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Dulce Et Decorum Est This poem describes war and its effects on the poet himself. ? Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori? actually means? How sweet and pure it is to die for one?
s country? . Owen in this poem describes how this is not at all true and that it is in no way patriotic to die for your home land. In fact he describes this as? The old Lie? . This is a very graphic, realistic and emotional account of the War. In the first verse there is a description of the soldiers?
shell-shocked status and of how all their senses are numbed. Owen recalls the jagged, impassive state of the soldiers. The description of the fighters on the Western Front, ? Bent double, like old beggars under sacks? , contradicts the whole idea that the soldier is upright, dignified and heroic. ? Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through the sludge? , also describes the condition of the men. The phrase?
Knock-kneed? , is a good use of alliteration to illustrate the appearance of the soldiers. Words and phrases that depict that they are stunned are, ? blood-shod? , ? lame? , ? blind? , ?
Drunk with fatigue? . ? And towards our distant rest began to trudge. ? , Perhaps the poet was, in this quote, showing that the soldiers? distant rest? was in fact their final resting place, their death. All these quotations form a slow-moving verse, which is necessary to picture the slow-moving soldiers. The last line in this verse sets you up nicely for the dramatic, yet very effective impact of the unsuspected?
gas-shells dropping softly behind? ? Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! ? This line is continued with? An ecstasy of fumbling? , which describes the soldiers in a?
happy panic? . I think this is needed to show the adrenaline rush of the surprise, it also fits in well with the quick and exciting pace of this verse. The next line, ? Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, ?
is personification. It describes the men so panic stricken as they struggle to put on the helmets as if they had a mind of their own. Also because of the soldiers state of unawareness, because they are blind they are finding it hard to fasten the straps of the helmets. Owen manages to keep the state of the soldiers constant throughout the first four verses. Although he, and most of the others, manage to fit the gas-masks and therefore fall silent, there was still somebody out there, shouting. ? But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And floundering?
This quotation? like a man on fire or lime. ? helps the reader picture that there is someone on fire or being burned by lime, a powder used to burn dead bodies. The poet describes the gas? As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. ? This shows the reality that he is done for, he is already dead and the fact that nobody can help him?
In all my dreams before my helpless sight? The helpless man throws himself at the poet, ? He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. ? When a candle is about to go out it makes a guttering noise as if it is dying exactly like the man. This is good use of onomatopoeia. The last verse slows down again which is required to catalogue the horror which has just been expressed in the previous verses. ?
If in some smothering dreams? shows that these terrible images would stay with you too if you were in his position. ? you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in? Notice the word? flung? , which illustrates that they have seen so many dead bodies and that they have no energy left what so ever. They can only fling him into the wagon. ?
His hanging face, like a devil? s sick of sin? , shows that it is so horrific that the devil would flinch at it. ? Come gargling from his froth-corrupted lungs? Here the poet uses the word? corrupted?
as if to say that the gas should not be there and it doesn? t belong where it is and that it should not be taking over his body. The next part of the poem sums up the all-round feeling of war for the poet, which he has illustrated so well in this poem. ? 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 changed the way I feel about war and its effects on people and how it destroys them, not just physically but mentally.
I don? t think I would be able to stand it, the horrific dreams, the flash backs of your friends dying beside you and yet you could do nothing apart from go out there and die just like the so many other men. ? Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori? truly is an? old Lie? .
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