Having read “Dulce et Decorum est”, explore how the words of the poem re-create the horror of the life of the soldiers and reveal the message Wilfred Owen is sharing with his readers.

Split into four sections, the first stanza of 'Dulce et Decorum est' is written about shell-shocked men, numb and exhausted from marching endlessly through mud and sludge. Soldiers are 'bent double', emphasizing their exhaustion and the way they slump along the way, unable to stand upright, almost deformed by tiredness. The use of the word 'cursed' to describe their march through the sludge gives us the image of their march as a living curse. Owen carefully chooses his diction to stress the heaviness of their movement. When reading this poem out loud, you notice the way each sentence is split up into short phrases with short pauses between each, split up by semi colons. The first stanza lists their difficulties in the short phrases, giving you time to think and absorb them. The descriptions in the first section of the poem create a horrific yet realistic nightmare:

"Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

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

Drunk with fatigue;"

Most of the men have lost their boots and limp on in bare feet so covered with blood it seems as if they are wearing shoes of blood. 'Blood-shod' gives us the ugliness of the war and cruelty as the men do not even have a basic necessity, boots, to protect their feet. The men are 'drunk with fatigue', walking asleep without thinking and the word 'drunk' suggests their loss of control and staggering. The hyperboles shock us into awareness of the depths of their exhaustion. The word 'flares' gives a picture of haunting bright flashes of light and the image of a nightmare. The horrors of these descriptions contradict the glorification of war:

"Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge."

In the second stanza, the rhythm and pace of the poem change quickly:

"Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! - An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;"

In the phrase 'Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!' the use of direct speech and the monosyllables suggest the strong pulse of the action. The dash linking up the two short phrases creates a pause, signifying the soldiers frantically getting their gasmasks on. 'Clumsy helmets' is a transferred epithet as the helmets are not really 'clumsy' but the soldiers try to fit the heavy helmets clumsily amidst the chaos. The word 'ecstasy' describes their sudden madness and desperation as they fight for their lives and prepare for the gas attack. Those who are too slow to get their gas masks forfeit their lives. The image of one man drowning in a green sea of gas is horrendous:

"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."

Much of this section uses the imagery of green sea and compares the gas attack to the sea. 'Flound'ring' suggests a man struggling helplessly in the sea with nothing to hold on to. The simile 'as under a green sea' compares being attacked by the green gas to drowning in a green sea. The victim is both metaphorically and physically drowning in gas. 'Drowning' can be metaphorical in this case as the man is so helpless he seems to be drowning in the sea but in fact he is literally drowning in his own blood as the gas attacks and consumes his lungs. This vividly depicts the ugliness and horrors of the war.

The third stanza of 'Dulce et Decorum est' is of the haunting effect that watching his comrade die has on the poet. 'He plunges at me' has a tone of accusation as he guiltily sees an image of the soldier 'plunging' at him, accusing Owen of not helping him cope with his clumsiness during the gas attack. Owen feels guilty about being unable to help and he has nightmares about the scene continuously. The reader's attention does not wander throughout the poem because of Owen's consistent imagery. By the end of the poem, the reader can fully appreciate the irony between the truth of what happens in the trenches and the Lie being told at home. It is this attention to form and imagery that makes the poem effective.

As Owen witnesses the number of innocent men dying out there, he realizes how the cruelty of the war and suffering can distort the face of the victim:

"And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;"

The word 'writhing' gives a vivid image of pain and discomfort as we get the horrible image of the man's face twisting violently and the 'white eyes' also create an image of horror and violence. Earlier in this stanza, the words 'smothering' and 'flung' also add to the image of violence and hostility. 'Flung' also suggests a lack of care as well as aggression in the action.

The climax of the poem comes in the last two lines: the 'old lie', a quote from Horace:

"The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori."

Horace's famous ode translates as 'Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country.' Wilfred Owen speaks out to the poets in a scolding tone, sympathetic to the innocent young men misled by the lies and sacrificed in war. Owen addresses the young lads eager for war as 'children' - easily deceived by the cleverly disguised old lie. The word 'children' suggests tenderness and sympathy for the young, naïve men who are misled. In the last stanza Owen speaks with tenderness and sympathy for the men as well as accusation to the people spreading tales of false glory. Anger overtakes bitterness for Owen has seen for himself the brutality of war.