In Wilfred Owne's Poem, Dulce et Decorum Est, He Attempts to Enlighten the Public to the Tragedies of War

Having established in the readers mind how impossible the soldiers situation was, Owen abruptly changes his style of writing to descriptive to active in the second stanza, which is used to describe a deadly gas attack. This alteration in style jerks the readers mind to attention, drawing them into the poem and emphasizing how at anytime a soldiers situation could become fatal/ The first technique used in this stanza is the repetition of the word ‘gas’. It is used in a short, quick sentience to convey the urgency that is present during the gas attack. The exhaustion and weariness of the first stanza is discarded by the use of the word ‘ecstasy’. This word, when describing the franticness, is unusual, but because the word is normally associated with the heightening of emotions, albeit usually positive ones, it is quite suitable to describe a life or death situation. It also stresses the adrenalin that the soldiers feel when their

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.

The literal meaning of this passage is just how it sits. These men are thrown into war and are set with these ideals that it is not okay for them to express emotion towards what they are faced with on a daily basis. Although each and every one of those men were impacted by those gruesome sights and feelings, it was just an accepted way that things were. Real men were not supposed to be affected by their experiences. The greater significance it that it is everyone in life is changed somehow and influenced by each sight they see. One should not feel ashamed for letting an experience find it was truly into their heart and letting it take a role in their life. O’Brien is trying to highlight the plethora of things that each person carried beyond

Poets frequently utilize vivid images to further depict the overall meaning of their works. The imagery in “& the War Was in Its Infancy Then,” by Maurice Emerson Decaul, conveys mental images in the reader’s mind that shows the physical damage of war with the addition of the emotional effect it has on a person. The reader can conclude the speaker is a soldier because the poem is written from a soldier’s point of view, someone who had to have been a first hand witness. The poem is about a man who is emotionally damaged due to war and has had to learn to cope with his surroundings. By use of imagery the reader gets a deeper sense of how the man felt during the war. Through the use of imagery, tone, and deeper meaning, Decaul shows us the

Within his poem he describes some of the struggles of war. He states, “Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots But limped on, blood shod. All went lame; all blind; Drunk with fatigue”(709). He describes the overwhelming exhaustion that war takes on the human body. The body continues to fight on and survive. He continues with, “Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!--An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”(709). This description allows us to realize that even when the body was at complete exhaustion, as described earlier, the men stay vigilant at all times in order to stay alive. At any moment death could be at their doorstep and they must be ready to combat it. Not all men were able to react as quickly as need be in wartime, as described by, “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.”(709). He is unable to do anything for his dying brother, friend and fellow soldier. This is the most important glimpse into what soldiers face in the field of battle that stays with them for the rest of their lives. At points within the war, many were faced with the realization that somebody very close was dying right in front of them and there was nothing they could do to assist them. This poem can serve as the missing link for the reader to, attempt, to imagine what

DPs • I found this poem quite shocking, as it expresses the horrors of war in such a brutal and grotesque manner. As a result, it was an eye-opening to hear and visualize how savagely violent being on the battlefield truly is. • One critical aspect of the text is the author’s inclusion of similes in order to capture the essence of how heart wrenching it is to be a soldier. An example of this occurs in the beginning of the poem when the narrator is describes the other soldiers as, “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,” (1). In this example, the author shines light on how pitiful and hopeless they look from the effects of war.

War is often associated with words like honor and glory, but Wilfred Owen’s poem, “Dulce et Decorum Est” strips away fanciful notions that war is anything less than absolute horror through his writing style and usage of setting, rhythm, and imagery to contrast the reality of war with an idealized version. The full Latin quote that concludes Owen’s poem, “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” translates to “It is sweet and right to die for one’s country.” A popular saying at the time of the First World War when Owen penned the lines, the title of the poem originates in the Roman poet Horace’s Odes. However, as Owen so painfully illustrates, there is nothing sweet or right about the bitterness of death and devastation that war brings.

The poem 'Disabled' by poet Wilfred Owen influences the readers opinion of the soldier's decision to enlist for war. The use of Juxtaposition and Emotive Language makes us realise just now naïve and foolish the soldier was to think that serving his country in something so pointless, was an extreme act of bravery and heroism. Through Juxtaposition, we learn that blood smears sustained in a friendly game of football, are nothing compared to what the soldier had mustered, and forfeited during his time at war. The use of colour symbolises the emotions of the soldier towards the memories of war, and Emotive Language, also enables us to connect with the soldier on a more emotional level, as to make us understand his feelings of regret and anger towards

The soldiers are exhausted and unaware of the danger that surrounds them. And before they are able to make back to camp, they are attacked with gas and being to rush to put on their gas masks. But one soldier is not able to put his mask on quickly and inhales the lethal gas. In the beginning of the poem, Owen describes the soldiers actions by using similes like; “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks”, and “coughing like hags” to compare the soldiers to old, weak, broken, and sick women. He also uses phrases like “Men marched asleep” and “Drunk with fatigue” to express the exhaustion of the soldiers as they continued on with their journey back to

Maricris M. Etnel English 102 Kay - 4 Poetry Paper 22 June 2015 Explication of “Dulce et Decorum Est” In the poem by Wilfred Owen “Dulce et Decorum Est” was written in regards his experience during the war of World War I. Owen writes about the repugnance of the war that the civilians does not know about and fully understand. The speaker himself was in the military, and her is showing his readers through his poem the reality the soldiers have to face in the battlefield. He explains in his poem the naivety of people by encouraging young men to fight for their country which in turn sentence them to an unnecessary death.

“Dulce Et Decorum Est”, written by Wilfred Owen, is an anti-war poem describes Owen’s own experiences and expresses his view on the war, how the soldiers looked. The poem contains various shifts in tone and the irony. The poem also has changes in perspective varying from first person to third person. The poem has multiple changes in tone and pace creating a specific ambience in each and every stanza.

The second stanza reveals the attack on the platoon. Owen’s description of the attack is an “ecstasy of fumbling” (9) while the soldiers attempt to put on their masks. This line suggests that panic has consumed the entire platoon. The reader is able to see that the mood changes drastically from one of tiredness to extreme alarm. He illustrates the helmets as being “clumsy” (10). Owen then goes on to tell of one soldier that did not get his mask on in time. “And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…” (12) is the description that Owen gives of the dying soldier. Furthermore, he goes on to add that he hopelessly witnesses him drowning in a green sea. The utilization of the words guttering, choking, and drowning are used to make the reader visualize what his death was like. It presents the reader with an awareness of the brutality of mustard gas. It is painful and inhumane way to die.

Almost immediately the reader finds out about the soldiers injuries “Legless, sewn short at elbow.” Meaning his clothes are sewed off at the end of his now injured limbs. “Voices of boys rang, saddening like a hymn, Voices of play and pleasure after day.” The sound of pleasure which the soldier hears saddens him as he is now not able to have fun which he once could before the injuries sustained in war. The second stanza describes the soldier’s sexual longing.

In the first lines of the poem, he compares them to “old beggars” and “hags” (L. 1,2). Most of the soldiers were probably young, but due to stress of war, seemed to age almost instantly and while marching resembled old people walking. The speaker then compares the dying soldier to “a man in fire or lime” and the gas to “a green sea”. Considering that this is a memory, seeing a man on fire in a green sea has a dreamlike state to it making it seem more like a nightmare (L. 12, 14). Later he claims the soldier’s face is “like a devil’s sick of sin” and “Obscence as cancer, bitter as the cud” (L. 20, 23).

Particularly during Owen’s time at war, World War I, many people thought that it was noble and glorious honour to go to war, but Owen’s poetry completely disregards that notion and how futile war really is. The title of Dulce Et Decorum Est is Latin for “It is sweet and glorious” and is ironic, due to the fact that that is not what the poem is about, especially as the last two lines state that “The old Lie” is that it is sweet and honourable to die for one’s country, although this is written in Latin in the poem. The