It is written in first person with Owen as the narrator. The poem opens with the image of soldiers ‘bent over like old beggars’. The men are tired, and have been stuck in these trenches for weeks on end. The poem begins slow and drudgingly, much like the march of the soldiers, but still they carry on ‘all went lame; all blind’. The pace suddenly quickens in the next stanza with a burst of energy. ‘Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!’. The sentence is interrupted by caesuras, making it sharp and abrupt. This abrupt change captures the reader’s attention. Next is the task of ‘fitting the clumsy helmets’. This gas attack is almost exciting to the soldiers as it is a change from the arduous daily routine of the trenches. He then speaks to the reader, and more directly to Jesse Poppe – his point being that if ‘you too could pace behind that wagon … if you could hear … the blood come gargling … you would not tell with such high zest’ – meaning if people (like Jesse Poppe) had attended the battle they would not claim war to be honourable or at all glorious.
‘The Sentry’ is much like ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ in the respect that they both share a similar message. War should not be admired or respected. Owen can use his experiences as an officer to try and influence others against this illusion. Again the poem is written in first person with Owen narrating,
The poem’s scene is set. Owen and his brigade are hiding in ‘an old Boche dug-out’ – colloquial for a German trench. They are being bombarded by a shell attack, and are sheltering ‘from the blast of whizz-bangs’. A sentry – a young lookout – is injured ‘and ‘thud! flump! thud! down the steep stairs’. His fellow soldiers expected him to be dead, but he whines ‘O sir, my eyes – I’m blind – I’m blind, I’m blind!’ It is Owens job to help the young man; he sends ‘a scout to beg a stretcher’. He ends with ‘ “I see your lights!” But ours had long died out!’. This is in association with a speech by Edward Gray where he commented ‘The lights are going out all over Europe’. The idea of the light’s absence is the final lose of hope.
During the Part I of ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, Owen sets the scene for the reader. The soldiers are exhausted and freezing, ‘knock-kneed, coughing like hags’. The pace of the poem is slow and methodical, much like the marching of the men. It has become such a part of life for them all that ‘men march asleep’. There is no variation from this routine. Even when injured, they ‘limped on … all went lame; all blind’. The unit are not on the front line, and the battle has become a distance memory ‘the haunting flares’. Owen uses few caesuras making the stanza long and extended, reflecting the marching of the soldiers – unending.
Part I of ‘The Sentry’, is once more setting a scene. Own and his men are caught in an old German dugout during a shell attack, ‘shell on fanatic shell’. Again, they are in frightful conditions,’ ‘rain guttering down in rainfalls of slime, kept slush waste high’. The dugout is littered with reminders of the Germans, ‘the smell of men … if not their corpses. Owen feels that the Germans must be aware that the British are on their territory, it is the only explanation for the ferocity of the air raid, ‘ … he knew, and gave us hell…’. The Shellers will soon send the men to hell if the attack continues. The second stanza is only a few lines long. Owen uses this same technique in ‘Dulce et Decorum est’; separating a few lines but are still connected by a similar rhyme scheme. Since in all of his poems, dreams have been a main feature, these separations could be interpreted as he’d dreams incorporated within the piece. Although the soldiers have been safe from the blasts, a shell eventually hits the shelter. The shell is deadly ‘buffeting eyes and breath, snuffing the candles’. The other soldiers do not know that the sentry has been wounded but they see something ‘ ‘thud! flump! thud! down the steep steps…’. The poet has used onomatopoeias here to construct an image for the reader, not only can they see the scene but can now hear it. He has used senses several times, ‘… fumes of whiz-bangs … the smell’.
In Part II of ‘Dulce et Decorum est’, the pace quickens dramatically. After the gas has been realised there is ‘an ecstasy of fumbling’. The choice of the word ‘ecstasy’ is very interesting, it implies extreme happiness. It could be that since the soldiers have been out of action for so long, even the task of fitting a gas mask during a gas attack is an enormously exciting task. In the midst of ‘fitting the clumsy helmets…’, Owen notices that a soldier has not managed to fit their mask; he is ‘flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…’. Using lime here is appropriate it would have been Mustard Gas used, and the colour would bear a strong resemblance to lime. Owen describes ‘as under a green sea, I saw him drowning’. He has used the idea of ‘drowning’ effectively, the concept of the man’s lungs filling with the gas as h slowly drowns on his own bodily fluids. The writer has made many references to the sea, this could relate back to a past fear of his own, involving water – being one of his own personal nightmares. Next is the separation of lines, in which Owen describes his dreams, ‘he plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.’ He could be feeling guilt, regretting that he could not help the vulnerable, dieing soldier. Although ‘guttering’ is not a verb, his dream seems incredibly active, as all typical nightmares are. Several thoughts are racing through the brain simultaneously. Given that this poem was written while Owen was in hospital, this extraction could be symbolising his drifting in and out of consciousness, in affect living his nightmares.
During Part II of ‘The Sentry’, they soldiers discover the sentry’s injured body; they ‘ … dredged him up, for killed …’. However, soon realizing that the boy is not dead but if fact is in blinded. Owen holds ‘a flame against his lid’. At this time, Owen is desperately hoping that the boy is sound, ‘… if he could see the least blurred light … in time he’d get all right.’ Again, he refers to his dreams; reflecting that his ‘eyeballs … watch my dreams still …’. He is really remorse and tremendous guilt as he ‘forgot about him there …’. Owen handed the boy over to stretcher-bearers and had to continue with his duties. This was the correct procedure to follow, but is slightly inhumane. Owen lives with this for the rest of his life.
Part III of ‘Dulce et Decorum est’ if directed towards the audience, and specifically to Jesse Poppe. He concentrates around the idea that if said people could ‘pace behind the wagon that we flung him in…’ that they would not believe the propaganda. He uses his own experiences to enlighten the thoughts of others. Having attended the war, and seeing ‘the white eyes writhing in his face …’ he can tell the truth. Owen uses ‘…hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;’. This might possibly mean that the scene is so unbelievably nauseating and shocking that it resembles how the devil would appear if he were ‘sick of sin’. He finishes with ‘The old Lie; Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’ meaning – it is sweet and meat to die for one’s country, it is sweet and decorus. This was an expression dating back to the roman period, also used for propaganda purposes. Owen wants to put an end to the timeless deceit that dates so far back; war is not glorious or at all honourable.
Part III of ‘The Sentry’ reflects very much on his personal remorse. He tries to forget all that he has seen, but he ‘let dread hark back for one word only: how’. Although this sounds like a question, it is not followed by a question mark. Perhaps he sees no answer for it all; cannot see how all the death and destruction can be justifiable. All hope of compassion and humanity has been lost to Owen. At the end of the poem he hears the young blinded by shout ‘I see your light!’ and in response to this is ‘… ours had long died out.’ The lights going out, is a sign that hope is gone. Light has always represented goodness and purity, dating back to biblical times with the Holy Spirit being the light of the world. For the light to go, dreams and aspirations have gone with it.
In conclusion, Wilfred Owen’s primary concern is to influence others, who have been brain washed, with his knowledge of reality. In this way, perhaps he can feel that his experience was not in vein and some good can come of it. His nightmares haunt him forever, but his ideas are able to go on to persuade others against the supposed ‘glories’ of war.
