Key Quotes

• The opening image of the soldiers, “Bent double”, “coughing like hags”, suggests they have been physically broken by war. They are exhausted and dirty -they “trudge”, they march “asleep” and they are “drunk with fatigue”
• The use of the exclamation mark and capitalisation in “Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!” suggests the urgency and fear of the impending gas attack.
• The stand-alone stanza, together with the verbs “guttering, choking, drowning” reinforced the horror of the soldier caught in the attack. The verb “drowning” also suggests the impenetrability of the gas and how it is invading his lungs
• The repetition of “dreams” emphasises how war has infiltrated his sleep, how he can never have peace, not even when he is sleeping
• Final words – “the old Lie”, allows Owen to highlight how war is not honourable or glorious, but cruel, degrading, dirty and horrifying