Compare and Contrast ‘ Dulce et Decorum es’ and ‘ Disabled’

These men are but mere shadows of the bright vibrant people that started on this epic journey.

The pace of the poem quickens in the 2nd stanza. The soldiers are awoken by a gas attack. This effectively shatters the mood that Owen has told of us in the opening stanza. The soldiers are now awoken by the fact that their lives are in extreme danger and they now have to be fully aware of all their surroundings.

Owen says, " Dim through the misty panes and thick green light, as under a green sea, I saw him drowning"

The green light Owen talks of is the sight through their gas masks. Owen uses a simile saying that the man is drowning in a green sea. The reality of this is that the man is drowning in a sea of his own toxic blood.

Owen tells us how this memory has stayed with him. The sickening sight of a man lunging at him.

Owen seems to have a great fear of the gas attacks when he talks of them. Owen talks of all of the nightmares he has had because of the war and this event in particular

Owen says" In all my dreams before my helpless sight"

He describes how the man was taken away and the narrator Owen walked behind and saw his face. Owen is still haunted by the nightmare.

"We flung him in"

The dead bodies are treated like meat there are so many deaths it becomes like a routine thing. He see's the horror that is standing behind the man who has been gassed to death.

"My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children or ardent for some desperate glory."

Owen is saying that if you could see the things he had seen then you would not believe the lie. By saying this he is expressing the bitterness he has not only for the army but the situation as a whole.

Owen adds more examples of this throughout the last stanza.

Owens main question to the reader in the last stanza is before going into the army think carefully of what you are doing as you might get and see something in great contrast to what you may have imagined.

The poem is describing a terrible shocking death by gas, how can it be sweet a honourable to die for ones country if you die like this. This is the country that sold him the old lie.

"Dulce ET decorum est. pro patria moria."

Disabled. Owen is describing someone that he knew in the army. This man was in the Scottish regiment. He has had his leg blown up.

He has no legs and his arms are sewn at the elbow. He is in an institute, a nursing home of some sought.

He wants for dark because then things will be quiet. He is fed up with life and is waiting to die. He hears voices of boys singing, these are voices of people playing just as he had once played.

He talks about the evenings. He says that at this time the towns atmosphere was fun and happy everyone is dancing having fun. He is very sad that he will never again experience this again. He says the girls look upon like he has some kind of disease. He talks of how he will never again feel the waist of a women, he also talks about how he threw away his knees in the war.

He was once a lovely face now he looks old. He back is now in a brace this is the back that was not so long ago was a strong as anything.

He has lost his colour just like losing blood. He feels as tough he has poured his life away down endless shell holes; he wonders what he has been given for this. Nothing.

"And leap of purple spurted from his thigh."

He loves his youth. When his leg was blown away a massive part of him is now missing.

One time he saw blood down his leg from a football injury, he thought this was great. Now he has no leg.

He wonders why he joined the army. He tries to impress people as they told him he would do well in the army. One reason he signed up was because his dear Meg would be pleased.

At the time he was not afraid of being afraid. A soldier's biggest worry is being afraid.

Owen says

"And no fears of fear have come yet"

He had thoughts of all the swords and other weaponry that he would receive in the army. He had great thoughts of wearing the smart uniform and making those proud salutes.

Smiling away they signed him away. He said that before he never even thought of the Germans and he definitely had nothing against them.

He thought that playing football was great, the buzz he got from the cheering. People thought of him as hero. He thought that people would cheer for him in the army; he wanted to be a hero in the army.

He thinks of the army spirit, the pride in his unit. He tells about how he was given cheers and the noise of the drums as he leaves. He is so very optimistic.

When he is brought back the cheers were not like the ones before the cheers are in contrast to what he imagined. This is ironic to him.

Only a few people cheered when he came back only one man inquired this man was the priest. This makes him feel in a way betrayed.

He will spend the next few years doing as the rules say. People will just take pity on him.

He talks of how the women ignore him for the strong people. People with all their body.

His final thoughts of the poem are one of total depression. He thinks that life is pointless.

He is so helpless he can't go to bed without someone there to help him. He feels as though he only has a few years left. He wants to be put to death as he feels like he has and can do nothing that he feels will make his life tolerable and he feels as tough nothing that he does or feels will make him feel his life is worth it.

As you can see from both poems they are very powerful. Each of the two poems makes a statement. One difference between the poems is that Dolce Est is a view on the army that concerns a whole array of the army. With Disabled it is just a description of the turmoil of one person. One thing that I feel both poems I have in common is that they both talk about how they were lied to and how they were sold a lie. This is truer of if a person wanted and example of army life was like for a platoon at it's worst I would show them Dolce ET Decorum. However if I was asked about a poem that describes a poem where a person can see how the war affected people. If the latter were the case I would recommend

Disabled is in my opinion the most moving of the stories as it represents a mans struggle for his life.

This man can offer nothing to his country now. He can't even offer himself something that he feels will make his staying alive worth it. While the people in Dolce Et are still alive this mans souls has in effect died. He has lost his colour and can't get used to the fact of being unpopular.

I find Dolce ET Decorum to be the more powerful of the two poems. My reasons are as follows, although Disabled is a very good, very powerful poem in it's own right it only describes the view of one person in the army. I think that what makes Dolce Et so powerful is that Owen speaks for the masses in the army when he talks of the daily horrifying sights and regular attempts by the Germans to gas them.

Reading these poems can enlighten a person. Many people say that they live stressful lives and are under extreme pressure. If you think of what these young men must have gone through it can put a lot of things in to perspective. Day in day out these men had to have the weight of a nation on their shoulders this is before they have to dodge land mines and gas attacks.