The soldiers are exhausted.They are so tired that even when the flares go
off behind them they don't have the energy or even feel like turning around
to see them.
Owen describes the soldiers as being
"Drunk with fatigue".This does not sound very glamourous or romantic.
Owen is saying that the soldiers are so tired that it as though they are
drunk.Owen is trying to say that the soldiers are behaving as though they
don't know entirely what they are doing.They are just being led along like
zombies because they ahve had such a terrible experience on the battle
field .
In the first stanza of the poem ,the soldiers are compared to old women and
beggars which is saying what the soldiers like after the battle.They are
limping and have shot wounds.This is not what they were expecting when
they joined up.They thought they would proud and smart soldiers.
The word 'you' has quite an effect on the reader because it makes the
reader imagine what it was like for owen the tone of the final stanza is quite
argumentative because owen is talking to the reader,the people telling the
children to join the army.They are filling the children's heads with "lies" and
a If they knew the truth they wouldn't want the children to join as there's no
glory and no romance in dying for your country,only suffering and horror.
The pace of the poem quickens in the 2nd stanza.The soldiers are awoken
by a ga gas attack.This effectively shatters the mood that owen has created
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.The words"Flumbling","Stumbling","Flound'ring" and
"Drowning" show that they are panicking.
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 gas but inside
his body he is chocking on a sea of his own toxic blood.Owen tells us how
this memory has stayed with him.The Sickening sight of a man plunging at
him."In all my dreams,before my helpless sight,He plunges at
me,guttering,chocking,drowning.
Owen seems to have a great fear of the gas attacks when he talks of
them.Owen talks of all 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 plunges at me". He describes how the man was taken away and the
narrator owne walked behind and saw his face.Owen is still haunted by the
nightmare of his"hanging face like a devil's sick of sin".The dead bodies are
treated like meat as there are so many deaths it becomes like a routine
thing.He see's the horror as he is standing behind the man who has been
gassed to death.This is wht he writes:
"My friend,you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for
some desperate glory the old lie."
Owne is saying that if you could see the things he had seen then you would
not believe the lie or want young children to be persuaded by this lie.By
saying this he is expecting the bitterness he has naturally for the army but
the situation as a whole.Owne 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 will see
something in great contrast to what you may have imagined.It will be like
hell.
The poem is describing a terrible shocking daeth by gas,how can it be
sweet and honourable to die like this?This is the contry that sold him the
old lie and he was decieved by those who told him.
"Dolce et Decorum est pro patria maria."
In "Disabled" owen is describing someone that he knew in the army .This
man was in the scottish regiment.He has had his legs blown off.
He has no legs and his arm is "Sewn at the elbow".He is in an institute, a
nursing home.He waits for dark because then things will be quiet and he
can hide in the darkness he is disillusioned with life and is waiting to die .He
hears voices of the boys singing,these are voices of children playing just
as he had once played.Perhaps they are playing at war acting out what it
would be like if the went to war when they grow up.
He remembers that at his time the towns atmosphere was fun and happy
everyone is dancing having fun.He is very said that he will never again
experience this.He says the girls look upon like he has some kind of "queer
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 went off to
fight in the war at a young age ,He didn't realise what would happen he's a
victim of the old lie.He even lied about his age so that they would let him
fight.
He has lost his colour losing so much blood"And leap of purple spurted
from his thigh".He feels as though he had "poured his life down endless
shell holes",he wonders what he has been given for this nothing.
He loved his youth but when his legs were blown away a massive part of
him was lost and now he is missing the way he used to enjioy life.
One time he saw blood down his leg from football injury ,he thought this
was great .He felt like a hero.He was treated like a hero.Now he has no legs
and no one treats him like a hero.He does not feel like a hero.He wonders
why he joined the army .He tried to impress people as they told him he
would do well in the army and look like a god one reason he signed up was
because his dear meg would be pleased.At this time he was not afraid of
being afraid.A soldiers biggest worry is being afraid .Owen says "And no
fears of fear have come yet".He did not know there was anything to be
afraid of.He had thoughts of all the swords and other weapons that he
would recieve in the army.He had great thoughts of wearing a smart uniform
and making those proud salutes .So smiling away they signed him up even
though he was not really old enough to fight.He said that before he never
even thought of the Germans and he definetly had nothing against them.So
he only went to the war because of the glory and romantic I deas he had
about war.
He thought that playing football was great ,the buzz he got from the
cheering.People thought of him as a 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 us 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.Because
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
with all their body in one piece.
His final thoughts of the poem is one of the 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 sleep as he feels like he has and can do nothing that he feels will
make his life tolerable and he feels as though 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
et Decorum est" is a view on the terrible suffering and horrible ways in
which men died whereas disabled is a description of the turmoil of one
persons survival.One thing that I feel both poems have in common is that
they talk about how the men were lied to and how they were sold a lie.This
is more true in"Dolce et Decorum est ".If a person wanted an exmple of
what army life was like for a platoon at its worst I would show them "Dolce
et Decorum.However if I was asked about a piem that describes how the
war effected people ,who survived I would tell them to read "Disabled".This
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 saying alive worth
it.While some of the soldiers in"Dolce et"survived the gas attack this mans
soul has in effect died.He has lost his colour and can't get used to the fact
of being untouchable.
I find "Dolce et Decorum" to be the most powerful of the two poems .My
reasons are as follows.Although "Disabled"is very good ,very powerful
poem in its own right it only describes the view of one person in the army .I
think that what makes "Dolce est" 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.Mnay peole say that they live stressful lives and are undre extreme
pressure.If you think of what these young men have gone through it can put
a lot of things into perspective .Day in day out these menn had to have the
weight of a nation on their shoulders this is before they have to dodge land
mines and gas attacks.
