dulce et decorum est poem essay

Dulce et Decorum Est Summary & Analysis by Wilfred Owen

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

"Dulce et Decorum Est" is a poem by the English poet Wilfred Owen. Like most of Owen's work, it was written between August 1917 and September 1918, while he was fighting in World War 1. Owen is known for his wrenching descriptions of suffering in war. In "Dulce et Decorum Est," he illustrates the brutal everyday struggle of a company of soldiers, focuses on the story of one soldier's agonizing death, and discusses the trauma that this event left behind. He uses a quotation from the Roman poet Horace to highlight the difference between the glorious image of war (spread by those not actually fighting in it) and war's horrifying reality.

• Read the full text of “Dulce et Decorum Est”

The Full Text of “Dulce et Decorum Est”

1 Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

2 Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

3 Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

4 And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

5 Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

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

7 Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

8 Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

9 Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

10 Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

11 But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

12 And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—

13 Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,

14 As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

15 In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

16 He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

17 If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

18 Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

19 And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

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

21 If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

22 Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

23 Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

24 Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

25 My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

26 To children ardent for some desperate glory,

27 The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

28 Pro patria mori .

“Dulce et Decorum Est” Summary

“dulce et decorum est” themes.

The Horror and Trauma of War

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

The Enduring Myth that War is Glorious

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “dulce et decorum est”.

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.

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 gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,

Lines 11-14

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring 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.

Lines 15-16

In all my dreams before my helpless sight, He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

Lines 17-20

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;

Lines 21-24

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—

Lines 25-28

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 .

“Dulce et Decorum Est” Symbols

The Dying Soldier

• See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“Dulce et Decorum Est” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

“Dulce et Decorum Est” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Knock-kneed
• Haunting flares
• Flound'ring
• Froth-corrupted
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Dulce et Decorum Est”

Rhyme scheme, “dulce et decorum est” speaker, “dulce et decorum est” setting, literary and historical context of “dulce et decorum est”, more “dulce et decorum est” resources, external resources.

Biography of Wilfred Owen — A detailed biographical sketch of Wilfred Owen's life, including analysis of his work.

An Overview of Chemical Warfare — A concise historical account of the development of chemical weapons, with detailed descriptions of the poison gases used in WWI.

Listen to "Dulce et Decorum Est" — A recording of "Dulce et Decorum Est," provided by the Poetry Foundation.

Representing the Great War — The Norton Anthology's overview of literary representation of World War I, with accompanying texts. This includes two of Jessie Pope's patriotic poems, as well as poems by Siegfried Sassoon and others and various contemporary illustrations. It also suggests many additional resources for exploration.

Horace, Ode 3.2 — One translation of the Horace ode that the lines "Dulce et Decorum Est" originally appear in. 

Digital Archive of Owen's Life and Work — An archive of scanned documents from Owen's life and work, including his letters, as well as several handwritten drafts of "Dulce et Decorum Est" and other poems.

The White Feather — A brief personal essay about the treatment of conscientious objectors in WWI-era Britain.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Wilfred Owen

Anthem for Doomed Youth

Mental Cases

Spring Offensive

Strange Meeting

The Next War

Everything you need for every book you read.

Wilfred Owen: Poems

By wilfred owen, wilfred owen: poems summary and analysis of "dulce et decorum est".

The boys are bent over like old beggars carrying sacks, and they curse and cough through the mud until the "haunting flares" tell them it is time to head toward their rest. As they march some men are asleep, others limp with bloody feet as they'd lost their boots. All are lame and blind, extremely tired and deaf to the shells falling behind them.

Suddenly there is gas, and the speaker calls, "Quick, boys!" There is fumbling as they try to put on their helmets in time. One soldier is still yelling and stumbling about as if he is on fire. Through the dim "thick green light" the speaker sees him fall like he is drowning.

The drowning man is in the speaker's dreams, always falling, choking.

The speaker says that if you could follow behind that wagon where the soldier's body was thrown, watching his eyes roll about in his head, see his face "like a devil's sick of sin", hear his voice gargling frothy blood at every bounce of the wagon, sounding as "obscene as cancer" and bitter as lingering sores on the tongue, then you, "my friend", would not say with such passion and conviction to children desirous of glory, "the old lie" of "Dulce et decorum est".

"Dulce et Decorum est" is without a doubt one of, if not the most, memorable and anthologized poems in Owen's oeuvre. Its vibrant imagery and searing tone make it an unforgettable excoriation of WWI, and it has found its way into both literature and history courses as a paragon of textual representation of the horrors of the battlefield. It was written in 1917 while Owen was at Craiglockhart, revised while he was at either Ripon or Scarborough in 1918, and published posthumously in 1920. One version was sent to Susan Owen, the poet's mother, with the inscription, "Here is a gas poem done yesterday (which is not private, but not final)." The poem paints a battlefield scene of soldiers trudging along only to be interrupted by poison gas. One soldier does not get his helmet on in time and is thrown on the back of the wagon where he coughs and sputters as he dies. The speaker bitterly and ironically refutes the message espoused by many that war is glorious and it is an honor to die for one's country.

The poem is a combination of two sonnets, although the spacing between the two is irregular. It resembles French ballad structure. The broken sonnet form and the irregularity reinforce the feeling of otherworldliness; in the first sonnet, Owen narrates the action in the present, while in the second he looks upon the scene, almost dazed, contemplative. The rhyme scheme is traditional, and each stanza features two quatrains of rhymed iambic pentameter with several spondaic substitutions.

"Dulce" is a message of sorts to a poet and civilian propagandist, Jessie Pope, who had written several jingoistic and enthusiastic poems exhorting young men to join the war effort. She is the "friend" Owen mentions near the end of his poem. The first draft was dedicated to her, with a later revision being altered to "a certain Poetess". However, the final draft eliminated a specific reference to her, as Owen wanted his words to apply to a larger audience.

The title of the poem, which also appears in the last two lines, is Latin for, "It is sweet and right to die for one's country" - or, more informally, "it is an honor to die for one's country". The line derives from the Roman poet Horace's Ode 3.2 . The phrase was commonly used during the WWI era, and thus would have resonated with Owen's readers. It was also inscribed on the wall of the chapel of the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst in 1913.

In the first stanza Owen is speaking in first person, putting himself with his fellow soldiers as they labor through the sludge of the battlefield. He depicts them as old men, as "beggars". They have lost the semblance of humanity and are reduced to ciphers. They are wearied to the bone and desensitized to all but their march. In the second stanza the action occurs – poisonous gas forces the soldiers to put their helmets on. Owen heightens the tension through the depiction of one unlucky soldier who could not complete this task in time - he ends up falling, "drowning" in gas. This is seen through "the misty panes and the thick green light", and, as the imagery suggests, the poet sees this in his dreams.

In the fourth stanza Owen takes a step back from the action and uses his poetic voice to bitterly and incisively criticize those who promulgate going to war as a glorious endeavor. He paints a vivid picture of the dying young soldier, taking pains to limn just how unnatural it is, "obscene as cancer". The dying man is an offense to innocence and purity – his face like a "devil's sick of sin". Owen then says that, if you knew what the reality of war was like, you would not go about telling children they should enlist. There is utterly no ambiguity in the poem, and thus it is emblematic of poetry critical of war.

Wilfred Owen: Poems Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Wilfred Owen: Poems is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

How could we interpret the symbol of ‘fruits’?​

Poem title, please?

What are the similarities between the poems Next War and Dulce et Decorum est? for example how grief is portrayed through both is almost the same fashion

I'm not sure what you mean by "next war".

Experience of war in Dulce Et Decorum Est

"Dulce et Decorum est" is without a doubt one of, if not the most, memorable and anthologized poems in Owen's oeuvre. Its vibrant imagery and searing tone make it an unforgettable excoriation of WWI, and it has found its way into both literature...

Study Guide for Wilfred Owen: Poems

Wilfred Owen: Poems study guide contains a biography of Wilfred Owen, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis of Wilfred Owen's major poems.

• About Wilfred Owen: Poems
• Wilfred Owen: Poems Summary
• Character List

Essays for Wilfred Owen: Poems

Wilfred Owen: Poems essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Wilfred Owen's poetry.

• “Fellowships Untold”: The Role of Wilfred Owen’s Poetry in Understanding Comradeship During World War I
• Analysis of Owen's "Strange Meeting"
• The Development of Modernism as Seen through World War I Poetry and "The Prussian Officer"
• Commentary on the Poem “Disabled” by Wilfred Owen
• Commentary on the Poem "Anthem for Doomed Youth" by Wilfred Owen

E-Text of Wilfred Owen: Poems

Wilfred Owen: Poems e-text contains the full texts of select poems by Wilfred Owen.

• Introduction by Siegfried Sassoon
• Strange Meeting
• Greater Love
• Apologia pro Poemeta Mio

Wikipedia Entries for Wilfred Owen: Poems

• Introduction
• War service

Dulce et Decorum Est 101: Summary, Analysis, & Questions and Answers

“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen concentrates on the shocking details of events soldiers came through in World War I. Owen recalls the war realities by showing readers the soldiers’ urgency when faced with death.

If you’re stuck with writing a paper on the poem, you’re in the right place! Below, you will find the Dulce et Decorum Est analysis, summary, answers to the most common questions. And don’t forget to check our free essay examples .

Let’s start!

• Literary Devices
• Language: Meter, Rhythm, Rhyme Scheme, Tone
• Essay Ideas
• Questions and Answers

Dulce Et Decorum Est: Summary

The author paints a group of marching soldiers in a muddy landscape. The soldiers are tired and sick. They are coughing like older adults, and their knees are shaking. Besides, they are far from the fighting spirit. Some of them walk like they seem to be sleeping. Some even lost their boots, and their feet are bleeding.

At the same time, they carry heavy packs while going away from light flares, used by the German army to spot an enemy by lighting up the territory. Their destination is a distant camp.

Soldiers are worn out physically and mentally. Their perception is clouded as if they were drunk. They can hardly recognize an impending threat.

Suddenly, one from the group warns about a gas attack so that soldiers can put on their protecting helmets. Everyone manages to do it on time, except for one soldier. The author saw his suffering and agony.

The soldier death reminded Owen of someone caught in fire or lime, used to blind the enemy in ancient times. He compares this terrible scene with drowning in the ocean, not underwater, but in the air full of poisonous gas.

Then, the reader is brought into the author’s post-war reality. Even years later, Owen did not escape the picture of yelling and dying in front of his eyes comrade-in-arms.

After sharing his grievous experience, the author turns to the readers and states a straightforward thing. It lies in the fact that if they took his boots and walked a mile, they would never have said to their children the war is glorious.

The author recalls marching behind a wagon with a dying wrecked-face soldier, who reminds of someone passing away from cancer or other diseases. Such memories dispel an “old lie” that dying for one’s country is sweet and fitting.

Dulce Et Decorum Est: Literary Analysis

We approach the literary analysis of the Dulce Et Decorum Est. You will understand the poem’s themes, the literary devices the author used, and the poem’s language.

Let’s go!

Dulce Et Decorum Est: Theme

The author illustrates the relationship between reality and heroic ideals. He does it via two central themes: patriotism and its false glory and horrors of war .

The poem’s title and final lines, “Dulce et Decorum Est,” are from Horace’s Ode 3.2 . The bar is a Latin equivalent for “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.” It echoes powerfully in the hearts of the young, showing only the heroic and romantic side of patriotic death and other sacrifices “for good.”

In reality, it’s far from that. The author argues such a way of war glorification, calling it an “old Lie.” Each horror depicted from the “on-site” shatters the enduring myth that the war is glorious.

Line by line, the poem shows how terrible and horrifying the war experience is. One thing is clear: if the reader could see and feel all the author’s horror, they would not talk so zealously about patriotism and the delights of war.

All the above is bolstered by the third theme: the traumatic war’s impact on humans . In this context, possible terrible emotional or physical pains will not get better with time. The lasting effects of war trauma barely level out all the arrogance and glory of war.

Dulce Et Decorum Est: Literary Devices

Now, we will stop on Dulce Et Decorum Est literary devices. To express the main idea, the author used several poetic techniques, including:

Let’s explore Dulce Et Decorum’s literary devices and look at a few examples of their application.

The author successfully uses many similes to make the terror visible. Thanks to them, it is easier for readers to perceive the pain, horrific images, and agony.

One of the examples is in the very beginning: “ like old beggars under sacks ” — soldiers are shown not as brave mighty heroes, but as the homeless and weak tramps who beg for a living.

Here is the list of other same-purpose phrases: “ coughing like hags ,” “ like a devil’s sick of sin ,” “ obscene as cancer ,” “ like a man in fire or lime ,” “ as under a green sea ,” and “ bitter as the cud .”

Dulce et Decorum Es is so literal that it has only a single metaphor . It is used in the poem to make vivid imagery of the soldiers’ physical state. The metaphors are the compelling phrases, namely, “ drunk with fatigue ” and “ deaf even to the hoots .”

We have already touched a bit upon the symbolic elements in the poem’s imagery. Symbolism pictures the WWI experience like a nightmare rather than a real-life event.

The first symbolic element author introduces a green sea in which one of the soldiers “dies” after a gas attack, as he could not put on a mask on time. It can be explained by what Owen saw then: a gas fog through the mask glass.

Using this symbol in pair with the verb “drowning” transmits the painful and cruel way the soldier died. Besides, it builds the link between drowning in the ocean and gas suffocation. It is easier for readers to imagine the terrible feeling of lacking enough oxygen underwater.

The irony shows up in the poem’s very beginning. First, the reader sees the title Dulce et Decorum Est, meaning the poem will show how great it is to fight for the homeland. The first line is opposite to something glorious and sweet.

Reading more into the poem opens up terrifying things about war gradually. The author uses irony to express the violence, making the phrase in the title an illusion.

Along with irony and other poetic techniques, the author uses oxymorons . Two contradictory words used together make an oxymoron.

In phrase “ To children ardent for some desperate glory ,” the initially negative “ desperate ” word is combined with the joyous “ glory .” Another oxymoron is “ An ecstasy of fumbling ,” where the opposing state of extreme happiness combines with an awkward way of doing something.

With oxymorons, Owen produces a dramatic effect. The poem forces the reader to stop and think about the whole complexity of war and man’s place in it.

Dulce Et Decorum Est Language: Meter, Rhythm, Rhyme Scheme, Tone

The language of the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est is composed of several poetic devices, including meter, rhythm, rhyme scheme, and tone. Let’s describe each of them:

• Meter. The poem is composed of five-syllable pairs. Each pair’s first syllable is unstressed, and the second is stressed. The Dulce Et Decorum Est meter pattern is iambic pentameter.
• Rhythm. Combined with other techniques, the poem’s somber rhythm expresses imagery. The words themselves are rumbling. They collide to paint a horrific picture of the field where soldiers march. What is more, it is evocative of the rhythm of the heart.
• Rhyme scheme. Although the poem’s meter is rather complex, the rhyme pattern is simple. The rhyme scheme in Dulce Et Decorum Est is ABABCDCD. The author manages with simple words and no more than double rhyme sounds repetition.
• Tone. The poem’s tone is bitter, angry, and critical. The trauma and self-recrimination heat the speaker’s voice. That’s why he so accurately conveys all the fears and horrors he endured. Along with the angry tone, the ironically used “my friend” addressing those supporting an “old lie” impacts them more intensely.

Now, we move on to the poem’s setting.

Dulce Et Decorum Est: Setting

Owen does not give the exact setting location, but it is clear from the context that the action takes place in 1917 winter in France.

What is this context?

The poem is written during Wilfred Owen’s actual WWI experience . Here when he wrote letters with stories of the dying soldier.

Besides, there are elements in the poem, which serve as a clue to understanding the setting.

The most evident is green chlorine gas, deployed by the German army since 1915, and “clumsy helmets” or gas masks, used as gas attacks responsive measure.

Gas shells and flares are also WWI-specific elements. Soldiers never used them before.

The setting breaks into the past and present in terms of the author. After two stanzas, we shift to his indeterminate present in the past. It shows us that his horrors did not leave him even in the postwar peacetime.

Dulce Et Decorum Est Essay Ideas

Now that you have explored the poem analysis, it’s time to write the Dulce et Decorum Est analysis essay. We gathered 15 essay topic ideas to make things simple. Please, pick any from the list:

• Dulce Et Decorum Est poem figurative language
• Dulce Et Decorum Est poem literary devices
• Irony in poem Dulce Et Decorum Est
• Symbolism in poem Dulce Et Decorum Est
• What is the theme of the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est?
• How does Wilfred Owen describe the horrors of war in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est?
• The brutality of war in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est
• How does Wilfred Owen convey the human costs of war in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est?
• Illustration of First World War in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
• Literary devices and themes in Dulce Et Decorum Est
• Dulce Et Decorum Est: is it charming to die for one’s country?
• Why was Dulce Et Decorum Est written: literary and historical context?
• What is the Dulce Et Decorum Est message?
• The portrayal of death in Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen
• Depiction of tragedies of war in the poem Dulce Et Decorum Est

If the topics are not enough and you still have any questions, we suggest you check out an example of a ready-made Dulce et Decorum Est and The Things they Carried: Compare & Contrast Essay .

To help you finally delve into the topic, we gathered the most frequently asked questions and comprehensive answers to them below.

Dulce Et Decorum Est: Questions and Answers

Below you will find comprehensive Dulce et Decorum Est questions and answers.

Who Wrote Dulce Et Decorum Est?

Dulce et Decorum Est was written by Wilfred Edward Salter Owen , an English soldier, and poet. He was born on 18 March 1893 near Oswestry in Shropshire. Among the First World War poets, he was almost the leading one.

At the time he lived, ideas and themes he erased in his poetry were in contrast to the perception of war by the public. As ideas of anti-militarism developed, his poems became increasingly recognized. Here are several examples: “ Anthem for Doomed Youth ,” “ Strange Meeting ,” “ Insensibility ,” and “ Spring Offensive .” All of them were published posthumously.

On 4 November, at the age of 25, Owen was killed while leading his men across the Sambre and Oise Canal.

When Was Dulce Et Decorum Est Written?

Like most of Wilfred Owen’s works, Dulce et Decorum Est was written between August 1917 and September 1918. At that time, Owen was fighting in the First World War. Most likely, it was written in 1917 when he was at the Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh.

What Does Dulce Et Decorum Est Mean?

Dulce et Decorum Est is a citation from the Roman poet Horace’s Ode 3.2. The literal meaning of it is “it’s sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”

The author aims at deconstructing this myth. In the last stanza, he calls it an “old lie.”

Owen successfully showed the difference between the horrifying reality of war and its glorious image, usually spread by those not even fighting in it.

What Is Dulce Et Decorum Est About?

Originally written as a personal letter, Owen later decided to appeal to a broader audience of all war supporters. The poem is highly emotional, making it one of the most popular condemnations of the war.

Dulce et Decorum Est begins with an image of weary soldiers walking from the front lines through thick mud. Then, there is a gas attack, in which one of the soldiers dies.

What Happened in the Poem Dulce et Decorum Est?

The poem tells us the story of a group of soldiers, “ drunk with fatigue ,” forced to make their way “through the mud” to take shelter from the explosive shells that fall on their rear.

Then gas shells fell around them. The soldiers rushed to put on their gas masks. In a rush, one of them is caught gassed. The author sees him “screaming again and stumbling.” Then, he sees him yelling in agony as he is drowning in the green sea.

When the attack was over, they proceeded on their way, but their mate was in the wagon, with white eyes and coughing up blood.

Who Is the Speaker in the Poem Dulce et Decorum Est?

The poem, composed of 28 free iambic pentameters, lets us hear the voice of the poet himself . Owen appears here as a soldier with a deep incurable emotional trauma left after the war and its horrifying events.

Why Was Dulce Et Decorum Est Written?

Discussing war horrors in the abstract does not require much effort. Owen managed to depict those horrors in a specifically devastating way. What’s more, he shows in the poem that every aspect of war is terrible. Starting from a soldier’s daily life, continuing to the death in an attack, and postwar traumatized body and mind.

The author is very disappointed with the war. A reader can see it in the last few lines of the last stanza.

How Does Dulce et Decorum Est Make the Reader Feel?

The way the author uses language to put the audience inside the events helps them understand the terrible experience of awful aspects of war.

What Is the Message of Dulce et Decorum Est?

The central tension lies between the reality of the war and the government’s portrayal of war. They paint it as sweet and fitting to die for your homeland. The message that Owen conveys is the reality of the cruel and horrific war.

Why Is Dulce Et Decorum Est Important?

The poem lies genre of protest poetry because it shows the horror and reality of war, specifically the First World War. Dulce et Decorum Est sets this horror against how war is so often glorified.

• Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est” — English Emory
• Horace, Ode 3.2 
• Biography of Wilfred Owen
• Wilfred Owen: Biography & War Poet
• Digital Archive of Owen’s Life and Work 
• Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et Decorum est: Summary & Analysis
• Dr. Santanu Das explores the manuscript for Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum est” Video on the British Library’s World War I website
• Ian McMillan asks if “Dulce et Decorum est” has distorted our view of WWI Video on the BBC’s iWonder website
• Manuscript version of ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ The Poetry Manuscripts of Wilfred Owen on the British Library’s website
• Listen to “Dulce et Decorum Est” 
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“Dulce et Decorum Est” Poem by Wilfred Owen Essay (Critical Writing)

The poem “Dulce et Decorum Est” was written by Wilfred Owen during World War I, describing the experiences of soldiers in the trenches. The rich history behind this piece provides the reader with an even greater understanding of the scene Owen was trying to portray. The most noticeable aspect of the poem is the meticulous grotesque imagery used to describe the horrors of war. As one reads the poem, there is a sense of dread and horror that fills the mind of the reader with experiences of war. The tone of the poem is dark, attempting to showcase the realities of war which are far from the glorious moments seen in films and propaganda.

From the very beginning, the poem has no established rhythm as the iambic pentameter is broken. The structure of the poem is meant to be disjointed as symbolism for the broken psychological state of the soldiers, which “began to trudge” and “limped on.” The author uses a variety of literary devices and diction to emphasize his message. Assonance and metaphors are present throughout, hiding subtle references and symbolism.

Word choice is noticeable immediately as the vocabulary seems to be out of place for a poem about war. There is a focus on the hopelessness and misery of the soldiers, as the author chooses to include words such as “beggars” and “cursed” that have specific connotations. Civilians that have never experienced war may be more familiar with the imagery of poverty that the word choice expresses. The author attempts to bridge the gap between fantasy and reality for the people who endeavor to prolong the horrible war.

Initially, the reader may feel as if the author’s intentions are anti-war, but in the last line, Owen inserts “pro-Patria mori,” which means “to die for one’s country” in reference to the title, which translates as “it is sweet and honorable.” The poem becomes an anthem for the Great War, genuinely respecting the suffering which the servicemen experienced.

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IvyPanda. (2021, May 15). "Dulce et Decorum Est" Poem by Wilfred Owen. https://ivypanda.com/essays/dulce-et-decorum-est-poem-by-wilfred-owen/

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Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""Dulce et Decorum Est" Poem by Wilfred Owen." May 15, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/dulce-et-decorum-est-poem-by-wilfred-owen/.

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Anger and futility: Wilfred Owen and ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’

Death, war, and writing about death in war (4)

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. Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots, But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind; nk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time, But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.— rough 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. 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, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,— 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.

If Tennyson seeks to turn a futile, devastating military campaign into the glorification of soldiers’ bravery and group focus, Wilfred Owen’s Dulce et decorum est is a relentless and harsh critique of the degrading, damaging, and sickening reality of war. The battlefield, especially the battlefields of World War One, Owen asserts, prohibit a soldier from dying a ‘good death’, for there is nothing good about the trenches.

The poem, published after the end of the war in 1921, opens with a visceral description of the physical baggage of being a soldier in trench warfare. The men are ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks’, and Owen rhymes ‘sludge’ with ‘trudge’ to emphasise the grimy, unforgiving environment of the trenches. In the second stanza, Owen witnesses a man die as a result of chemical warfare:      

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling And flound’ring 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.

There is nothing that is good about this man’s death. There is no purpose, no aesthetic beauty or glory, no nobility of spirit. Instead, ‘flound’ring’, the man is helpless; ‘As under a green sea’ he is utterly displaced: ‘He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.’ The unnamed soldier’s death is characterised with pain, meaninglessness, and a loss of control.

The trauma of witnessing this death is ongoing and pervasive: ‘In all my dreams before my helpless sight’ the poet sees this man’s death. Death in war, the poet suggests, is never one-time only; it is a repeated injury on those who witnessed that individual’s fall; and being made a witness to such a painful and futile death renders the viewer ‘helpless’. But it is not a helplessness that leaves Owen silent. Rather, his is the angry resistance of a soldier who denies the glory of a battlefield, who resents the equation of patriotic duty and military death as a formula resulting in personal glory. He turns his poem into a plea to all people holding any position of authority, political or social, to end the perpetuation of the equation of patriotic duty with a noble death. Instead, Owen rejects as ‘The old Lie’ Horace’s claim that it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country, the capitalisation of ‘Lie’ suggesting that Horace’s sentiment is so dangerous because it has become an archetype. ‘For Queen and country’, we might say now, to which Wilfred Owen might tell us, don’t believe that. It is never worth it, and it never was. 

Analyse du poème Dulce et Decorum est de Wilfred Owen

Table des matières:, wilfred owen et un résumé de "dulce et decorum est", quel est le ton et l'humeur de "dulce et decorum est", comment l'imagerie est-elle utilisée dans «dulce et decorum est», quels sont les symboles utilisés dans «dulce et decorum est», défiguration.

Wilfred Owen

Cela fait référence à l'épuisement des hommes et au fait que marcher dans des boues épaisses a conduit certains à perdre leurs bottes.

Ceci est la ligne 20. Notez l'allitération et la comparaison, plus un autre spondé et pyrrhique (pas de syllabe accentuée.) Quoi que vous pensiez d'un diable, c'est celui qui est allé au-delà du pâle.

C'est un terme utilisé dans l'élevage, où le cud est la nourriture à moitié digérée des ruminants qui est à nouveau mâchée pour la rendre digestible. La suggestion est que le sang qui sort des poumons doit être mâché par le pauvre mourant. Une image qui donne à réfléchir.

Cette ligne est très similaire à la première ligne du poème d'Owen "Anthem For Doomed Youth", qui dit: "Quelles cloches pour ceux qui meurent comme du bétail?"

La fin latine est peut-être un doux rappel de beaucoup de slogan, beaucoup de devise et de maxime chères aux clubs, aux unités militaires, aux équipes et aux familles comme expression de croyances et d'idéaux. Ceux-ci sont souvent affichés en latin qui était, bien sûr, la langue des anciens Romains.

Dès le début de ce poème, vous êtes plongé dans l'atmosphère de la guerre. Ce sont les tranchées de la Première Guerre mondiale, pleines de boue et de mort. Des soldats autrefois optimistes et en bonne santé ont maintenant été réduits à un gang misérable et épuisé qui n'a plus grand-chose à donner.

C'est un environnement choquant dans lequel le lecteur est emmené - un environnement qui est oppressant, dangereux et sans réel espoir.

Le poète veut que le lecteur sache que la guerre est tout sauf glorieuse, alors il brosse une image sombre, réaliste et humaine de la vie en première ligne. Il ne nous laisse aucun doute sur ses sentiments.

• Le ton et l'ambiance sont également déterminés par des termes tels que «des vitres brumeuses et une lumière verte épaisse ». Dès le départ, nous sentons que le monde a été bouleversé et que tout ce qui a trait au bonheur et à la vitalité a été abandonné. Ce n'est pas un vert vif, mais un vert épais. La fenêtre n'est pas claire, mais brumeuse. C'est le pays des morts-vivants, des malades - un monde froid, boueux et métallique.

À la fin du poème, il semble que le lecteur a été éloigné du champ de bataille «obsédant», et le décor devient interne. Ici, l'ambiance est moins horrible, mais non moins pitoyable. En un sens, voir comment ces scènes de mort et de violence ont affecté l'esprit du poète est tout aussi dérangeant que les scènes elles-mêmes.

Ce poème regorge d'images vives forgées dans le feu de la bataille, habilement dessinées par le jeune poète très attentif.

La scène d'ouverture est celle d'un groupe de soldats faisant leur chemin fatigué de la ligne de front "vers notre repos lointain" alors que les bombes tombent et que des gaz mortels sont libérés. Les détails sont intimes et immédiats, entraînant le lecteur au cœur de la guerre des tranchées.

Ces hommes ont l'air vieux, mais ce n'est qu'une illusion. La guerre a déformé la réalité qui devient progressivement surréaliste à mesure que le poème progresse. L'orateur évoque un scénario onirique, le vert du gaz enveloppant tournant son esprit vers un autre élément, celui de l'eau, et la mer cruelle dans laquelle un homme se noie.

Les descriptions deviennent plus intenses à mesure que l'homme qui se noie est jeté sur une charrette. Tout ce que l'orateur peut faire est de comparer la souffrance à une maladie sans traitement connu. L'image finale - des plaies sur une langue - fait allusion à ce que le soldat mourant lui-même aurait pu dire à propos de la guerre et de l'idée d'une mort glorieuse.

Alors qu'Owen utilise un langage figuratif, des comparaisons et une assonance pour combattre l'illusion que la guerre est glorieuse, il utilise également des symboles pour souligner son message. Trois symboles généraux renforcent l’impact de «Dulce et Decorum Est».

Owen se concentre sur la façon dont la guerre défigure et déforme tout ce qui entre en contact avec elle. Principalement, il se concentre sur le corps humain et la façon dont il est lentement endommagé et changé avant d'être finalement détruit. Nous voyons le symbole de la défiguration dans la première strophe, lorsque le poète rend compte de l'état de ses semblables:

En regardant de près le langage utilisé dans les lignes ci-dessus, le symbole de la défiguration devient clair. Les hommes ne sont plus les hommes d'autrefois. Ce sont des ombres de leur ancien moi: des morts marchant.

Comme nous pouvons le voir par le titre et la dernière ligne de ce poème, l'un des principaux symboles est l'allusion (dans ce cas, une allusion à la phrase latine d'Horace). L'allusion souligne l'idée que se battre et mourir pour votre pays est glorieux. Après avoir fait cette allusion, le poète consacre tous ses efforts à prouver que c'est faux.

Le diable est également évoqué à la ligne 20, indiquant la méchanceté du champ de bataille.

Un autre symbole qui imprègne ce poème est l'idée du cauchemar. Owen présente les scènes de guerre comme un cauchemar avec leur couleur verdâtre et leur brume. De plus, les images terrifiantes ajoutent au sentiment d'un mauvais rêve.

Ce symbole indique que les horreurs de la guerre sont presque trop difficiles à comprendre. Ça doit être un cauchemar, non? La réalité est que ce n'est pas un cauchemar: ce sont de véritables atrocités qui sont arrivées à de vraies personnes. Le fait que le poète présente le poème comme une sorte de cauchemar le rend d'autant plus terrible.

Norton Anthology of Poetry, 2005, Norton.

Manuel de poésie, 2005, John Lennard, Oxford.

La poésie de la Première Guerre mondiale www.poetryfoundation.org

© 2016 Andrew Spacey

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Le sonnet 27 d'elizabeth barrett browning, modifier votre écriture: les bases, elinor wylie: une vie sordide, le sonnet 13 d'elizabeth barrett browning, le sonnet 35 d'elizabeth barrett browning, edward ii de christopher marlowe: l'ironie de la royauté.

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....... Wilfred Owen was born in Shropshire, England, in 1893 and studied at the University of Reading. Because he could not afford to continue his education, he left school and worked as an English-language tutor in France while also writing poetry. After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the loss of so many young lives horrified him. Nevertheless, after returning home in 1915, he enlisted in the Artist's Rifles of the British army, received a commission, and shipped out to France in late December 1916. Over the next several months, he wrote poetry to record his impressions of the war. In the spring of 1917, he exhibited symptoms of shell shock after experiencing the hell of trench warfare. He also contracted trench fever, a bacterial infection transmitted by lice. His superiors returned him to Britain, where he underwent treatment at a war hospital in Craiglockhart, Scotland, then a suburb of Edinburgh and now part of the city. While there, he continued to write poems, one of which was “Dulce et Decorum Est." An experienced poet who was also receiving treatment, Siegrfied Sassoon (1886-1967), helped him edit and polish his work. After his discharge from the hospital, Owen mingled with poets and wrote more poetry. His work by this time was showing great promise. Eventually, he returned to the army—and to war. He died in action in France just one week before the war ended (November 11, 1918). He was only twenty-five. However, his war poems, including “Dulce et Decorum Est" and " Anthem " lived on and today remain as meaningful and relevant as when he wrote them.  

Type of Work

....... “Dulce et Decorum Est" is a lyric poem expressing in stark language the poet's reaction to the horror of war. Owen intended it to rebut the notion that combat is a noble and glorious pursuit.

....... The scenes described in the poem took place during World War I (1914-1918) on a battlefield in France. The Allied Powers of Britain, France, the United States, Russia, and other countries were fighting the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungry, and other countries.

Composition and Publication

....... Owen wrote "Dulce et Decorum Est" in 1917 while undergoing treatment at a war hospital in Craiglockhart, Scotland. In 1918 he included it in a collection of poems he was preparing for publication. After returning to duty, he died on a French battlefield. His soldier friend and fellow poet, Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967), teamed with poet and prose writer Edith Sitwell (1887-1964) to edit the poems. The London firm of Chatto and Windus published the collection, The Poems of Wilfred Owen , in December 1920.

The Title and Final Sentence

....... The title is part of the Latin quotation at the end of the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori . Here is Owen's own translation of the quotation: It is sweet and meet to die for one's country . Others have translated the third word, decorum , as glorious , noble , or fitting instead of meet . The source of the quotation is the second ode in Book III of Carmina ( Odes ) by the ancient Roman writer Quintus Horatius Flaccus, or Horace (65-8 BC). 

The meter pattern of the poem is iambic pentameter, which consists of five pairs of syllables. The first syllable of each pair is unstressed; the second, stressed. The first two lines of the poem demonstrate the pattern.

....... 1 ................ 2 ................ 3 ............... 4 .................. 5 Bent DOU .. | .. ble, LIKE .. | .. old BEG .. | .. gars UN .. | .. der SACKS , ........... 1 ...................... 2 .................. 3 ...................... 4 ...................... 5 Knock- KNEED , .. | .. cough ING .. | .. like HAGS , .. | .. we CURSED .. | .. through SLUDGE

....... The first line rhymes with the third, the second with the fourth, the third with the sixth, and so on. 

....... The theme of the poem is straightforward and unambiguous: war is hell on earth, and there is nothing glorious about it. In presenting this theme, Owen was also presenting a warning, as he makes clear in the preface to his collection of poems.

This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity. Yet, these elegies are to this generation in no sense conciliatory. They may be to the next. All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true poets must be truthful.

....... Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem.

Alliteration

M en m arched asleep. M any had lost their boots  B ut l imped on, b l ood-shod.  s ome s mothering kn ock- kn eed w atching w hite eyes f rom the f roth C ome g ar g ling f rom the f roth- c orrupted lungs, Obscene as c ancer, bitter as the c ud

Men marched asleep

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light, As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. Simile : Comparison of the mist of green gas to a sea Metaphor : Comparison of the gas victim to a victim of drowning

hoot gargling

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge Comparison of a soldier's coughing to the coughing of a witch His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin Comparison of a soldier's face to a devil's face

1. Write a short essay arguing that "Dulce et Decorum" is as meaningful today as it was when Owen wrote it in 1917. 2. Ask a person who fought in a war whether the poem expresses what he or she felt on the battlefield. Report your answer to your class. 3. . Write an essay arguing that many Hollywood films romanticize and glorify soldiering. 4. Write an essay about the use of chemical warfare in the First World War. 5. Which of the following word (or words) best describes the tone of the poem: somber, sad, impassive, angry, bitter. Explain your answer. .

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"Dulce Et Decorum Est" and "The Soldier": a Comparison of The Poems

• Categories: Dulce Et Decorum Est Literary Criticism Poetry

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Published: Aug 6, 2021

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• Norgate, P. (1989). Wilfred Owen and the soldier poets. The Review of English Studies, 40(160), 516-530. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/517098)
• Hughes, J. (2006). Owen's Dulce et Decorum Est. The Explicator, 64(3), 164-166. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/EXPL.64.3.164-166?journalCode=vexp20)
• Zawierucki, R. (2015). Heroes or cannon fodder? Images of the soldier in British Great War poetry. (https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/205805)
• Corcoran, N. (2007). Wilfred Owen and the poetry of war. the cambridge companion to twentieth-century english poetry, 87-101. (https://www.academia.edu/43528900/The_Cambridge_Companion_to_Twentieth_Century_English_Poetry)
• Wright, W. (2002). Hardy and Owen on World War I : Explications and a Comparative Analysis of" The Man He Killed" and" Dulce et Decorum Est". The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English, 4(1), 9. (https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=tor)

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Dulce Et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen: Poem Analysis Essay

World War 1 was the bloodiest war, and was a very important part of history, yet so many people only know one side of the war. Most people know the side of Jessie Pope and the Armchair Poets. Jessie Pope and the Armchair poets wrote poems about war, sitting in the comfort of their own home. Jessie Pope praised war; she made war sound so wonderful and encouraged young men to join the war efforts. Wilfred Owen did not like that those poets did not truly know what was going on, yet pretended that they did know. Wilfred Owen’s poem is very significant in the way that the poem shows what war is really like. Owen’s poem quickly became my favorite poem ever written. Therefore, I recommend that you keep Owen’s poem “Dulce et Decorum Est,” because he uses imagery and alliteration to effectively relay that war is cruel, and war is lied about. Through effective visual imagery, Owen shows the harsh reality of the war. Owen describes the soldiers as “bent double like old beggars under sacks…” (line 1). The connotation of the word beggars is not a positive one. Beggars are seen as poor and in desperate need. During the war the soldiers were not in the best condition, they would do almost anything to get food. The sacks being described in that quote are the bags that the soldiers have on their backs that have…

In Part 2 of Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing under “War Poetry” it states, “My subject is War, and the pity of War” (page 711). Wilfred Owen’s poem proves that war is pity through his literary technique. Also the paper says “all a poet can do today is warn.” (page 711). Owen uses literary techniques to warn others of the horrors of war. Owen’s poem was in response to Jessie Pope and the Armchair Poets. While Pope was writing to entice young men to join the war efforts, Owen was warning people about the true horrors of war since he was living in…

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Good Dulce ET Decorum EST Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: War , Soldiers , Poem , World , Veterans , Terrorism , Poetry , Literature

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Published: 02/22/2020

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The aim of this essay is to present you with a portrait and analysis of the poem ‘Dulce et Decorum est’. This is a poem titled in a Latin phrase which goes on in the first verse saying ‘Dulce et Decorum est pro patria mori’. This Latin phrase borrowed by Horace, the Latin poet, means that it is sweet and ideal for one to die for his / her country. The poem was written by Wilfred Owen in 1917. The year this poem was written there was a war going on and this was the World War I. According to sources ‘the earliest surviving manuscript of the poem is dated 8 October 1917’ (retrieved from www. Wikipedia.com). The poem was published in 1920 and has been appealing to its readers ever since. The essay will focus on the meaning of the poem, its impact on readers and reflections drawn upon its reading. Wilfred Owen borrowed Horace’s words to title his poem in which he wishes to state a totally different idea from the one expressed by its title. One would probably expect to read a poem that talks about the significance and ethical value lying in fighting for one’s country in order to stand against enemies and dangers of his / her country, his /her culture and his / her family. On the contrary the words of the title are used by Wilfred Owen in an ironic and sarcastic way so that the poet manages to put across his message which is fully an anti-war message. The imagery and rhythm used by Owen is putting across the faces and tortured bodies of soldiers fighting for a cause which they have not chosen, sacrificing their lives for their countries and cultures and national identities which one way or the other were like the poet wants to emphasize condemned to fall in the trap of political games played in the backstage. War has always been considered one of the worst evils which could fall upon humanity and has always been found to have been provoked by conflicts occurring within the political and economic relationships of countries and states. World War I was a war whose effect was such that worldwide people seemed to realize that they all ought to deal with their differences in such a way that wars are avoided. Nevertheless, human history repeated itself with the World War II to reach the top of misery and unhappiness imposed on people all over the world. It is common knowledge that poetry serves as a kind of vehicle which moves all around the world without being prevented by distances or time gaps in order to express feelings of its creators, worldwide feelings, concerns, agonies and fears. Poems seem to speak to people’s hearts managing to raise concern and thoughts on worldwide events as well as personal situations. The poem is divided in four stanzas. The first verses of the first stanza ‘Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, / Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge’ refers to the image of soldiers be crippled, walking like dead corpses. In line 5 of the poem ‘Men marched asleep.’ and this verse highlights that men are like zombies. This is what war does to people. War makes people lose their humanity, lose their feelings, lose their sense and substance of existence. Wilfred Owen uses realistic images. He does not want to talk in calm, peaceful voice. He wants to emphasize on the terror of the war and in order to manage to do so he needs to use words and images which depict the horror and the dreadful aura. After the middle of line five the poet has a pause in the line which in poetry is called a caesura and this is done on purpose so that the poet manages to depict the depth and meaning of his words and images. He goes on after the middle of line five (5) ‘Many had lost their boots, / But limped on, blood-shod.’ The image of the soldiers who seem destroyed both physically and mentally goes on. All these words with the repetition of the sound ‘l’ makes the tongue repeating her voice in such a way that all words keep their voices strong enough and loud. The poet starts notifying us on the total lack of any point in the march the soldiers are performing, the soldiers seem to have entered a march with no specific goal, with no specific destination. In lines 7-8 the soldiers are ‘Drunk with fatigue, deaf even to the hoots / of tired, outstripped Five – Nines that dropped behind.’ The Five –Nines are the gas shells and even the equipment of the soldiers seems destroyed and useless. The poem goes on in the same rhythm and theme. And in the second stanza in lines 13-14 the narrator of the poem ‘Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,/ As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.’ sees a man drowning in the green fog created by the war and the weapons and the gas. A man is drowning but no name is needed to be given and this man in the third stanza in lines 15-16 ‘In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, / He plunges at me, guttering, choking, and drowning.’ The man is asking for the narrator’s help. He wants to avoid his death but the narrator is helpless. It is the terror of the war which drowns people and nothing can be done in order to be saved. It is not clearly stated by the poet that the war is useless and causes only extra pain but this is what the poet seems to want to emphasize on. The poem goes on in the last stanza, the fourth one in lines 21-24 ‘If you could hear at every jolt, the blood / Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, / Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud / Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,–’ to show more emphasis on the terror of the war and its ugliness. War is like cancer. Cancer is a disease which folds one body in its ugliness and pain. This is what war is like. It folds people’s bodies and souls into ugliness, the awakening of bad insticts, the animal-like behavior, and the total loss of humanity. In the following lines 25-27 ‘My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some desperate glory, / The old Lie:’ the poet finally addresses his audience with the real meaning of his message. He does not just wish to give an image of the war’s terror. He wants to prove to people that any war no matter defensive or attacking is violent, disastrous and catastrophic. This is what Wilfred Owen wants to put across to the people of his generation and the future one. He wants to tell people that it is not honor to fight for your country. Because dying for your country may be an ideal of older times which by no means can be applied to nowadays demands. People ought to realize that they only have one choice if they want to survive and have a good quality of life and that is their harmonic co-existence and co-operation through a healthy dialogue.

Works cited

Shakel, Peter, Ridl Jack, ‘Approaching Literature: Writing, Reading, Thinking’ Bedford/St. Martin's; 2nd edition (December 24, 2007) Wilfred,Owen ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ (1917) retrieved from www. Wikipedia.com

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Compare and Contrast Essay: The Soldier vs. Dulce et Decorum est

Poets who write about war, especially in the 21st century have a responsibility to portray the horrors of war. They are supposed to warn us about the effects of war and remind us of the death and suffering that can occur. The propaganda of ww1 started a change of position between poets, some wanted to represent heroic qualities of soldiers, while others focused on the realities of war.  This can not be portrayed better than the 2 poems of The soldier by Rupert Brooke and Dulce et Decorum Est By Wilfred Owen.

The 2 poems I have chosen to have very different views of war. Owens poem, Dulce et Decorum Est highlights the negative effects of war, while Rupert's poem, the soldier highlights the positive effects of war. The purpose of Owens poem was to warn us of the horrors of war and show us that dying in war is not honourable.  While reading this poem you quickly realise that to die war is not honourable as shown in propaganda. The poem forces you to empathize with the soldiers as it describes the horrors of trench warfare. Owen makes us picture the idea of trench warfare as if we experienced it for ourselves. He takes the idea of a soldier; masculine, strong and manly, and challenging it to make them look weak and withered. Within the poem, Owen uses a variety of different language and poetic techniques to make his message clearer, this can be seen in the quote “Bent double, like old beggars under sacks ... Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.” In this quote, a variety of poetic techniques are utilized to make the text powerful. Some of these techniques include rhyming, similes, metaphors, and alliteration. These techniques make the reader feel insecure, as they realize the horror of war and start to understand Owens message. Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen's only focus is on the negatives of war. He uses a variety of techniques to emphasize his point, while trying to make the readers empathize with the soldiers and relate to their experiences.

The second poem we have to discuss is The soldier by Rupert Brooke. This poem explores the lighter side of war, its purpose is to promote war and portray death as an honourable sacrifice to England, the motherland. Rupert Brooke wrote The Soldier during the start of World War 1 and was inspired by propaganda. He had not experienced the war yet unlike Dulce et Decorum Est. This fact alone affects how each of the poets wrote their poems.  Rupert uses a sonnet tone to make his writing have a pleasant effect and make you support the war effort. Brooke used a variety of poetic and language techniques to make England sound like a peaceful and beautiful place. This can be seen in this quote “If I should die, think only this of me … Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.”  this quote is important as it reminds the readers that England made them. The quote implies that you are only alive because of England, you owe everything to the country and should thus be happy to die for it. Some techniques used in the quote are; alliteration, tricolon and repetition. These techniques help keep a positive image of England in the readers head and make them consider helping England in the war. Furthermore, this poem is an unrealistic poem that only emphasizes the positives of war. It focuses on the fact that you would not be alive without England and dying in war is the only honourable thing to do. 

In summary, this essay has explored two poems that convey the different attitudes of war. The 2 poems I have explored were Dulce et Decorum Est and The soldier. These poems both represent how poetry can serve as a warning and how it can shape the world today.

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