preview

Dulce et Decorum est, by Wilfred Owen. Essay

Good Essays

Dulce et Decorum est, by Wilfred Owen.

The First World War was an event that brought to many people, pain, sorrow and bitterness. Accounts of the war shows that no other war challenged existing conventions, morals and ideals in the same way as did World War. Many people touched by the terrror of the war have written pieces of literature about the massacre that was World War 1, wishing people to understand the horror and tragedy that befell those involved. "Dulce et Decorum est", by Wilfred Owen, is one such elegy that presents to the reader a vivid, horrifying description of World
War 1, aiming to illustrate that war is not romantic and heroic, but a senseless and devastating event. In this poem, techniques such as
imagery, …show more content…

He describes the soldiers as "bent double, like old beggars under sacks", "knock-kneed", "limping on",
"all lame, all blind", being "drunk with fatigue" and "deaf". All these descriptions of the soldiers show the reader the suffering they had to endure and the hardships that they had to face. This is backed up by the description that "men marched asleep". This description of the soldiers, of how they "limped on, blood shod" gives the reader an impression that they can no longer comprehend what is going on around them, that they are "blind" and "deaf" to the world.

Metaphors are used to illustrate more vividly the descriptions used in the poem. This is evident in the description of the soldiers as "old beggars under sacks". This not only says that they are tired, but that they are so tired they have been brought down to the level of beggars who have not slept in a bed for weeks on end. In the description "his hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin" Owen compares the gas victim's face to the devil seeming corrupted and baneful. A metaphor even more effective is one that compares "...vile, incurable sores..." with the memories of the troops. It not only tells the reader how the troops will never forget the experience, but also how they are frightening tales, ones that will the troops will never be able to tell without remembering the extremely painful experience. These

Get Access