Dulce et Decorum Est Critical Essay
Wilfred Owen deals with the horror of war in his eloquent poem “Dulce et Decorum Est”. The poem is written with a bitter tone to describe men before and through an attack that happened during the First World War. The theme of the poem, as the title is an antithesis of, is it is no “fine and fitting thing to die for one’s country. Owen has created a different atmosphere in each verse, creating a picture that is certainly not glorious; the point the author uses this poem to prove.
Owen has used the first verse to create a scene of despair “deaf even to the hoots”. He has used enjambment to create a conversational tone, but each phrase strikes the reader while being part of a list to reinforce how many injuries there were. It suggests that the soldiers are elderly, giving up and barely alive “old beggars under sacks” and “coughing like hags”. Owen has created a slow pace in the first verse using long sentences and figurative language “Knock-kneed, coughing like hags”. The word choice “asleep”, “lame” and blind also gives connotations of old men, slowly dying. This shows the author’s skill; he creates images that he can later shatter. Owen had cleverly caused me to forget that these men are young and should be in good health.
