Dulce Et Decorum Est

• bent double, like old beggars under sacks
• haunting flares
• under a green sea, I saw him drownin
• guttering, choking, drowning
• behind the wagon that we flung him in
• dulce et decorum est pro patria mori
• about the poet

  Wilfred Owen

  experienced war first hand - autobiographical poem

  wrote it in 1917, whilst in Craiglockhart War hospital - treatment for shellshock and PTSD

  He was pro/for-war when he signed up and when he left he was anti-war

  he felt responsible for the men in his company so he went back to fight
• form and structure

  alternate line rhyme

  Stanza 1 - soldiers marching - poor conditions

  Stanza 2 - gas attack - split to show nightmares/shellshock/PTSD afterwards

  Stanza 3 - what happened after the gas attacks
• key themes

  war

  pain and suffering

  death and loss
• Poems to compare to

  The Manhunt

  The Soldier