dulce et decorum est

• 'bent double like old beggars under sacks'


  soldiers have been physically broken by war
• 'coughing like hags'


  war prematurely ages the young men
• 'towards our distant rest'


  hopeless and exhausted as they can't tell if it is ever going to end
• 'lost their boots'


  possibly symbolic of them losing their patriotism, as both were the uniform of ideal soldiers
• 'shells dropping softly behind'


  almost becoming comforting to them, becoming desensitised
• 'gas! gas! quick boys an ecstasy of fumbling'


  change in speed and tone mimics the panic of the gas attack
• 'clumsy helmets just in time'


  makes the readers relieved, but worried for the soldiers, mirrors the sheer horror that the soldiers felt
• 'someone still yelling'


  makes hearts drop, the soldiers are so caught up that they don't even know who it is, they have to distance themselves from each other to not get too attached
• 'thick green layer'


  describing the gas, but light is typically positive, possibly suggesting that the dying soldier at least has a way out from the war
• 'my helpless sight'


  regret that they can't do anything to save them, it is out of their control (PTSD)
• 'devil sick of sin'


  war is living hell
• 'incurable sores on innocent tongues'


  they will never recover, they were previously so innocent but they will never be able to get to that again