Dulche et Decorum

• First paragraph:

  "Bent double, like old beggers under sacks."


  The writer use's a simile here and it undermines the stereotype of soldiers being arduous, strong and fit. Wilfred Owen is also suggesting that they are weak and filthy, which is not the image normally conjured when thinking of soldiers.
• "Drunk with fatigue".


  The technique which Wilfred Owen use's is a metaphor and it suggests how the men are so weary that they are staggering and uncoordinated in the way that somebody who has consumed too much alcohol would. Wilfred Owen is emphasising the physical and mental exhaustion endued by the soldiers.
• Paragraph 2:

  "GAS! GAS! Quick boys!


  The series of short exclamations conveys panic. The short sentences make the attack seem sudden and unexpected. This is contrasted to stanza 1, rather than being told about the harsh conditions. Owen is forcing the reader to become immediately involve in it.
• "But someone still was yelling out, and stumbling. And floundring like a man in fire or lime."


  The technique which the writer has used here is word choice. And the word choice tell's us how the man is thrashing around in agony. The writer also used a simile here to emphasise the pain the man is in, as is he was being burned alive. The image also has connotations of hell, which we associate as being somewhere which inflicts pain.
• Paragraph 3:

  "In all my dreams before my helpless sight."


  Owen is showing that he still dreams about and envisages the agonising death of a fellow soldier. The word "helpless" conveys a sense of guilt that he can do nothing to help his friend.
• "He plunges at me guttering, choking, drowning."


  Owen is recallling the death of his fellow soldier. He is describing the dreams he has where the dying ma is "plunging" at Owen, the word "plunge" has connotations of desperation. The word "guttering" refers to a candle spitting before it goes out, suggesting that coughing and splutering are symbolsiing the young man's life being extinguishet. "Drowning" continues the metaphor from stanza 2 which describes the soldiers desperate attempts to draw breath.
• Paragraph 4:

  "If in some smothering dreams"


  The word choice of "smothering" continues danger you associate something in escapable and dangerous. Owen is detailing that he is unable to escape from the ghastly memories of war.
• "Behind the wagon we flung him in."


  Emotive word choice of "flung" implies soldiers are treated with no respect, as if they are disposable. These horrific sights have become quite everyday, and there is no respect in the disposel of the bodies.
• Paragraph 5:

  "My friend you would not tell with such high zest."


  He is directly addressing the audience here. The word "friend" shows that Owen is making a desperate plea to the reader. He is trying to relate to the audience in the hope that they will not be blinded by the lies told about the war. Owen wants the reader to listen carefully to his details of the war, which exposes the harsh and grim reality of it. This is told by a demanding tone,
• "The old lie; Dulce et Decorum Est pro Patria Mori."


  "The old lie", Owen explicitly states that this statement is a lie. He does not offer it as an opinion, but states it as fact. Owen ends the poem with a damning criticism of war and those who support it. He make's it clear that anyone who knew the truth of war could not view war as an act of heroic patriotism.
• Wilfred Owen


  Dulce Et Decorum Est
• Wilfred Owens poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" is set during World War I on the western front in France.

  the title of the line "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" which is repeated in the final lines is a Latin saying which translates as it is sweet and right to die for your country.

  Owen completely rejects this believe.
• This poem deals with both loss and deep sadness endured during the first world war. Owen uses powerful and brutal descriptions to reflect some of the horrors experienced on the trenches.


  Its vibrant imagery and searing tone make it an unforgettable excoriation of WWI
• Owen served in world war 1 as a lieutenant but died just shortly before it ended. In the opening stanza Owens speaks of his experience on the front lines. The soldiers are all mentally and physically ravaged by the exertions of warfare.

  Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

  Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

  And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
• Owen vividly portrays the price of trench warfare, the exhaustion of soldiers, constant danger and lose of humanity. The utter brutality of War has broken these brave men. Owen expresses this with Powerful descriptions of the conditions faced by soldiers in the trenches.

  Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

  But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

  Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

  Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
• In the second stanza the conditions worsen. Just as the men are heading home for the night with some glimmer of happiness, gas shells drop beside them. The soldiers hastily scramble for their gas masks in a frantic attempt to save their own lives. Unfortunately, they don't all get to their masks in time.

  GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,

  Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
• He portrays the horrid nature of the battlefield with powerful, disturbing and graphic visual imagery.

  Our speaker watches as a member of his crew chokes and staggers helplessly toward him in the toxic fumes, Owen is unable to save him from an excruciating and certain death

  
  

  He watches the panicked man desperately gasp for air as he drops to the ground.powerful and disturbing visual imagery


  But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

  And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--

  Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light

  As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

  In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

  He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
• Now fast-forward. It's some time after the battle, but our speaker just can't get the sight of his dying comrade out of his head. The soldier's image is everywhere: in the speaker's thoughts, in his dreams, in his poetry. Worst of all, our speaker can't do anything to help the dying soldier.

  If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

  Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

  And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

  His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

  If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

  Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
• He is rejecting the accepted attitude back at home that serving your country in war is glorious. He sees war as brutal and wasteful of young lives. Owen then says that, if you knew what the reality of war was like, you would not go about telling children they should enlist.

  My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

  To children ardent for some desperate glory,

  The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est

  Pro patria mori.
• this poem illustrates the futility and horror of warm In my mind there is definitely nothing glorious or honorable about death. Or, for that matter, war itself.


  warfare is no adventurous and heroic as many claim it to be instead the reality is it is horrific and desperate suffering endured by millions involved.
• What is the context of the poem?

  - written about a soldier's death from poison gas as a coutner to propagandists like the poet Jesseie Pope

  - written by Wilfred Owen who died a week before the end of WW1
• we cursed through sludge' S1

  - slow pace reflects the slow pace of the progress as they had to walk through the thick mud
• till on the haunting flares we turned our backs' S1


  - the flares are sent up to light no man's land so that any opposing forces can be spotted

  -As a poetic device they effectively hang in the air like ghosts and remind the soldiers that those flares may lead to their deaths, hence 'haunting'. The word itself begins with the aspirant consonant 'h' followed by the long diphthong 'au'. So 'haunt' has, literally, a haunting, lingering impact
• Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

  But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;' S1


  - 'men marched asleep' suggests that they are zombie-like beings, with death looming over them

  
  

  -These two lines (and the majority of the poem) are written in iambic pentameter, which conveys the steady beat made by the soldiers' feet as they march. This rhythm is somewhat contradicted by the poet's use of enjambment and parataxis; irregular punctuation and lines which run on causes the words to be read at an irregular pace. The use of these techniques reflect how the exhausted soldiers stumbled and flung themselves through the mud even as they were trying to maintain a regimented pace

  
  

  - "Blind" and "lame" also contain biblical echoes; these are among the conditions that Jesus heals in the Gospels. See Matthew 11:5:

  
  

  Matthew 11:5: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk

  
  

  This suggests that the soldiers are looking to God, as many did in that era, but find no saviour figure
• Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots of gas shells dropping softly behind' S1

  - the metaphor 'drunk with fatigue' suggests that have been tired for so long that they have little control over their body

  
  

  - the line 'gas shells dropping softly behind' is a juxtaposition as the sound of gas shells would be deafing ( but they are 'deaf even to the hoots').

  This implies the numbness of hearing they would have after being rapidly bombed
• Gas!GAS! Quick,boys!' S2


  - the use of exclamatives in 'Gas! GAS!' suggests the urgency of as they went to find their masks amidst a gas attack

  
  

  - the second 'GAS!' is capitalised to reflect how the soldiers would have raised their voice in order to make sure all the men were aware of the danger
• an ecstasy of fumbling' S2

  - 'ectasy' is rather oxymoronic here, as esctasy could mean an overwhelming feeling of great happiness, which would not be what the soldiers feel in such a state of terror

  - 'esctasy' could be referring to a trance like state, which links back to how they were 'drunk with fatigue' and how they were 'fumbling' with little to no control over their bodies to grab the gas mask

  
  

  -'ecstasy' also means out of body, as it comes from the latin word ex statis. This could imply they are slowly dying as their fumble to put the gas mask on as when we die we usually enter an outer body trance.
• through the misty panes' S2

  - watching safely from behind the glass may also reflect how those at home could not help the dying youth
• In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

  He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning' S3


  ' in all my dreams' suggests that the horrific image of the gas attack victim has stayed with him and entered his dreams, implying he has PTSD

  
  

  - the tripling of 'guttering,choking,drowning' emphasises the brutality of the death. They are also quite harsh and emotive words

  
  

  - parataxis near the end of the sentence causes the reader to pause and take in the meaning of each word
• behind the wagon that we flung him in' S4

  - bitter imagery that provokes the readers thoughts towards war

  
  

  - 'flung' may suggests the desensitisation of the soldiers towards death as this verb conveys a connotation of an uncaring nature. This emphasises how they had become numb to the idea of death as they had experienced their fellow soldiers die so many times.
• watch the white eyes writhing in his face' S4

  - alliteration and assonance with the 'w' and 'i' sounds are contorted and difficult to pronounce, which could reflect the difficulty the soldier would have to painfully cry as his lungs were full of gas
• his hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin' S4


  - sibilance (devil'S Sick of Sin' force the reader to hiss through these words, making them imitate a snake, a symbol of satan

  
  

  - irony that even the devil has become 'sick of sin' as the Devil is their to encourage man to commit horrific atrocities and sin. This forces the reader to contemplate the horror that would make even the Devil 'sick of sin
• the blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs' S4


  - very horrific imagery for the reader to take in
• obscene as cancer' S4

  - the emotive simile shows had bad the gas attacks were as cancer is one of the leading causes of death from disease

  
  

  
  

  - associates to the reader as many will have relatives who have been diagnosed with cancer. This effect means the reader will understand the painful feeling the soldier had to go through much better
• the old Lie' S4

  - capitalisation of the L on 'Lie' emphasises wow Owen wanted people to stop believing and propaganda such as poems by Jessie Pope, who the poem was originally directed to
• What is the structure of the poem?

  - broken iambic pentameter in first stanza represents disjointed efforts of the men trying to keep pace with eachother

  - second stanza is fast paced to reflect the urgency as they go to fit their gas mask

  - slow pace at end to show how war never ends