

On 21st October 1915, ladies and gentlemen, board of the ‘Poetry Now Festival’, you and I, have enlisted in the Artists ' Rifles Officers ' Training Corps. As honourable soldiers we’re aware that as time passes, our imaginative existence has changed dramatically by a number of traumatic experiences. We, are ALL Wilfred Owen. One of the most enduring phenomena spawned The Great War created a literal response which evoked from its immediate participants, the soldiers. Owen writes with intense focus on war as an extraordinary human experience. The poems also document other experiences, such as human cruelty and suffering which are carefully structured to convey meaning, and through the use of figurative language conveying the sights and sounds of the battlefield and of trauma. With reference to ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, ‘The Next War’ and ‘Anthem Of Doomed Youth’, Owen’s intention were to arouse an awareness of the fluctuations of fortune and mood during war and to promote an understanding that a these shifts were reflected in an enormous body of literature. Owen successfully portrays the relationship between the changing perceptions of authority/government, as the young soldiers begin to feature in the delightful and

Throughout the poem, Owen makes clear two major tones. Anger and Disgust. To establish this point, the poet says “ Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge” (lines 2 & 3). This reveals how the poet was angry about being in the war because he wasn’t experiencing the romanticism of war he was experiencing suffering of fighting. An additional example is when Owen adds “ But limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots” (lines 6-8). These lines imply Owen’s disgusted tone towards the war because the soldiers were worked to death. However the title has a completely different tone. The translated title states “ It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” This is a huge contrast to the rest of the poem because all the poet describes is the horror of being in the war, when the title puts a glorified image in your mind that serving is heroic and honorable. For instance, Owen states “ My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, the old Lie: Dulce et decorum

His tone implies that he didn't know what he was getting into when Uncle Sam beckoned for him to join the war effort. Owen uses words like “Obscene” (Owen 23), “Incurable” (Owen 24), and to add a satirical bite, “An ecstasy of fumbling” (Owen 9). Owen’s diction makes it clear what his position on the war is, and tries his hardest to describe the brutality of it. Owen concludes his poem with “you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory…” (Owen 25-26). Owen drives his point home with his bitter tone and honest message. “The old lie” (Owen 27) Owen exclaims at the end of his poem. Death is not a romantic thing, even to die for your country.

Dulce Et Decorum Est, a poem written by Wilfred Owen during the Great War, portrays the story of a soldier who has witnessed the horrors of war and explains that the term Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, or “it is sweet and honorable to die for one's country”,is a misnomer of war. This poem has both a negative and positive tone about war; the soldiers view and the people's view. The soldiers have a negative tone because they have witnesses the trauma of war firsthand and have come to realize what they were told growing up was a myth. The people have a positive tone because they don’t understand what really transpired during this war and they believe that it is a significant and honorable thing to die serving your country.

This poem is called dulce et decorum est and is written by Wilfred Owen the poem is about the horrors of war. In stanza one Owen gets his message across about the war and the soldiers physical condition through his use of similes ,metaphors assonance and ambiguity. One example of ambiguity is his description of the “haunting flares” the first meaning is referring to the sound of the flare the other meaning is that the soldiers are haunted by what they have seen in the war.the second quote is “men marched asleep” which is getting the point across that the soldiers are absolutely shattered.it is clear to the reader that war is a draining experience for the soldiers. In stanza 2 Owen gets his message about the horrors of a gas attack across with a good use of ambiguity.my first quote is “and flound'ring like a man in fire or lime”this means that a solder did not get his gas mask on in time and he is now floundering around in pain.the second quote is “i saw him drowning”this is another example of ambiguity, the first meaning is that he looks like he is drowning and the second meaning is that he is actually drowning because the gas makes the lungs bleed so he drowns in blood.it is clear to the reader that gas attacks and all of war is a horrific experience]

Wilfred Owen accomplishes a wide array of different objectives in his poem “De Dulce Decorum Est” through his word choice, tone, and vivid imagery. Using a destitute tone consistently throughout the first stanza, Owen creates a specific atmosphere. Giving objects life through extensive personification, and comparing them through many similes. Owen also gives us a clear depiction of how he saw war, being a soldier himself against the backdrop of WWI, Owen had a strong opposition to war and suffered himself from shell shock. A portion of his poem in the last stanza is a direct reference to Jessie Pope, a pro-war poet.

“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen takes its title from the Latin phrase that means “It is sweet and becoming to die for one’s country”. Quite often the barbaric nature of war is over romanticized and the author uses this title satirically to mock the public’s deluded view of war. The poem graphically describes the hell soldiers have to endure in their everyday battle for survival. These are tragedies of war that only veterans can fully understand and Wilfred Owen tries to enlighten the general public of these tragedies through imagery and similes throughout his poem.

“War is neither glamorous nor attractive. It is monstrous. Its very nature is one of tragedy and suffering.” The poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ by Wilfred Owen reveals the unknown horrors of war and undercovers the hidden truths of the past century. The Poet intent for constructing this verse form is to deter the war by the use of many poetic devices.