Lines 5 to 8 continue with the tired and miserable tone of the poem. They describe how the men “marched asleep” regardless of what is happening around them. This also adds to the fact that they were so tired.
Many of the men “had lost their boots”. However they are still walking, they probably could not feel their feet anyway because of the cold night, assuming that it is night. The soldiers were probably used to going around without their boots on in the trenches anyway.
The troop “limped on”. They limp partly due to the loss of footwear and partly because of the injuries they have witnessed and had inflicted on them in war. They may also be limping because of the blisters on their feet or they may have been suffering from trench foot, a disease caught from the dampness in the trenches. Their feet are “blood-shod”. The word “shod” suggests when horses have their shoes put on by a blacksmith. It is as if the soldiers’ feet are encrusted with blood from the injuries that have been forced upon them.
All the soldiers,
“went lame, all went blind”.
This says that they were totally unaware of what was going on around them, they are lame because of the extreme exhaustion. It is as if they were in denial from the horrors they have seen. They are trying to shut out the horror of war giving the impression that they are blind. They could also be blind because their eyelids keep on dropping making them almost asleep and unable to see properly. Their actions are subconscious as if the soldiers are elsewhere.
Line seven again describes how tired the group were:
“drunk with fatigue”
This suggests that the soldiers were so tired that they reminded Owen of drunken people. They are literally unable to control their limbs and stagger around hardly able to walk. If the soldiers did speak then they would probably do so in a slurred tone as if they are under the influence of alcohol.
The men are deaf to all noises going on around them. This is another time where Owen has described what is happening with the senses of the soldiers. Again, it reinforces the weariness of the troop.
Owen describes the gas-bombs falling behind them as:
“tired, outstripped five-nines”
The words “tired” and “outstripped” symbolise the whine that the bombs give off. A tired droning hum, almost as if the bombs were exhausted too. “Five nines” is another word for gas bomb. Owen says that the gas bombs “dropped behind”. This again portrays the fact that the soldiers have left the battlefield, as it does not say that the bombs dropped in front.
Immediately the tone and rhythm of the poem alters from a tired, slow droning one to a tense, quick one.
The words that signal the gas attack are:
“Gas GAS! Quick boys”
The way these words are written is interesting. The first “gas” is written as normal as if someone has just recognised has but does not really function until later when he shouts “GAS”. This is written in capital letters probably to symbolise a shout of panic.
The extreme fatigue of the men meant that they took a while to register that they needed to put their masks on,
“an ecstasy of fumbling, fitting the clumsy helmets just in time”
The definition of ecstasy is an extreme state of emotions. It is as if all the times the soldiers have practised this drill of a gas attack, it has finally become a reality. There is an element of excitement and danger above all the panic and confusion. The helmets are “clumsy” as they are heavy, basic and hard to put on. This adds to the struggle that the troop is already in. you feel a sense of relief when Owen says that they fitted the helmets on time.
However Owen suddenly realises that one of his comrades has not put their helmet on in time:
“someone still was yelling out and stumbling”
He sees that one of the men cannot reach his mask and is yelling for help and attention. The man is stumbling about in the gas fumbling for his only chance of salvation and safety.
The man is,
“flound’ring like a man in fire or lime”
“Floundering” is a word often applied to fish. The man reminds Owen of a fish out of water squirming uncomfortably trying to grasp for air. It as if the man were in fire, burning uncontrollably and unable to help himself. Owen uses a simile to show this. There is much pain and terror. The poet says it is like the man is in “lime”. Lime is a chemical used to decompose bodies and other substances. Maybe his body is gradually shrivelling up from the gas. Lime is also a shade of green, so it fits because the gas is also green.
Owen sees the man through,
“misty panes and thick green light”
The misty panes are the panes of the gas mask, which could be misted up from condensation or just the fact that there is so much gas it is impossible to see properly. The air is thick and green. It is thick with the deadly chemicals from the gas that clog up the air around the soldiers like a cloud. The fact that the air is green shows that the atmosphere is alien like the men have gone into another world.
The poet continues to describe the horrific situation:
“under a green sea, I saw him drowning”
Owen continues with the sea theme. Being shut in gas must feel as if you are under water. The man is still struggling to escape the horror and although he is helpless, his instincts cannot give up and he is still searching for air. When you are drowning, you become so desperate that you try anything to get oxygen but you only end up swallowing water or in this case, gas.
The next two lines are set apart from the rest because the poet changes the time and forwards to the future and his memories. The lines are also set apart for significance to show that they are important. It is Owen’s personal account of how the event has changed him and how he still remembers what happened on that fateful night.
“In all my dreams, before my helpless sight.
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.”
Owen is still haunted by the memory of the man dying. It haunts all his dreams. Not just some of them but all of them. He cannot escape the nightmare he has witnessed. The incident is repeated in front of his “helpless sight”. He is helpless because he cannot help the man who is already dead. A secondary meaning could be that Owen is remembering how he was unable to help the man on the night of the attack. A sense of guilt still comes back to haunt him in his dreams and he cannot escape. He remembers how the man was “guttering, choking, drowning”. The word guttering gives you the impression of a horrid, painful noise from the throat like someone is trying to be sick and retching but nothing comes up. The man was choking from the effect of the gas. The word drowning is used again as repetition, probably to reinforce the fact that the man was totally helpless and how he looked.
Owen again describes how the event still haunts him
“if in some smothering dream you too could…”
Owen is suffocated by these nightmares of memories he tries to escape. It is as If the dreams are like a blanket trying to stifle him and rob him of his breath. The “if” is challenging you to try and imagine what Owen and the rest of the soldiers, indeed all the men who went to war had to suffer, witness and have inflicted on them.
Owen tells of how the soldiers “flung” the man randomly on a wagon and left him there dead, stripped of all his dignity and pride. It shows you what the men who went to war were reduced to.
Owen describes what the mans physical appearance was like,
“the white eyes writhing in his face”
As death has drawn nearer the man has lost all control of his muscles including those in his face meaning his eyes are rolling around inside their sockets. His eyes are probably paler from the effect of the gas.
The mans face is “hanging” and is like a,
“devil’s sick of sin”
This is an unusual phrase and can have several meanings. A devils life is sin; it lives for sin and is the utmost symbol of evil. So it might mean that the devil is tired of being sinful, like the man being sick of life and giving up. A devil’s face is supposedly one of extreme hideousness and grotesque like that of the soldier's after being the subject of a gas attack. It could literally mean that the devil is being sick which would be a horrific sight.
Owen asks you to imagine what it would be like to,
“hear at every jolt, the blood come gargling from froth-corrupted lungs”
He is being deliberately grotesque to shock and horrify the readers and to contradict Jessie Pope. However he is only telling a truthful and personal account of events. The word “every” is emphasised. This is because at every jolt, pothole or wobble blood and other disgusting fluids come pouring out of the mans throat.
The poet says that the mans death was as,
“obscene as cancer”
The word “obscene” suggests the unimaginably horrid. Cancer is one of the most unpleasant ways to die. It is a long painful process, which many die from. Cancer strips you of all your dignity like war does. The way in which the man died has meant that all his pride and dignity that he had has been robbed of him. It is the total opposite of what Jessie Pope said would happen when the soldiers died. She skimmed over the matter saying that all the soldiers would be treated as heroes when they died.
Owen says that war is as,
“bitter as the cud, of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues.”
Cud is like pus. It is what animals like cows chew on; it is regurgitated food and grass. It is a very bitter substance. Owen uses it as a metaphor to portray how bitter and horrendous war is on “innocent tongues”. As most of the soldiers were still children who signed up for fun, Owen describes them as innocent. However the horrors of war have harmed and inflicted wounds on the soldiers. This could also mean the sores that were given to soldiers in gas attacks.
The last few lines are addressed to “my friend”. Owen is referring to Jessie Pope, however he is also addressing to the reader and anyone who shares Jessie’s view of war. The poet uses a very sarcastic tone to put forward his views in the last few lines. He is concluding the stanza and is saying that if you could see all of these things that he and countless others witnessed and lived in for many months, then you, meaning Pope, would not tell,
“with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory”
Again Owen is describing the fact that most of the soldiers were mere children who were desperate to be heroes and impress their friends and relations. However because of Jessie Pope and the other encouraging poets they got the wrong impression. Pope had told them with “high zest” meaning very enthusiastically. But Owen thinks that these people did not deserve war and should not have had it imposed upon them.
To conclude the poem Owen tells of,
“The old lie: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”
This is usually translated as “It is a sweet and honourable thing to die for one’s country”. This is the message that Pope was trying to get across. However Owen believes that people should be told the truth and be shown the reality of war so they know what they are letting themselves in for. Some people get the picture that Owen is saying that war is wrong. He may have thought that, however he does not say that in this poem. All he is saying is that it is not honourable, sweet or glorious to die for your country in war and it certainly is not dignified. He was trying to put his point across.
In this poem Owen has used many different techniques to put forward his point. The main one of these is the emotive language that Owen uses for shock. He also uses alliteration, metaphors, similes, listing in threes and onomatopoeia to name but a few. The sarcasm to Jessie Pope and other people who shared her point of view is evident all the way through the poem especially the final stanza. In the poem he has mixed realism with description to produce a poem that reflects his personal account of the night. To write this poem must have been hard and heart rending as the poet has had to remember his friend and the night when the event happened. I think that Wilfred Owen was writing for a good cause. Everyone deserved to know the truth and understand more about what war was. Owen wrote from his heart and I think his poem deserve respect because they are true and paint a vivid picture in your imagination.
